University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Richmond
Baseball Hits the Road for Weekend Series at Richmond
03.30.2017 | Baseball
Asheville-Richmond Series Notes (PDF)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team will continue the current seven game stretch of non-conference games with a three-game, weekend series at Richmond this weekend. The Bulldogs and Spiders will tangle on Friday, March 31, at 3 p.m. On Saturday, April 1, the two will face off at 1 p.m. UNC Asheville and Richmond will close out the series on Sunday, April 2, with a game at high noon.
THE MATCHUP
Teams:Â UNC Asheville (11-13) at Richmond (9-14)
Location:Â Richmond, Va. / Pitt Field
When:Â Friday, March 31, 3 p.m. / Saturday, April 1, 1 p.m. / Sunday, April 2, 12 p.m.
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
BULLDOGS VS. CANCER: The UNC Asheville baseball team held its annual Vs. Cancer Game Wednesday night. The Bulldogs raised money to donate to the Vs. Cancer Foundation in an effort to battle childhood cancer. An unofficial tally has the Bulldogs having raised over $8,600 so far this season alone. In the previous four years, UNC Asheville raised and donated close to $24,000 with much of the money staying in Asheville to help local children battling cancer.
INSIDE THE SERIES: This weekend will mark the first-ever meeting between UNC Asheville and Richmond on the baseball diamond.
SCOUTING THE SPIDERS: Richmond enters the weekend with a 9-14 record, including series victories over Youngstown State and Dayton. The Spiders are 5-6 at their home field of Pitt Field. Richmond has been led at the plate by five players with above-.300 batting averages. Vinny Capra leads the way with a .375 average in 21 games, including 33 hits. Daniel Brumbaugh is second on the team with a .351 batting average and a team-best 22 runs scored. He also boasts a team-best 14 extra-base knocks, including eight doubles, four triples and two home runs. D.J. Lee and Brumbaugh lead the team with five and four stolen bases. Robbie Baker, the Spiders' Friday starter, is 1-2 on the year in six starts. Layne Looney is 2-2 in seven starts as the Saturday starter and Brumbaugh, the Sunday starter, is a perfect 2-0 on the year with one start and eight appearances.
WEEKEND ROTATION: The Bulldogs' starting rotation this weekend will look exactly the same as it did last weekend against Presbyterian. Brandon Harris will toe the rubber first on Friday and fellow freshman Greg Gasparro will get the start on Saturday. Senior Spencer Orr will remain the Sunday starter to close things out. Friday will mark the fourth consecutive Friday start for Harris who enters the weekend with a 3-1 record and a 1.27 ERA. He has pitched 28.1 innings and struck out 11 batters. Gasparro will be making his fifth start of the year and second in the last two weekends. He has pitched 26.2 innings and struck out 19 batters, the second-most on the squad. Orr leads the team with 35.0 innings of work and has remained the steady Sunday starter for the Bulldogs this season. He boasts a 3.34 ERA, a 1-2 record and has struck out a team-best 29 batters. Richmond will turn to three right-handers for the weekend starting with Robbie Baker on Friday. Layne Looney will get the start on Saturday and Daniel Brumbaugh will close things out for the Spiders as the Sunday starter.
CANNONS FOR ARMS IN THE OUTFIELD: Danny Wilson had two assists from left field Wednesday night, both throwing runners out at home. He threw one Western Carolina runner out at home without a cutoff man in the top of the second inning and then combined with Kole Harris to throw another greedy runner out in the top of the sixth. The two assists gives UNC Asheville 11 outfield assists on the season, a mark that has them in the top-five in the nation in the category.
THE STREAK OVER THE CATAMOUNTS: UNC Asheville has now won four in a row over Western Carolina, the longest streak either school has had in the series. The Bulldogs have out-scored the Catamounts 46-17 during the run that dates back to the 2015 season. Head coach Scott Friedholm is now 4-0 against WCU while at UNC Asheville.
FIRST CAREER HOMER: Freshman Tyler Serricchio was one of two Bulldogs to lead the way at the plate on Tuesday, March 21, against a strong Tennessee Tech squad. Serricchio went 2-for-4 at the dish and drove in five runs while scoring two himself. Three of his RBIs came off a home run in the bottom of the eighth when he launched his first career homer to left field, scoring fellow freshman Joe Gruszka and senior Kyle Carruthers.
BREAKING INTO THE TOP-10 IN A BIG WAY: Senior center fielder Joe Tietjen broke into the top-10 in program history in two offensive categories Wednesday night when he ripped his grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was his 19th home run, which has him tied for 10th all-time in the category. He now has 110 runs batted in, a mark that has him ninth in program history.
SWIPING BASES: Joe Tietjen also moved up a spot in program history as he stole a base Wednesday night, giving him 12 for the season and 35 for his career. He is now in sole possession of seventh in program history and is just one stolen base away from sixth and three away from fifth.
CLOSING IN: Senior centerfielder Joe Tietjen is quickly closing in on the top-10 in program history in three other offensive categories. He is just one triple away from tying teammate Tanner Bush and three former Bulldogs for 10th in triples and he is three doubles and six runs scored away from breaking into the top-10 in program history.
NOW WALK IT OUT: Freshman Chris Troost is currently ranked tied for fifth in the nation for bases on balls with 23. Troost is walked an average of 1.21 times per game, a mark which has him currently tops in the nation.
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 is currently in the top-10 in the league in four offensive categories. Lankford is tied for third with five home runs. He is also tied for fifth in both total bases (49) and doubles (8) and is eighth with 21 runs batted in.
ORR SOLID ON THE MOUND: Senior southpaw Spencer Orr is currently eighth in the Big South Conference with 35.0 innings pitched. Orr leads the team and is 10th in the league with 29 strikeouts, just one away from his career-high of 30 in one season. He also boasts a 3.34 earned run average, ninth in the league.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING: Justin Woods has done a little bit of everything this season for the Bulldogs. Offensively, he boasts a .233 batting average, has scored seven runs and drove in 17 others. He also has three home runs on the year, including a grand slam at USC Upstate. He is third on the team with a .425 slugging percentage. He has also split time on defense in left field and on the mound. He has made 27 putouts and five assists on the year and is second on the team with a 0.82 ERA in nine appearances. He boasts four saves and has struck out eight batters.
LAST TIME OUT (vs. Western Carolina, 3/29/17): Joe Tietjen has made plenty of big plays in his time with the UNC Asheville baseball team, so it should have come as no surprise Wednesday night when the senior center fielder sent a rocket of a home run over the center field wall at McCormick Field in what proved to be one of the bigger moments of the game. That home run, a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning, proved to be the game-winner, giving the Bulldogs a 5-3 win over in-state rival Western Carolina. The Bulldogs have now won four-straight over the Catamounts in the series, including winning 8-0 last season in Cullowhee and claiming two games, 13-8 and 20-6, in 2015. The stretch of four games is the longest such streak by either team in the series and has seen UNC Asheville out-score the Catamounts 46-17 during the stretch. The night was extra special for UNC Asheville as it was the Bulldogs' annual Vs. Cancer Game, where UNC Asheville raised money to donate to the Vs. Cancer Foundation in an effort to battle childhood cancer. An unofficial tally has the Bulldogs having raised over $8,500 so far this season alone. In the previous four years, UNC Asheville raised and donated close to $24,000 with much of the money staying in Asheville to help local children battling cancer. Western Carolina took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and proceeded to keep the Bulldog batters at bay for much of the early going as the Bulldogs registered just one hit through the first three innings. That began to change in the bottom of the fourth when Kyle Carruthers drew a leadoff walk and then advanced to second when Andrew Friedholm drew a five-pitch walk in the next at-bat. Carruthers made it to third on a failed pickoff attempt by the Catamounts' second pitcher of the night, setting up a prime opportunity for Jake Madole who laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Carruthers. The Catamounts wasted little time in retaking the lead as they scored a single run in the top of the very next inning and added what was at the time an insurance run in the top of the seventh to lead 3-1. In the bottom of the inning, Western Carolina called upon its seventh pitcher of the game and it proved to be just what UNC Asheville needed as freshmen Joe Gruszka and Kole Harris as well as redshirt junior Joe Zayatz all notched one-out hits to load the bases. Tietjen wasted no time at the plate as he swung on the first pitch he saw and sent a towering home run straight out to center field, driving in four runs to push UNC Asheville ahead 5-3. Following Tietjen's grand slam, Justin Woods, Harris and the Bulldog defense held firm to record the win. Woods (2-0) pitched 2.0 innings and struck out two batters while giving up just one unearned run to notch his second win of the season while Harris came on to pitch the final frame from his starting shortstop position to record his second save of the year. Western Carolina sent eight pitchers to the mound throughout the course of the afternoon with starter Dillon Bray going the longest with 2.0 innings of work that saw him give up just one hit and two walks. Jacob Breakfield (0-2) was saddled with his second loss of the season.
UP NEXT: Following the weekend series at Richmond, the Bulldogs will stay on the road for one game at N.C. State before returning home for five games starting with a midweek contest against North Carolina Central. UNC Asheville will first take on the Wolf Pack on Tuesday, April 4, with a game at 6 p.m. in Raleigh. The Bulldogs will then welcome the Eagles of N.C. Central to Greenwood Field on Wednesday, April 5. First pitch of that game will start at 4 p.m.
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.
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 facing Richmond
"We are looking to build off of the momentum that we had last night against Western Carolina and how we played last weekend at Presbyterian. We pitched and played defense well in both situations and that's our main goal. If we pitch well and play good defense, we will give our offense a chance and it will give us a chance to win. When you focus on those two aspects of the game, as we saw last night, you really just need one or two good at-bats in a row to set up the big clutch hit. Joe Tietjen did that last night, but we hope three or four other guys will step up to get those big hits for us when we need it." – Scott Friedholm
On the pitching situation heading into the weekend
"Heading into our midweek games, we knew we wouldn't use our three starters, Brandon Harris, Greg Gasparro and Spencer Orr. But to have pretty much our entire bullpen ready to this weekend following our two games is big for us. We kept our midweek pitchers below 60 pitches on Tuesday and below 25 on Wednesday to make sure they will be ready and available this weekend. If our three starters can all have good starts this weekend and give us quality innings, then that sets us up well for this weekend." – Scott Friedholm
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