Baseball 5/7/2014 7:37:00 AM Cameron Weidenthaler, Assistant SID

Baseball Begins GLIAC Tournament on Thursday

The Warriors will open with SVSU at 10:30 AM in Xenia, Ohio at Grady's Field.

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DETROIT -- The Wayne State University baseball team (34-13, 22-9 GLIAC) will begin play in the 2014 GLIAC Baseball Tournament on Thursday against Saginaw Valley State (19-23, 16-16 GLIAC) on Thursday at 10:30 AM in Xenia, Ohio at Grady's Field.

Setting the Stage	Wayne State University Baseball at GLIAC Tournament
Dates	Tournament Schedule
Location	Xenia, Ohio (Grady's Field)
Web	Twitter: @WayneStWarriors \| #WarriorBSB
Live Stats	Click Here
Opponent Information	Tournament Central

GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State will look to solidify its NCAA Tournament resume with a strong performance in the 2014 GLIAC Tournament, which they enter as the two seed after one of the more successful regular seasons in program history. WSU eclipsed the 30-win mark for the eighth time in program history and sixth time in last seven years. The 34 regular season victories is a program record while the 22-9 GLIAC record makes it five straight seasons with at least 20 conference wins. The Warriors finished 15-1 at home this season, which is the best home winning percentage in program history and matches the second most home wins in program history. WSU went 8-5 against the GLIAC Tournament field during the regular season and hit .247 while carrying a team ERA of 3.19. Eric Cunningham leads the team with a .387 batting average against GLIAC Tournament teams.

STAT WATCH
Alex Kinch is tied for the GLIAC lead with eight victories. Jimmy Jackson leads the GLIAC with his 1.17 ERA while Clayton Ruch leads the GLIAC with 14 saves while appearing in 22 games, which is second. Eric Cunningham ranks second in the GLIAC with 41 RBI while Kyle Zimmerman's 15 doubles is also second in the league. Jeremy Carrell leads the league with 54 runs scored, ranks second in on-base percentage, currently seventh in hitting at .369 and third with 19 stolen bases.

SCOUTING SAGINAW VALLEY STATE
SVSU is playing its best baseball of the season when it matters most, winners of seven of its last 10 games. The Cardinals were on the outside looking in regards to the postseason but a seven-game winning streak propelled SVSU to the fifth seed in this week's tournament. Chris Ebright was named Interim Head Coach on April 17th and has the Cards clicking. He formerly served as the team's pitching coach. Brad Schalk is hitting ,360 in his 42 starts and is tied with Luke Valutis for the team lead with 24 RBI. Kyke Kaufmann has drive in 20 runs and leads the team with two home runs. Connor Foley is hitting .339 and the Cards are hitting .287 as a team . Andrew Geese is 5-2 with a 3.86 ERA and a team-high 52 strikeouts while Dale Reetz has four saves. Jeff Schalk is 2-0 with a 4.00 ERA. The staff ERA is 5.60.

ALL-TIME SERIES
WSU took both regular season meetings with SVSU this season on March 30th in Detroit, 15-0 and 3-1. With those two wins WSU took a 69-68 lead in the all-time series. The Warriors are 18-10 under Coach Kelley and have never lost to the Cardinals in the postseason in five meetings.

LAST TIME OUT
WSU completed a three-game sweep of Walsh with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday's Senior Day.

AWARDS BANQUET
The Wayne State University baseball program celebrated the end of an extremely successful regular season with its annual Awards & Senior Recognition Banquet on Monday night inside the Multipurpose Indoor Facility in front of friends, family, supporters and administrators. Each of the 11 senior student athletes spoke to the crowd about their time in the Green & Gold and the program handed out its team awards as voted on by the team. Director of Athletics Rob Fournier also spoke to the crowd of nearly 150 guests. Cameron Walker (Clinton Twp., Mich. / De La Salle) was named the team's Most Improved Player. Kirk Stambaugh (Sylvania, Ohio / Southview) received his second Weight Room Warrior Award. Jeremy Carrell (St. Clair, Mich.) was named the team's Top Hitter while A.J. Matos (Southgate, Mich. / Detroit Western) earned the Best Defensive Player Awardand the team's Warrior Award for leadership and commitment to the program. Alex Kinch (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Pioneer) was named the Anthony Bass Top Pitcher Award and Kyle Zimmerman (Frankfort, Mich.) was the Team MVP. In addition, the program handed out a new award this year. Hall of Famer Angelo Gust awarded former captain and letterwinner and current Executive Director of the Alumni Association, Ty Stevenson, the first Chris Wouters Alumni Leadership Award. Wouters is a WSU Hall of Famer and a former baseball letterwinner. He was killed in action as a police officer in Warren. This award will honor his legacy as a proud Tartar/Warrior and will be an annual award.

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 PUTS NAME INTO RECORD BOOK
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) on April 8 against Urbana. Ruch picked up his 11th save of the season in game one at Findlay on April 9, matching the program' single-season mark. Ruch closed out the home win over Findlay on April 16 for his record setting 12th save of the season.

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 .615 (190-119) 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 MEDIA
For 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.

PARKING
If 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.

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