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DETROIT -- The Wayne State University baseball team (22-9, 10-5 GLIAC) host Hillsdale (11-21, 9-8 GLIAC) this weekend for a three-game series. The Warriors are playing well of late, winners of six straight games and currently sit in second place in the GLIAC standings.Â
GAME STORYLINES With four weeks reaming in the regular season, the Warriors are getting hot at the right time. WSU are winners of nine of the last 11 games.
Jeremy Carrell is third in the GLIAC with a .400 batting average but still leads the league in on-base percentage at .554. Carrell also leads the league with 38 runs scored.
Eric Cunningham ranks second in the league with 32 RBI.
Clayton Ruch continues to lead the conference with 11 saves. Coach Kelley will manage is 300th game for the Warriors on Saturday, April 19 at Ohio Dominican.
SCOUTING HILLSDALE The Chargers of Hillsdale enter the weekend 11-21 overall and 9-8 in GLIAC play. Hillsdale has won two straight with a pair of wins over Northwood on Wednesday.Head coach Eric Theisen is in his first season as the Chargers' manager after serving as an assistant coach since 2010 for the program. Nolan Breymaier is hitting .333 with 12 RBI while playing in all of the team's 32 games. Chris McDonald is leading the team with 22 RBI. McDonald is also tied for the league lead with 10 doubles. Luke Ortel is 13-for-18 this season in stolen base attempts, which ranks sixth in the GLIAC. As a team, HC is hitting .280 with a .357 on-base percentage. Jake Lee and Matthew Reck have both won three games. Reck and Shane Armstrong lead the team with 24 strikeouts. Dan Pochmara is the staff's main stopper, appearing in 13 games and collecting four saves to go with his sharp 1.08 ERA. The staff ERA is 5.64.
ALL-TIME SERIES The Warriors have met the Chargers more than any other team in program history with 166 all-time meetings. WSU leads the series 109-57. Coach Kelley is 12-5 all-time against Hillsdale and 6-2 at home in his time with the program.
LAST TIME OUT WSU continued its busy stretch of the schedule with a doubleheader at Findlay on Wednesday afternoon. The Warriors took both games, extending their winning streak to six games, behind timely hitting and great pitching.
Brandyn Hall improved to 3-0 in his fourth start of the season and was solid, allowing two earned runs on four hits in the game one 5-2 win.
Clayton Ruch came in to start the bottom of the seventh inning. Ruch loaded the bases but was able to collect the three outs needed for the win without taking any damage. In the process, Ruch picked up his 11th save of the season, matching the program's single-season mark, held by Billy Hurley (2010-12). Walker continued his hot streak, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Chris Horvath (2-2) took the mound in game two, also making his fourth start of the season. Horvath was impressive, allowing just two earned runs on one hit while striking out four batters in WSU's 6-2 game two win.
NEXT UPWSU will host Findlay for a nine-inning game on Wednesday at 2 PM.
PRESEASON POLL WSU was predicted to finish second in the GLIAC as voted on by the league's coaches during March 4th's release of the GLIAC Preseason Coaches Poll. Last year's regular season and tournament champions Grand Valley were crowned the preseason champions after going 38-19 in 2013. The Lakers garnered 118 points and eight first-place votes. The Warriors collected 106 points and two first-place votes to finish second in the poll. Ashland also picked up two first-place votes to go with its 101 points. Ohio Dominican (90) and Saginaw Valley (74) rounded out the top five.
RUCH TAKES AIM AT HISTORY On Tuesday against Urbana,
Clayton Ruch picked up his 10th save of the season and 20th of his career breaking the program record of 19 held by Billy Hurley (2010-12). Ruch picked up his 11th save of the season in game one at Findlay on Wednesday, matching the program' single-season mark.
WARRIOR SKIPPER Ryan Kelley, who served six seasons on the Warriors' staff including three as WSU's pitching coach prior to being named head coach in September 2008, enters his sixth year at the helm in the 2014 season. Kelley is the ninth head coach in the 73-year history of the Wayne State University baseball program. In 2013, Wayne State won 30+ games for the fourth consecutive season and for the seventh time in school history. Coach Kelley aided in the development of a senior class that won 134 games over the past four seasons and his .607 (178-115) career winning percentage leads all WSU baseball coaches.
Brad Guenther was named GLIAC Player of the Year, which was the first such honor for a Warrior since 2005. WSU had four All-GLIAC First Team selections (
Brad Guenther,
Alex Pierse,
Kenny Davis and
Kasey Koster). Guenther was also a Tino Martinez Award semifinalist, which is given to the top DII baseball player in the country. In addition,
Alex Pierse,
Brad Guenther and
Kasey Koster all collected NCBWA, Daktronics and ABCA/Rawlings All-Midwest honors.
STAFF ADDITIONS Coach Kelley welcomes two new staff additions for the 2014 season.
Aaron Hepner was named Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator while
John DiLaura will also serve as an assistant coach this season. Hepner joined the WSU Baseball staff in August of 2013 as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator. He has spent the previous five seasons at Eastern Michigan working with former Warrior head coach Jay Alexander. DiLaura joined the Wayne State University baseball program as a volunteer assistant coach in June 2013. A three-year letterwinner at the University of Michigan, DiLaura graduated in the spring of 2013 with a General Studies degree with an emphasis on business and history.
WSU BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIAFor the latest news, notes and in-game updates on Warrior Baseball be sure to find us on Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook, the WSU Baseball pages can be found
here and on Twitter,
here.
PARKINGIf you are coming to campus for Warrior Baseball on the weekends, be sure to park in Lot 50 in front of the Matthaei Building, it's free!
HARWELL FIELD The Wayne State University Department of Athletics in conjunction with the Ernie Harwell Estate and the Ernie Harwell Foundation announced today the establishment of the Harwell Field Project. This project is an outreach effort to build a baseball stadium in recognition of Ernie and Lula "Lulu" Harwell. As a tribute to that long partnership between the famed Tiger broadcaster and his wife Lula "Lulu", the campaign is to name the field in their shared honor. They were married for 62 years and this endeavor is as much an acknowledgment of his legendary career as it is her work "behind the scenes" to build a marriage for which all of Michigan benefited.
WSU SUMMER CAMP The Wayne State University baseball program will host its annual summer camp on July 29-30 at the WSU Baseball Field and Indoor Facility in Detroit. Campers will receive fundamental instruction in all aspects of the game, plus have a chance to meet players from the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers scheduled to appear this year are to be announced as the camp approaches. Past Tigers guests have included Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, Torii Hunter, Brandon Inge, Doug Fister, Austin Jackson, Victor Martinez, Rick Porcello, Pudge Rodriguez, Jose Valverde and Justin Verlander. Clinicians for the camp will include WSU head coach
Ryan Kelley and Detroit Tigers pitching coach Jeff Jones, as well as local high school coaches and Wayne State baseball student-athletes and coaches. Camp participants will learn from an open camp environment where questions are encouraged.
