Baseball Release #14: NCAA Championship Preview
May 29, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The University of Illinois at Chicago will take to the field against Texas A&M on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the College Station Regional of the NCAA championship.
2008 Horizon League All-Tournament Team
Kevin Coddington, UIC
Jr. * C * West Linn, Ore.
Coddington went 2-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs in the championship title game against Milwaukee. The UIC catcher also did not make an error in four starts behind the plate.
Jesse Hart, Milwaukee
Sr. * 2B * West Allis, Wis.
In six games, Hart posted tournament-highs in hits (15), runs (9), RBIs (14) and total bases (24) to go along with a .469 batting average. The Panther senior also set a tournament record with seven RBIs in Milwaukee's 20-3 triumph over Wright State.
Brett Bivens, Valparaiso
So. * SS * Battle Creek, Mich.
Bivens batted .522 (12-for-23) in five games. The Michigan native had at least two hits in each of the five tournament games. Against Wright State, the sophomore went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs. For the championship, Bivens drove in five runs.
Josh Wallace, Valparaiso
So. * 3B * Bellefontaine, Ohio
Wallace hit .364 in five tournament contests and drove in seven runs. The Valpo third-baseman had a hit in every game and drove in at least one run in four out of five games. Wallace opened the championship by going 2-for-4 with three RBIs against Butler.
Dan DeBruin, Valparaiso
Sr. * OF * Combined Locks, Wis.
DeBruin went 10-for-20 (.500), scored eight runs and drove in a pair hitting out of the leadoff spot. The Wisconsin native also had a hit in every game. In his final two games of the tournament, DeBruin went 6-for-9, scored four runs and drove in a run.
Troy Vesling, Milwaukee
Sr. * OF * Sun Prairie, Wis.
Vesling posted a batting average of .375 (9-for-24). The UWM outfielder had a hit in five of the squad's six games. Vesling also threw out a pair runners and did not commit an error in the field.
Steve McGuiggan, UIC
Fr. * OF * Apple Valley, Minn.
McGuiggan hit .533 (8-for-15) in four tournament games and drove in eight runs hitting out of the leadoff position. In the championship title game, McGuiggan went 4-for-5 and scored a pair of runs.
Shawn Wozniak, Milwaukee
Jr. * DH * Mayville, Wis.
Wozniak went 11-for-26 (.426), drove in seven runs and belted his sixth home run of the season. In UWM's tournament opener against Cleveland State, the Wisconsin native hit a home run, a double and drove in a game-high three runs in the Panthers' 10-7 triumph over the Vikings.
Peter Ifft, UIC
Fr. * RHP * Rockford, Ill.
Ifft was the winning pitcher in the championship final. In his lone appearance of the tournament, Ifft worked 8.1 innings, scattered seven hits and held the Panther offense to just three runs.
Ben McClarey, Milwaukee
Sr. * LHP * Roselle, Ill.
McClarey was the only pitcher in the League tournament to go the distance as he worked 9.0 innings against UIC to pick up the win. The UWM senior struck out four and allowed just one earned run on six hits. McClarey's complete-game victory forced the Flames to play in the if necessary game on Sunday.
News From Around The League
UIC
The Flames (17-6 Horizon League; 34-20 overall) enter the 2008 NCAA Championship for the season-consecutive season after they won the Horizon League Championship Presented by the U.S. Army for the second straight year.
The Flames defeated Milwaukee 16-3 in the tournament final to punch their ticket to the NCAA championship. In UIC's last two tournament final appearances, the Flames have outscored their opponents by a count of 30-5. In 2007, UIC defeated Wright State 14-2 to claim the League championship crown.
In the 2008 League championship, the Flames led the tournament in team batting average (.376) and team earned-run average (3.50).
In UIC's first two tournament victories the Flames came from behind to win both games. On Wednesday, the Flames rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the seventh to defeat Valparaiso 8-5. The next day, UIC rallied from a 5-0 deficit against Milwaukee to defeat the Panthers 7-5.
Junior first-baseman Brett Schaefer was the Most Valuable Player of the championship as batted a tournament-best .733. Schaefer was joined on the All-Tournament Team by freshman pitcher Peter Ifft, freshman outfielder Steve McGuiggan and junior catcher Kevin Coddington.
Ifft picked up the win for the Flames in the championship title game as he worked 8.1 innings and limited the Panthers to just three runs.
Wright State
The Raiders (16-6; 30-23) entered the League championship as the No. 2 seed, but WSU was eliminated by Valparaiso on Friday.
Wright State's early exit from the League tournament marked the first time since 2005 that it had not played in the championship title game.
The Raiders opened the championship with a 20-3 loss to Milwaukee on Tuesday. WSU rebounded with a victory over Cleveland State (7-4), but fell in the next game to Valparaiso (13-4).
In just three games, Wright State was outscored by its opponent 37-14. On the offensive end, WSU continued to produce as it hit at .327 clip for the tournament. During the regular season, the Raiders led the League in batting average (.323), slugging percentage (.504) on-base percentage (.393), runs scored (387), runs batted in (349) and home runs (52).
Sophomore outfielder Casey McGrew led the way for the Raiders offensively as he batted .462 for the championship.
Horizon League Player of the Year Jeremy Hamilton and teammate Justin Parker also turned in a solid week at the plate as they each posted batting averages of .364.
After finishing the month of April with a 15-4 mark, the Raiders slipped to 8-6 in the month of May to close out the season.
Youngstown State
The Penguins (13-12; 23-33) came into the League championship as the No. 3 seed, having won four of their last five games to close out the regular season.
In the League tournament, YSU lost to Valparaiso 3-2 on Wednesday and was eliminated on Thursday by Cleveland State, losing 10-4.
In its first loss, the Penguins scored runs in the first and third innings, but they would not score for the remainder for the game as they were unable to capitalize on four Valparaiso errors. The Penguins were also outhit 12-5.
YSU led for most of the game, but in the top half of the ninth, the Crusaders took a 3-2 lead and closed out the Penguins in the bottom half of the frame.
Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Aaron Swenson worked 6.2 innings, allowed one run and struck out three, but did not figure into the decision.
Against Cleveland State, the Penguins fell victim to the big inning in the top half ninth as CSU scored five runs. Prior to that inning YSU trailed by just one run.
Senior catcher Erich Diedrich and junior outfielder led the way offensively as both collected three hits a piece. Against Cleveland State, Diedrich went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs.
Cleveland State
The Vikings (10-13; 22-29) went 1-2 in the League championship after entering the tournament as the No. 4 seed.
Cleveland State opened the championship on May 22 against Milwaukee and fell 10-7 in 14 innings. The CSU-UWM matchup was the second-longest game in championship history (Dayton and St. Louis played 15 innings in 1990).
The 14-inning affair also saw both teams combined to play 33 different players, collect 32 hits and leave 26 runners on base.
On Thursday, Cleveland State defeated Youngstown State 10-4. The Vikings went into the top half of the ninth ahead by just one run, but CSU would go on to plate five runs in the frame to secure the win.
Cleveland State's tournament run came to an end on May 24 as it dropped a 7-4 decision to Wright State.
In its three games, the Vikings batted .298 as a team and scored 21 runs. Senior outfielder Kyle Bischof led the CSU offense as he went 6-for-14 (.429).
Milwaukee
The Panthers (11-15; 25-36) played their way into the tournament title game despite losing two of their last three games prior to the championship.
Milwaukee became the second team in three years to play for the championship title after being seeded fifth (Butler, 2006).
The Panthers opened the championship by defeating Cleveland 10-7 in 14 innings in what was the second-longest game in tournament history.
UWM then downed Wright State 20-3 to became just the fifth team in championship history to score 20 or more runs in a game.
The Panthers suffered their first loss of the championship against UIC, losing 7-5. UWM held a 5-0 heading into the top half of the seventh, but the Flames scored seven runs in the last three innings to secure the victory.
UWM rebounded on Saturday as they eliminated Valparaiso (8-3) and forced UIC to play in the if necessary game on Sunday it defeated the Flames (7-2).
As a team, Milwaukee batted .347 and drove in a tournament-best 52 runs 14 of those runs came off the bat of senior second-base Jesse Hart.
Hart led the tournament in hits (15), runs (9), RBIs (14) and total bases (24) en route to being named to the All-Tournament team. Hart was joined on the All-Tournament team by teammates Troy Vesling (Sr. OF), Shawn Wozniak (Jr., DH) and Ben McClarey (Sr., LHP).
Valparaiso
The Crusaders (8-13; 21-35) stumbled into the League championship as they dropped five of their last seven games to close out the season, but heading into the second to last day of the tournament, Crusaders were just one win away from the championship title game after they entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed.
Valparaiso opened the championship with a 6-5 victory over Butler on May 20.
The Crusaders then went on to defeat Youngstown State on May 21 despite making four errors. Valpo starter Jon Gulbransen worked 7.0 innings, but did not figure into the decision.
Valpo suffered its first loss against UIC on May 22 as it dropped an 8-5 decision to the Flames. The Crusaders held a 4-1 lead heading into the top of the seventh, but the Flames scored five runs with two outs in the bottom half of the frame to take lead for good.
The Crusaders rebounded on May 23 against Wright State as they scored 13 runs on 16 hits to eliminate the Raiders (13-4) from tournament.
Valparaiso was eliminated from the championship following an 8-3 loss to Milwaukee. Valpo held a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom half of the fourth inning, but the Crusaders would not score for the remainder of the game.
As a team, Valparaiso batted .318 and scored 30 runs. Senior outfielder Brett Bivens paced the Crusaders offense as he batted .522 (12-for-23) and drove in five runs en route to earning a spot of the All-Tournament team.
Joining Bivens on the All-League squad was senior outfielder Dan DeBruin and sophomore infielder Josh Wallace.
Butler
The Bulldogs (7-17; 12-34) were eliminated in the first round of the League championship as they fell 6-5 to Valparaiso.
Butler struck first in the top half of the third inning as it plated three runs thanks to a three-run home run by sophomore infielder Kyle Schultz. Valparaiso then responded with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame.
BU struck again in the sixth as it scored one run, but the Crusaders responded with run of their own in the bottom end of the sixth. Valpo took the lead in the seventh as it plated a pair of runs.
Senior infielder Joe Pauley drew the Bulldogs to within one as he drilled his 13th home run of the year, but BU would not get any closer.
Pauley concluded his BU career by going 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a home run.
