Baseball Travels to Utah Valley State for Division I Independent Tournament
5/21/2007 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
THIS WEEK:
The North Dakota State baseball team closes out the 2007 season with four games at the Division I independent tournament this Wednesday through Saturday at the 5,000-seat Wolverine Stadium in Orem, Utah.
NDSU was the tournament runner-up last year in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Bison hit .434 through the first three tournament games before falling to Northern Colorado in the championship.
This year, North Dakota State faces tournament host Utah Valley State on opening night with games against New York Tech, Chicago State and New Jersey Tech to follow. Here is the complete tournament schedule with overall records and records vs. Division I independents:
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Wednesday, May 23 | |
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12:00 |
South Dakota State (31-18, 20-5) vs. New York Tech (23-25, 3-1) |
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3:30 |
Northern Colorado (14-33, 4-9) vs. New Jersey Tech (13-26, 1-7) |
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7:00 |
North Dakota State (14-29, 4-5) vs. Utah Valley State (22-29, 4-4) |
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Thursday, May 24 | |
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9:00 |
Chicago State (4-49, 0-4) vs. Northern Colorado |
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12:30 |
Chicago State vs. South Dakota State |
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4:00 |
North Dakota State vs. New York Tech |
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7:30 |
New Jersey Tech vs. Utah Valley State |
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Friday, May 25 | |
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9:00 |
Northern Colorado vs. South Dakota State |
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12:30 |
South Dakota State vs. New Jersey Tech |
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4:00 |
North Dakota State vs. Chicago State |
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7:30 |
New York Tech vs. Utah Valley State |
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Saturday, May 26 | |
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9:00 |
New Jersey Tech vs. North Dakota State |
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12:30 |
New York Tech vs. Northern Colorado |
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4:00 |
Chicago State vs. Utah Valley State |
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(All Times Mountain) | |
THE SERIES: Wednesday will be the fourth meeting between North Dakota State and Utah Valley State. UVSC has a 2-1 edge in the series with a pair of wins on the opening weekend of the 2005 season at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. NDSU won 18-7 last year in the D-I independent tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D. ... North Dakota State has not played New York Tech, Chicago State or New Jersey Tech.
THE COACH:
North Dakota State head coach Mitch McLeod (Minn. St. Moorhead, 1977) is in his 15th season with the Bison and he is the winningest coach in school history with a record of 345-320-4. McLeod guided NDSU to its first outright North Central Conference championship in 2004 and the league's regular-season crown in 2000. His 1996 team had a school-record 37 wins and won the NCC Northern Division.
ABOUT UTAH VALLEY STATE: The Wolverines are 4-4 vs. independents and 22-29 overall after dropping back-to-back games last week against BYU and Arizona State. Utah Valley State enters the tournament hitting .306 as a team. Senior catcher Derrick Thomas leads the squad with a .404 average, 12 homers and 53 RBIs. Pitcher Marcus Moore is 6-4 with three saves and a 3.66 ERA. Moore has tossed three complete games in seven starts and has struck out 87 batters in 78 2/3 innings.
ABOUT NEW YORK TECH: The Bears are 3-1 vs. independents and 23-25 overall after losing to St. John's last Tuesday and dropping both ends of a Saturday doubleheader to Brown over the weekend. NYIT is hitting .278 as a team. Senior outfielder Kraig Binick leads the team with a .420 average, 17 doubles, 5 triples, 8 homers and 34 RBIs. Binick is 30-for-33 in stolen base attempts and his 56 runs scored are twice more than any other NYIT player. Pitcher Joe Esposito is 6-5 with a 3.14 ERA and has tossed six complete games in 12 starts. Espositio has struck out 85 batters in 86 innings.
ABOUT CHICAGO STATE: The Cougars are 0-4 vs. independents and 4-49 overall in their first year since leaving the Mid-Continent Conference. Chicago State snapped a 16-game losing streak last Thursday with a 2-1 upset victory at Tulane in the first of a three-game series. Chicago State reliever Mike Wieda struck out four batters in four scoreless innings to earn the win. Wieda has three of CSU's four wins and he picked up a save in the other victory. The Cougars are hitting just .214 as a team. Junior infielder Alex Hall has a team-high .288 batting average. Sophomore outfielder Thomas Creal has drawn 22 walks and stolen 10 bases on his way to scoring a team-high 18 runs.
ABOUT NEW JERSEY TECH: The Highlanders are 1-7 vs. independents and 13-26 overall. NJIT's first year of Division I baseball came with a startling beginning in February when the Highlanders opened with a 34-1 loss at Georgia Southern. NJIT is hitting .253 as a team. Senior outfielder Kwesi Mitchell leads the team in several offensive categories including batting average (.368), runs (37), hits (50), home runs (13), RBIs (40), total bases (97) and slugging percentage (.713). Mitchell belted his 12th and 13th home runs of the year in last Saturday's doubleheader split at Hartford to break NJIT's 24-year-old single-season home run record. Pitcher P.J. Saporito is 5-5 in 11 starts this year and Cory Kuzmik has a 3-2 record with five saves in 18 relief appearances. Kuzmik has struck out 31 batters against seven walks in 26 innings.
HOME SWEET HOME: There's no place like home, and North Dakota State's baseball team had plenty of success in 19 games at Newman Outdoor Field. NDSU was 11-8 at home and hit .296 compared to its season average of .257. Seven players had averages over .300 at home led by Ryan Langlais hitting .406 with seven doubles, five homers and 15 RBIs, and Greg Plecki hitting .338 with five doubles and 22 runs scored. Shannon Ekermans hit .319, Matt Mossey hit .318, Luke Otto hit .313, Gavin Hofer hit .310, and Kole Zimmerman was .308 with a team-high 22 RBIs including three game-winning hits.
PLECKI SETS SEASON, CAREER SACRIFICES RECORD: North Dakota State senior outfielder Greg Plecki took over sole possession of the school's career sacrifices record with his 21st career sac bunt against Minnesota last Tuesday, May 15. He passed former Bison second baseman Brandon Olson (2000-03) for the record. Plecki also extended his single-season record to 10 sacrifices. He put down two sac bunts in the Sunday, May 6, doubleheader against South Dakota State to pass the 49-year old single-season record of eight set in 1958 by Norm Leraas and tied in 1996 by Mitch Bernstein.
THE WHIFF: Two North Dakota State starting pitchers had career-high strikeout totals in the May 11-12 series with the University of Mary. Jake Laber fanned 14 batters in seven innings for a 3-2 win in Friday's series opener. He struck out the first four batters of the game and six of the first seven. Jeff Hille fanned 12 batters in a complete-game 7-0 win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Hille struck out the first batter in seven out of nine innings and was voted Division I independent Newcomer of the Week for his performance.
ZIMMERMAN STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: North Dakota State outfielder/catcher Kole Zimmerman was named Student-Athlete of the Year and four Bison teammates were named to the Division I independent baseball all-academic team this month.
Zimmerman was a repeat selection along with outfielder Greg Plecki and pitcher Jake Laber. Pitchers Matt Bowar and Jeff Hille were first-time picks.
This is the second straight year North Dakota State has had five players named to the Division I independent all-academic team. IPFW, South Dakota State and Utah Valley State also had five selections each. Nominations were accepted for student-athletes with a 3.25 cumulative grade-point average and sophomore academic standing who were starters or key reserves for their teams.
Zimmerman, a senior from Windom, Minn., has a 4.00 grade-point average in graduate school. He maintained a 3.85 GPA while earning a bachelor's degree in history from NDSU and now is working as a graduate assistant in the history department. He returned from a shoulder surgery and a second football knee surgery to play his third year of baseball for the Bison in 2007.
Plecki, a senior from Bellevue, Neb., has a 3.87 cumulative GPA in health and physical education. Laber, a junior from Fargo, N.D., has a 3.85 cumulative GPA in accountancy. Bowar, a junior from Moorhead, Minn., has a 3.80 GPA in physical education with a minor in coaching. Hille, a junior from Sauk Rapids, Minn., has a 3.74 GPA in health and physical education.
ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT: North Dakota State outfielders Greg Plecki and Kole Zimmerman were voted to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 7 University Division baseball team selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America on Thursday, May 10.
Plecki, a senior from Bellevue, Neb., has a 3.87 cumulative GPA in health and physical education. Zimmerman, a senior from Windom, Minn., has a 4.00 GPA in graduate school and had a 3.85 undergraduate GPA while earning a history degree from NDSU.
Both players advance to the ballot for Academic All-America® honors to be announced Tuesday, May 29. They are the first Bison players to earn Academic All-District honors at the University Division level.
SOME CLUTCH HITTING: North Dakota State catcher Kole Zimmerman had three game-winning hits in the span of six days earlier this month. Zimmerman delivered game-winning hits in both ends of the Sunday, May 6, doubleheader sweep over South Dakota State. Zimmerman's two-run single in the seventh inning erased a 5-4 deficit in the opening game 6-5 win. For an encore, he sailed a two-run double to left field to break a 1-1 tie in the nightcap for a 3-2 victory. Zimmerman also had all three RBIs in the 3-2 win over U-Mary on Friday, May 11.
HOW DO YOU SPELL RELIEF? M-O-S-S-E-Y has been the frequent answer this month from North Dakota State pitching coach Steve Montgomery, who called on Bison shortstop Matt Mossey three times against South Dakota State in a four-game series May 4-6. Mossey emerged with a 1-0 record and two saves. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning May 4 for his first save of the year (6-3), then returned to the hill in both games of the May 6 doubleheader to pitch a scoreless ninth for another save (6-5), and to strike out three batters in 2 2/3 innings to win the nightcap (3-2). Mossey has made relief appearances against Northern Iowa and Minnesota since then.
LABER EARNS NATIONAL HONOR: North Dakota State lefty Jake Laber was one of 55 selections to National Honor Roll announced Tuesday, April 3, by the College Baseball Foundation. Laber tossed his fourth career complete game Friday, March 30, at Texas-Pan American as the Bison snapped an 11-game losing streak with an 8-2 victory. Both runs went unearned as Laber allowed four singles, walked three and struck out six to even his record at 2-2. It was the second time Laber has been recognized as a national player of the week. He was named to the CBF National Honor Roll last May after pitching the Bison to a 7-3 win over Minnesota.
BISON SIGN TWO: North Dakota State signed Fargo outfielder Billy Sholl and Las Vegas third baseman Devin Flynn to National Letters of Intent in April. They join right-handed pitcher Luke Anderson of Prior Lake, Minn., and left-handed pitcher Matt Buss of Rosemount, Minn., who inked during November's early signing period.
THE RECLASSIFICATION:
North Dakota State is in the fourth year of its five-year NCAA reclassification from Division II to Division I. The move was announced in 2002 and the Bison entered an exploratory year in 2003-04 while retaining membership in Division II and the North Central Conference. This is NDSU's third season as a D- I independent before joining The Summit League (now the Mid-Continent Conference) in July.
BISON TO PLAY IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: North Dakota State accepted an invitation Aug. 31 to join the Mid-Continent Conference for the 2007-08 season, and the league announced earlier this month it will take a new name, The Summit League, effective June 1. IPFW and South Dakota State also accepted invitations in August to push league membership to 10 schools for 2007-08, but only eight have baseball: Centenary, IPFW, North Dakota State, Oakland (Mich.), Oral Roberts, South Dakota State, Southern Utah and Western Illinois. NDSU will be immediately eligible for the regular-season conference championship, but will not participate in the postseason conference tournament until becoming an active Division I member in 2008-09.
