University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Tennessee Tech
Baseball Hosts Tennessee Tech Tuesday in Midweek Contest
03.20.2017 | Baseball
Asheville-Tennessee Tech Notes (PDF)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team will conclude the current four-game homestand Tuesday, March 21, with a midweek game against Tennessee Tech. The game against the Golden Eagles will feature a 4 p.m. first pitch.
THE MATCHUP
Teams:Â UNC Asheville (8-10) vs. Tennessee Tech (15-6)
Location:Â Asheville, N.C. / Greenwood Field
When:Â Tuesday, March 21 / 4 p.m.
Live Video:Â Big South Network
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
BULLDOG BASEBALL ON THE BIG SOUTH NETWORK: UNC Asheville will aim to stream all home baseball games on the Big South Network as weather allows.
INSIDE THE SERIES: Heading into Tuesday's midweek game, UNC Asheville owns a record of 13-8 all-time against Tennessee Tech. The Bulldogs won the first meeting 3-2 back in 1990. Asheville also boasts the two longest winning streaks in the series, winning five straight between the 1993 and 1994 seasons and four straight beginning in 1994 and ending in 2004. In the Scott Friedholm era, the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles have split the two previous meetings, including Asheville claiming a 7-5 win in 2015.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: The Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech enter the week with a 15-6 record on the season, including 4-3 on the road. They started the season with nine straight home games and a five-game winning streak, including a four-game sweep of Toledo in the opening weekend. Tennessee Tech dropped the first road series of the season 2-1 at Bethune-Cookman but bounced back the following weekend with a three-game sweep of UT Martin. Last weekend, the Golden Eagles swept SIUE and are a perfect 6-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Golden Eagles are led by six players with above-.300 batting averages, highlighted by Ryan Flick's .398 in 21 games played. Flick also boasts a .723 slugging percentage, 24 RBIs, 12 doubles, 24 runs scored and five home runs. Alex Junior leads the team with nine stolen bases and Collin Harris is tops on the team with seven homers. Tennessee Tech has relied on four different midweek starting pitchers with freshman right-hander Devin Lancaster having made two midweek starts. Lancaster has made four starts on the year and is 2-0 so far this season in 20.0 innings of work. He has a 4.05 ERA and has struck out 18 batters. The other three midweek pitchers have been Chase Burkett, Seth Noel and Nick Dye. A senior righty who has made six appearances and five starts this year, Burkett has struck out 15 batters and owns a 3.04 ERA in 26.2 innings of work.
TOP-10 AND MOVING UP: With his stolen base in the bottom of the first inning, senior Joe Tietjen moved into a tie for seventh all-time in program history for bases stolen in a career. He has now stolen 34 bases over his illustrious career. He is just two stolen bases away from sixth, four away from fifth and is 23 away from first in program history.
CLOSING IN: Senior centerfielder Joe Tietjen is quickly closing in on the top-10 in program history in five other offensive categories. He is just one triple away from tying teammate Tanner Bush and three former Bulldogs for 10th in triples, two home runs and two RBIs away from 10th all-time in those categories and three doubles away from breaking into the top-10. He is also seven runs scored away from breaking into the top-10 in program history.
TIETJEN IN THE BIG SOUTH: Joe Tietjen has already swiped 11 bases so far this season. That mark has him second in the Big South Conference. He is also tied for fourth in the conference with 16 runs scored.
NOW WALK IT OUT: Freshman Chris Troost enters the week ranked tied for fourth in the nation for bases on balls. Troost was walked twice on Sunday and now has 23 for the season, an average of 1.28 per game, a mark which has him currently tops in the nation.
TROOST IN THE BIG SOUTH: Chris Troost is ranked in the top-five of the Big South Conference in two categories. Not only does he lead the nation in walks per game, but he also leads the Big South in bases on balls. He is also fifth in the league in on-base percentage (.481).
LANKFORD MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF: Freshman third baseman Brandon Lankford has quickly established himself as one of the better players in the Big South Conference, even as a freshman. He currently sits in the top-five of the league in six offensive categories and is also 15th with a team-best .329 batting average. Lankford is tied for fifth in the Big South with 25 hits, third with 19 runs batted in, second in slugging percentage (.632), doubles (eight) and total bases (48), and he leads the Big South Conference with five home runs on the season.
LANKFORD NATIONALLY: Brandon Lankford is currently tied for 53rd in the nation with eight doubles on the year. He is also tied for 60th in NCAA Division I with 0.44 doubles per game. Lankford enters the week tied for 46th in the country with five home runs.
ORR SOLID ON THE MOUND: Senior southpaw Spencer Orr is currently eighth in the Big South Conference with 28.1 innings pitched. Orr leads the team and is tied for ninth in the league with 24 strikeouts, just six away from his career-high of 30 in one season.
WOODS SAVING THE DAY: Justin Woods recorded his third save of the season on Saturday as he pitched the final inning in the Bulldog's 4-3 victory over Winthrop. He is tied for second in the Big South Conference and is also tied for 70th in the nation in the category.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING: Justin Woods has done a little bit of everything this season for the Bulldogs. Offensively, he boasts a .264 batting average, has scored six runs and drove in 13 others. He also has three home runs on the year, including a grand slam at USC Upstate. He is also second on the team with a .528 slugging percentage. He has also split time on defense in left field and on the mound. He has made 22 putouts and four assists on the year and is second on the team with a 1.12 ERA in seven appearances. He boasts three saves and has struck out six batters.
BACK-TO-BACK SERIES WINS: When UNC Asheville won the first game of a doubleheader against UMBC on Saturday, March 11, it marked the first time since the 2012 season that the Bulldogs had won back-to-back weekend series. The 7-6 walk-off win over UMBC gave UNC Asheville a 2-1 series win over the Retrievers. The weekend before, the Bulldogs won the series 2-1 over Iona. The last time the Asheville baseball program strung together multiple weekend series was the 2012 campaign. The 2012 Bulldogs won three straight weekend series, including 2-1 over Liberty, a clean sweep (3-0) on the road at High Point and 2-1 at College of Charleston.
NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE: The Bulldogs turned a rare 1-3-5-6 triple play in the bottom of the first inning at Appalachian State on Wednesday, March 8. It is just the second triple play to be turned in NCAA Division I this season as George Washington turned one earlier this year. It is also the second triple play in as many years in the Big South Conference as Gardner-Webb turned the only triple play in Division I last season.
YOUNG SQUAD: The Bulldogs' starting lineup has featured 12 players who are either freshmen or sophomores to start the year. Freshmen Chris Troost, Brandon Lankford, Kole Harris, Joe Gruszka, Jake Madole, Tyler Serricchio and Greg Gasparro have all contributed in the starting lineup very early. Sophomores Carmine Pagano, Andrew Friedholm, Danny Wilson, Austin Fahr and Ryan Tapp have all picked up where they left off as freshmen and are beginning to see their roles increase as well.
MOVING RUNNERS ACROSS THE PLATE: Senior center fielder Joe Tietjen moved seven runners across the plate on Friday, Feb. 24, against Dayton, coming up just two shy of the individual single-game school record. Tietjen had a double and a home run to help his efforts. He also had two other hits that came close to clearing the fence. One was just foul and the other came up just short of the center field fence.
LAST TIME OUT (vs. Winthrop, 3/19/17): Despite a strong start on the mound from senior Spencer Orr, the UNC Asheville baseball team fell 1-0 to Winthrop in the series finale of the Bulldogs' Big South Conference opening series. Orr and the Bulldog defense opened the game strong, retiring the first three Winthrop batters in order, including the first of Orr's eight strikeouts to end the top of the first. Orr followed that up in the top of the second by retiring the first two batters via strikeout. The game was a classic pitcher's duel from start to finish as both starting pitchers for UNC Asheville and Winthrop kept their opponents mostly at bay. The Eagles were eventually able to break through with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh to earn the win. The Bulldogs made solid contact with the ball all game long, but Winthrop's defense stood firm and held Asheville to just one hit. Nick Boyles (0-2) was the pitcher of record for Asheville while Colton Rendon (2-1) earned his second win of the year. The freshman pitched 8.0 innings of one-hit ball and fanned five batters. Dalton Whitaker came on to pitch the final inning to earn his second save of the year.
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will next play four games on the road beginning with a three-game Big South Conference series at Presbyterian College. The series against the Blue Hose will begin Friday, March 24, at 3 p.m. Saturday's game will feature a 2 p.m. first pitch and the series finale on Sunday, March 26, will get underway at 1 p.m. Following the series at Presbyterian, the Bulldogs will travel to Greensboro, N.C., to take on UNCG on Tuesday, March 28.
LANKFORD NAMED BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK (2/27): After a stellar week in Spartanburg, UNC Asheville baseball true freshman Brandon Lankford was named the Big South Conference's Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week, as announced by the conference office Monday, Feb. 27. Lankford's honor marks the second week in a row that a UNC Asheville freshman has earned the honor and gives UNC Asheville a sweep of the award in the first two weeks of its existence. Last week, fellow true freshman Chris Troost earned the first-ever Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week honors for baseball in the Big South. Lankford led the Bulldogs to a 2-2 record this past week in Spartanburg. Over the course of the Bulldogs' four games, he batted a team-best .389 with an outstanding .833 slugging percentage and .500 on-base percentage. He led the team with four extra base knocks, including two home runs and two doubles. The third baseman from Mocksville, N.C., had multiple hits in all but one game last week and also had at least one RBI in each game. He scored seven runs himself, including the game-winner Sunday to lift Asheville over Wofford 7-6, and batted in six others. In the field, he recorded a putout and nine assists for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. In Wednesday's game at USC Upstate, Lankford started the scoring drive for the Bulldogs with a double to score Carmine Pagano, putting Asheville up 1-0. On Friday against Dayton, his single through the left side to score fellow freshman Kole Harris in the top of the second inning put the Bulldogs ahead of the Flyers for good. He then scored the first of his two runs of that game when Joe Tietjen doubled to left field. His second run of the game came when Tietjen ripped a home run to center field. In the game against the Flyers, Lankford went 2-for-4 at the plate and drew two walks. In the weekend finale at Wofford, Lankford went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. In the fourth inning, he scored off a Danny Wilson double down the right field line. Then, in the eighth inning, Lankford hit his third home run of the season, second of the week, scoring last week's Big South Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week Troost. He ended his week by scoring the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning when fellow freshman Joe Gruszka was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
TROOST NAMED FIRST-EVER BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK (2/20): UNC Asheville baseball true freshman Chris Troost was named the first-ever Big South Conference's Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week as announced by the conference office Monday, Feb. 20. Troost led the way offensively for Asheville during the opening weekend series at Samford. The 5-8 Medford, N.J., native batted .444 through the three-game series and boasted an on-base percentage of .615 while scoring a run and batting in another. He showed enough improvement over the weekend to move up from the seven-hole of the lineup to the two-hole. In the season-opener on Friday, Troost showed a lot of patience in the batter's box to draw three walks compared to just one strikeout and also had an RBI. In Sunday's series finale, Troost went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and also drew another walk. He scored his run in the ninth inning to add an important insurance run, helping Asheville defeat Samford 6-4 for the first win of the season.
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
On the offense heading into Tuesday
"This game can be very frustrating in that we barreled up a lot of balls on Saturday and Sunday and hit a lot of balls right at guys. Winthrop's shortstop, Spires, made four or five really nice plays that were game-changing plays. As far as what our lineup needs to do, they just need to keep that same approach and try to get nine guys doing it. Sunday we had six or seven, if we can get all nine guys hitting well on the same day and keep putting pressure on teams, we'll be fine. We just need to not stress or panic, just keep playing baseball." – Scott Friedholm
On the pitching corps
"For the most part, I was very happy with what our pitching staff did this weekend, even on Friday. Brandon Harris had a very good start and did enough for a Friday night and we just weren't able to get the support around him. Joe Zayatz and Spencer Orr followed that up on Saturday and Sunday and both threw great games. We just have to keep playing and hopefully we'll be on the other side of some of those games as well." – Scott Friedholm
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