University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Friday, February 17
Birmingham, AL
5 PM
UNC Asheville
at
Samford
Baseball Opens Season at Samford with Three-Game Series
02.16.2017 | Baseball
Asheville-Samford Series Notes (PDF)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team opens the 2017 season this weekend with a three-game series at Southern Conference foe Samford. The battle between the Bulldogs will commence on Friday, Feb. 17 in the season-opener for both teams. That game is slated for a 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time first pitch. The two teams will then play at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18 and will close out the series with a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday, Feb. 19.
THE MATCHUP
Teams:Â UNC Asheville at Samford
Location:Â Birmingham, Ala. / Joe Lee Griffin Field
When: Friday, Feb. 17 – 5 p.m. / Saturday, Feb. 18 – 3 p.m. / Sunday, Feb. 19 – 2 p.m.
Video:Â Samford University Athletics YouTube
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH SAMFORD: UNC Asheville and Samford will be meeting for the sixth time with Asheville owning a 8-6 advantage in the series. The Asheville Bulldogs took the first series in 1998 2-1 in Birmingham before the Samford Bulldogs claimed the three-game series later that year in Asheville. Asheville again claimed a 2-1 series win in 1999, also in Birmingham. Asheville then swept the road doubleheader in 2005. Samford won the 2005 three-game series 1-2 in Asheville. 2017 will mark the first time the two Bulldog squads will meet in the season-opener and the first time the two have played since the 2005 season.
SCOUTING THE SAMFORD BULLDOGS: Samford is led by 13th-year head coach Casey Dunn. In his first 12 seasons in Birmingham, Dunn has guided the Bulldogs to a 374-325 record, including 30-win seasons in each of the last three years and nine total seasons with at least 30 wins. In 2016, Samford posted a 35-26 record, including a 20-13 mark at home, and finished fifth in the SoCon with a 13-11 league mark. The Bulldogs return just two position players, but will return three of their four starting pitchers and 21 total letterwinners. Junior designated hitter Austin Edens and senior centerfielder T.J. Dixon are the lone returning starting position players while sophomore Stephen Jones and seniors Jared Brasher and Mikhail Cazenave all return to toe the rubber. All three returning starting pitchers are right-handers. For the 2017 opening series, sophomore right-hander Jesse McCord will get the start on Friday, Cazenave will toe the rubber on Saturday and Jones will get the ball on Sunday.
THE ASHEVILLE BULLDOGS ON OPENING DAY: Since joining the ranks of Division I, UNC Asheville is 9-21 on opening day. However, the Bulldogs are 7-7 since 2003, including claiming three straight season openers from 2010-12. The last season-opening win came in 2014 on the road at UNCG.
ASHEVILLE'S WEEKEND STARTING ROTATION: UNC Asheville head baseball coach Scott Friedholm released his starting pitching rotation for the opening series at Samford, Wednesday morning. Freshman left-hander Greg Gasparro will get the nod for Friday's season-opener while redshirt sophomore Ryan Tapp will get the ball Saturday. Senior southpaw Spencer Orr will close things out for Asheville on Sunday.
FRIDAY'S STARTER: Greg Gasparro, a left-hander from Pennington, N.J., will be making his collegiate debut on Friday evening. When Gasparro toes the rubber, it will mark the first time in the Friedholm era that a freshman hurler has gotten the nod in the season-opener as well as the first time that a southpaw has started the first game of the season for Freidholm. Gasparro will also be the youngest opening day pitcher the Bulldogs have thrown since Ryan Dull got the opening-day nod as a sophomore in 2010.
SATURDAY'S STARTER: Ryan Tapp redshirted last season, but as a true freshman in 2015, he appeared in 18 games as a reliever. He threw 17.2 innings and struck out 16 batters on the year.
SUNDAY'S STARTER: Spencer Orr returns for his senior season after making 16 appearances and eight starts last season. For his career, Orr has pitched 101.1 innings and struck out 72 batters, including a career-high 30 last season. He is 6-4 in three years.
THIRD SEASON FOR FRIEDHOLM AND CREW: 2017 will mark the third season for head coach Scott Friedholm and his coaching staff in Asheville. While the first two seasons have seen growing pains, there have also been plenty of positives to build off. Last season included a huge road win over 11th-ranked North Carolina as well as series wins over Mount St. Mary's, Presbyterian and Charleston Southern. Friedholm will have a roster of 26 players to work with this spring, including eight true freshmen. He returns 18 players from last year's roster, including four of the top five offensive producers from last season's team. While the team is young, Friedholm won't be afraid to ask his team to compete.
UP NEXT: Following the season-opening three-game series in Birmingham, the Asheville Bulldogs will play a mid-week game at USC Upstate on Wednesday, Feb. 22. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
TIETJEN NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE BY PERFECT GAME: UNC Asheville baseball player Joe Tietjen has been named to the Perfect Game Preseason Big South All-Conference Team by the staff of Perfect Game and was listed in the top-five of the top prospects of the conference for this year's graduating class. A senior outfielder from Waxhaw, N.C., Tietjen was named to the Big South All-Conference Second Team following the 2016 season. During his junior campaign, he led the team in nine offensive statistical categories, including batting average (.344), runs scored (44), hits (74), home runs (10) and stolen bases (12). He also boasted a .553 slugging percentage, batted in 55 runs and collected 119 total bases in 215 at bats. For his career, Tietjen boasts a .306 batting average, has scored 101 runs, collected 145 hits and has driven in 90 runs. He has also swiped 23 bases and has 342 putouts in the field.
QUOTABLES
Feelings on heading into the opening series
"I'm feeling a little bit of every emotion right now: excited, nervous, but interested might be the best adjective to describe this feeling. I'm very interested to see how our guys are going to react playing another opponent, another strong team like Samford. It should be a really good challenge for us." – Scott Friedholm
On the challenges Samford presents
"They're going to be able to pitch well. A lot of their pitchers are back from last season. We'll face three hard-throwing right-handers this weekend. The position guys they return are really good. Their leadoff hitter, T.J. Dickson, and their three-hole hitter, Austin Edens, had 19 or 20 home runs last year. There's going to be some power in that lineup again this season, so we have to do a good job on the mound and on defense containing those guys."
On expectations for a young squad
"I'm excited to see how we compete this weekend. If we can continue to do what we've been doing in practice, with the competition that we've brought to practice every day, if we can continue to keep up that energy for three consecutive games this weekend, we'll be fine."
Â
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team opens the 2017 season this weekend with a three-game series at Southern Conference foe Samford. The battle between the Bulldogs will commence on Friday, Feb. 17 in the season-opener for both teams. That game is slated for a 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time first pitch. The two teams will then play at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18 and will close out the series with a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday, Feb. 19.
THE MATCHUP
Teams:Â UNC Asheville at Samford
Location:Â Birmingham, Ala. / Joe Lee Griffin Field
When: Friday, Feb. 17 – 5 p.m. / Saturday, Feb. 18 – 3 p.m. / Sunday, Feb. 19 – 2 p.m.
Video:Â Samford University Athletics YouTube
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH SAMFORD: UNC Asheville and Samford will be meeting for the sixth time with Asheville owning a 8-6 advantage in the series. The Asheville Bulldogs took the first series in 1998 2-1 in Birmingham before the Samford Bulldogs claimed the three-game series later that year in Asheville. Asheville again claimed a 2-1 series win in 1999, also in Birmingham. Asheville then swept the road doubleheader in 2005. Samford won the 2005 three-game series 1-2 in Asheville. 2017 will mark the first time the two Bulldog squads will meet in the season-opener and the first time the two have played since the 2005 season.
SCOUTING THE SAMFORD BULLDOGS: Samford is led by 13th-year head coach Casey Dunn. In his first 12 seasons in Birmingham, Dunn has guided the Bulldogs to a 374-325 record, including 30-win seasons in each of the last three years and nine total seasons with at least 30 wins. In 2016, Samford posted a 35-26 record, including a 20-13 mark at home, and finished fifth in the SoCon with a 13-11 league mark. The Bulldogs return just two position players, but will return three of their four starting pitchers and 21 total letterwinners. Junior designated hitter Austin Edens and senior centerfielder T.J. Dixon are the lone returning starting position players while sophomore Stephen Jones and seniors Jared Brasher and Mikhail Cazenave all return to toe the rubber. All three returning starting pitchers are right-handers. For the 2017 opening series, sophomore right-hander Jesse McCord will get the start on Friday, Cazenave will toe the rubber on Saturday and Jones will get the ball on Sunday.
THE ASHEVILLE BULLDOGS ON OPENING DAY: Since joining the ranks of Division I, UNC Asheville is 9-21 on opening day. However, the Bulldogs are 7-7 since 2003, including claiming three straight season openers from 2010-12. The last season-opening win came in 2014 on the road at UNCG.
ASHEVILLE'S WEEKEND STARTING ROTATION: UNC Asheville head baseball coach Scott Friedholm released his starting pitching rotation for the opening series at Samford, Wednesday morning. Freshman left-hander Greg Gasparro will get the nod for Friday's season-opener while redshirt sophomore Ryan Tapp will get the ball Saturday. Senior southpaw Spencer Orr will close things out for Asheville on Sunday.
FRIDAY'S STARTER: Greg Gasparro, a left-hander from Pennington, N.J., will be making his collegiate debut on Friday evening. When Gasparro toes the rubber, it will mark the first time in the Friedholm era that a freshman hurler has gotten the nod in the season-opener as well as the first time that a southpaw has started the first game of the season for Freidholm. Gasparro will also be the youngest opening day pitcher the Bulldogs have thrown since Ryan Dull got the opening-day nod as a sophomore in 2010.
SATURDAY'S STARTER: Ryan Tapp redshirted last season, but as a true freshman in 2015, he appeared in 18 games as a reliever. He threw 17.2 innings and struck out 16 batters on the year.
SUNDAY'S STARTER: Spencer Orr returns for his senior season after making 16 appearances and eight starts last season. For his career, Orr has pitched 101.1 innings and struck out 72 batters, including a career-high 30 last season. He is 6-4 in three years.
THIRD SEASON FOR FRIEDHOLM AND CREW: 2017 will mark the third season for head coach Scott Friedholm and his coaching staff in Asheville. While the first two seasons have seen growing pains, there have also been plenty of positives to build off. Last season included a huge road win over 11th-ranked North Carolina as well as series wins over Mount St. Mary's, Presbyterian and Charleston Southern. Friedholm will have a roster of 26 players to work with this spring, including eight true freshmen. He returns 18 players from last year's roster, including four of the top five offensive producers from last season's team. While the team is young, Friedholm won't be afraid to ask his team to compete.
UP NEXT: Following the season-opening three-game series in Birmingham, the Asheville Bulldogs will play a mid-week game at USC Upstate on Wednesday, Feb. 22. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
TIETJEN NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE BY PERFECT GAME: UNC Asheville baseball player Joe Tietjen has been named to the Perfect Game Preseason Big South All-Conference Team by the staff of Perfect Game and was listed in the top-five of the top prospects of the conference for this year's graduating class. A senior outfielder from Waxhaw, N.C., Tietjen was named to the Big South All-Conference Second Team following the 2016 season. During his junior campaign, he led the team in nine offensive statistical categories, including batting average (.344), runs scored (44), hits (74), home runs (10) and stolen bases (12). He also boasted a .553 slugging percentage, batted in 55 runs and collected 119 total bases in 215 at bats. For his career, Tietjen boasts a .306 batting average, has scored 101 runs, collected 145 hits and has driven in 90 runs. He has also swiped 23 bases and has 342 putouts in the field.
QUOTABLES
Feelings on heading into the opening series
"I'm feeling a little bit of every emotion right now: excited, nervous, but interested might be the best adjective to describe this feeling. I'm very interested to see how our guys are going to react playing another opponent, another strong team like Samford. It should be a really good challenge for us." – Scott Friedholm
On the challenges Samford presents
"They're going to be able to pitch well. A lot of their pitchers are back from last season. We'll face three hard-throwing right-handers this weekend. The position guys they return are really good. Their leadoff hitter, T.J. Dickson, and their three-hole hitter, Austin Edens, had 19 or 20 home runs last year. There's going to be some power in that lineup again this season, so we have to do a good job on the mound and on defense containing those guys."
On expectations for a young squad
"I'm excited to see how we compete this weekend. If we can continue to do what we've been doing in practice, with the competition that we've brought to practice every day, if we can continue to keep up that energy for three consecutive games this weekend, we'll be fine."
Â
Players Mentioned
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