March 28, 2005
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Baseball Player of the Week
Mike Bruszer
UIC, Senior, 2B/OF (Deerfield, Ill.)
UIC senior Mike Bruszer is the Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week for the period ending March 28.
Bruszer helped UIC improve to .500 on the season as the Deerfield, Ill., native keyed the Flames to a record of 4-1-1 over this past week, batting a team-best .417 (10-for-24) with nine RBI. His most impressive performance came in Saturday's doubleheader sweep of Chicago State, going 5-for7 with four RBIs and a run scored. Bruszer is currently batting .329 on the campaign with a team-best 15 RBI.
Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Aaron Sorenson
UW-Milwaukee, Junior, RHP (Sheboygan, Wis.)
UW-Milwaukee junior Aaron Sorenson is the Horizon League Baseball Pitcher of the Week for the period ending March 28.
Junior pitcher Sorenson picked up his third victory of the season with a complete-game victory over the Univesrity of Illinois on Thursday, March 24 in Bradenton, Florida. Sorenson only allowed one run in the outing and surrendered only three hits. He had five strikeouts to lead the Panthers to their 4-1 victory.
Other Top Horizon League Player Performers - March 28
Amin Abusaleh, Wright State, Junior, Outfield (Davis, Calif.)
Abusaleh had another solid week at the plate starting out the week with two hits, one a home run, and an RBI against Duke. He then added a hit and a run scored against Akron on Saturday and went four-for-five in the series finale against Akron, driving in two RBI and scoring twice. Abusaleh belted out a triple, home run and a double on the week, to go with his 12 put-outs and two outfield assists. Hitting at a .389 clip he was one of five Raiders to start all four games this week.
Tommy Nutt, Youngstown State, Junior, Second Base (Louisville, Ky.)
Nutt hit .444 (8-for-18) with six runs scored and three RBIs in five games this week for the Penguins. He recorded two hits apiece in four of the games and reached base in all five. In game one of a doubleheader against West Liberty State on Tuesday, Nutt went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He then went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base in the nightcap. Against Central Michigan, he tallied two hits, walked once and stole a base in game one on Saturday, and he scored a run in the nightcap. He finished the week with a 2-for-4 performance against the Chippewas on Sunday.
Other Top Horizon League Pitcher Performers - March 28
Andy Svitak, Youngstown State, Sophomore, RHP (Parma Heights, Ohio)
Svitak threw six shutout innings in his second career start and first of this season to pick up the win against Central Michigan on Saturday. The sophomore surrendered only two hits and struck out three in the six innings, which was his longest career output. The combined shutout was the second of his career and his second in as many appearances as he teamed up with Justin Thomas last week against Morehead State for a 4-0 victory. Svitak has also not been scored upon in his last seven innings and has seen his ERA drop 14 points in his last two appearances.
Joe Smith, Wright State, Sophomore, RHP (Amelia, Ohio)
Smith was a major reason that the Raiders swept the Zips this weekend, picking up saves to bookend the weekend and threw two shut-out innings in the 14 inning affair with Akron. Smith came into the first game of the weekend and sat down the only three batters he faced, striking out the first two on six pitches and inducing the final batter to ground out. In game two Smith came into the game and threw two shutout innings, while allowing only one hit. In the finale Smith came into a 9-6 ballgame, with two runners on base and coaxed a groundball out from one batter and struck out the next batter out on a 2-2 fastball. Smith faced 12 batters and threw 44 pitches on the weekend in picking up his third and fourth saves of the season.
Craig Costello, Butler, Junior, LHP (LaPorte, Ind.)
Costello allowed just one run on four hits in six innings of work to help lead Butler to a 2-1 victory over Minnesota. He had one strikeout in the game, while picking up his first win of the season. Costello was nicked for a run in the first inning, and then he blanked the Gophers for five straight innings, before giving way to freshman right-handeder Jon Dages.
Horizon League News & Notes
Butler Bulldogs (4-13, 0-0 HL)
The Bulldogs played their first ever indoor baseball games in their three-game series at Minnesota. All three contests were played in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Butler has played 11 consecutive road contests, and the Bulldogs will have one more (at Dayton on Wednesday, March 30) before returning home for five straight games. The Bulldogs have played just one home game in their first 17 contests this season.
Sophomore Joe Dempsey batted .444 (4-9) with three walks, one run scored and one RBI in Butler's three-game series at the Metrodome in Minnesota. He lifted his season batting average to .353, second on the team.
Cleveland State (3-8, 0-0 HL)
Weather was the Vikings worst enemy this past week, keeping the team off of the field for all four scheduled games. Cleveland State hopes to return to action this week on Tuesday, March 29 with a game at Ohio University which will be followed the next day by a home game against Bowling Green. Those two games lead into the weekend action where the Vikings will take on Western Illinois in a three game series.
UIC Flames (9-9-1, 0-0 HL)
UIC set a Les Miller Field record with eight stolen bases in Game Two of their doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. The previous record of five was set last against Youngstown State on April 6, 2003. Tuesday's 6-6 tie against Vermont marked the first tie for the Flames since 1985. Junior reliever Jason Foster picked up a win and a save in three appearances over the week.
Also this week, The College Baseball Foundation announced that the Flames' sophomore pitcher Ryan Zink has been named to the National Honor Roll for the period ending March 20th.
UW-Milwaukee Panthers (4-12, -0 HL)
The Panthers will be back on the field after a seven day lay-off on Friday, April 1 in an afternoon game against Illinois State. That outing will be the first of three against the Redbirds. The three game series in the land of Lincoln wraps up on Sunday, April 3.
Wright State Raiders (9-9, 0-0 HL)
The Raiders took three games from Akron this week, posting a series sweep of the Zips, their first series sweep since taking four from Detroit in the 2003 season. Also with the three wins the Green and Gold are 9-9 overall and are at .500 for the first time, this far into the season, since ending the 2001 season with a 31-27 record.
Joe Smith has made his presence felt in the past two weeks, picking up four saves, more than any Raider since Eric Oberding picked up six in the 2001 season. Smith has struck out 16 batters in 11 innings of work and his 0.83 ERA and .139 batting average against are both team bests.
For the second time in as many seasons the Raiders have won a game with a walk-off grand slam. This season Justin Wilson had the big hit against Akron in the 14th inning to down the Zips 7-4. Last season Ross Vagedes turned the trick on UW-Milwaukee in the ninth inning to win that game 10-6 for the Raiders.
Youngstown State (4-10, 0-0 HL)
Freshman Lucas Engle is making a case to move into YSU's weekend rotation. In two starts this season, he has allowed only one run on five hits while striking out seven in 11 1/3 innings. Against West Liberty on Tuesday, the freshman righty threw six shutout innings and struck out five en route to his first collegiate victory. In his other start against Morehead State on March 16, he allowed one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings and left with the game with the lead.
After starting the season 1-10, the Penguins have won six of their last eight games to move to 7-12. In the span dating back to a 5-3 win against Morehead State on March 16, YSU has outscored its opponents 46-19.
