University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
UMBC
Baseball Hosts UMBC For Weekend Series Beginning Friday
03.09.2017 | Baseball
Asheville-UMBC Series Notes (PDF)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team returns home after the midweek road game at Appalachian State for a three-game series against UMBC. The Bulldogs and Retrievers will open the series on Friday, March 10, with a 3 p.m. first pitch. The two will then play a 2 p.m. game on Saturday, March 11. The series will conclude on Sunday, March 12, with a 1 p.m. contest. Live video of all three games will be available this weekend on the Big South Network.
THE MATCHUP
Teams:Â UNC Asheville (5-6) vs. UMBC (1-7)
Location:Â Asheville, N.C. / Greenwood Field
When: Friday, March 10 - 3 p.m. / Saturday, March 11 - 2 p.m. / Sunday, March 12 – 1 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: Beginning with this weekend's three-game home series against UMBC, UNC Asheville will aim to stream all home baseball games on the Big South Network as weather allows.
INSIDE THE SERIES: Asheville enters this weekend trailing UMBC 7-10 in the all-time series. The two have not met since the 1998 season, UMBC's last season in the Big South Conference. The Bulldogs swept the 1997 series over the Retrievers and won four games in a row from 1996 to 1997. UNC Asheville won five of the last seven games between the two.
UMBC IN THE BIG SOUTH: UMBC was a member of the Big South Conference from 1993 through 1998. During that span, they finished as high as second in the league standings and posted a 55-77 record in Big South games.
SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS: UMBC enters the weekend with a 1-7 record on the young season. The Retrievers opened the season in Lexington, S.C., in the Lexington County Tournament against Liberty and St. John's (N.Y.). UMBC went 0-3 in that tourney. The Retrievers picked up their first win of the season on Sunday, March 5 in a 6-0 decision over Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs. The Runnin' Bulldogs claimed the series 2-1. Earlier this week, UMBC fell 17-6 and 7-3 at Delaware and at home to Towson. At the plate, junior Zack Bright leads the way with a .364 batting average. Hunter Dolshun's three doubles lead the team as do his four runs scored. A.J. Wright has recorded the most hits (eight) and RBIs (five) on the squad. On the mound, 14 different pitchers have made an appearance. Jacob Christian, Sunday's starter, recorded the lone win on the mound and boasts the most strikeouts on the year with 14. Matt Chanin, Saturday's starter for UMBC, has pitched the most innings with 13.0 and is second on the squad with 10 strikeouts.
WEEKEND ROTATION: This weekend, UNC Asheville will go with freshman right-hander Brandon Harris starting Friday. Redshirt junior righty Joe Zayatz will toe the rubber on Saturday and senior left-hander Spencer Orr will continue in his Sunday starting role. UMBC will turn to redshirt senior right-hander Michael Austin on Friday and junior righty Matt Chanin on Saturday. Sophomore right-hander Jacob Christian will be the Sunday starter for the Retrievers.
NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE: The Bulldogs turned a rare 1-3-5-6 triple play in the bottom of the first inning of Wednesday night's game at Appalachian State. 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.
EXTRAS FOR LANKFORD: Infielder Brandon Lankford's home run in the top of the sixth inning Wednesday against App State was the fourth of the year for the freshman and was his eighth extra-base knock of the young year. Both lead the team.
CONTINUING TO DO IT ALL: Justin Woods continued to do a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs Wednesday at Appalachian State as he was the starting pitcher and also led the way for Asheville at the plate as the designated hitter. Woods now has 10 hits on the year on offense and is eighth in the Big South Conference with a .357 batting average. He has also made five appearances on the mound, pitching 6.0 innings.
OFF TO A GOOD START: The Bulldogs started the year off 5-5 through the first 10 games of the year with a series win over Iona. The .500 start marked the best start for the program under third-year head coach Scott Friedholm and is the best start through 10 games since the 2012 squad went 6-4 to start the year. Both the 2011 and 2012 teams started the season undefeated. The 2011 Bulldogs started off 4-0 and the 2012 team went 3-0 to kick off the season.
DOUBLING THEM UP: In the series last weekend against Iona, UNC Asheville turned seven double plays, giving the Bulldogs 13 for the year.
EXTRA-BASE KNOCKS: The Bulldogs combined for nine extra-base knocks last weekend against the Gaels, including six doubles, two triples and a home run by Danny Wilson. After Wednesday's game at App State, Asheville now has 34 extra-base knocks.
WILSON AT THE PLATE: Over the three games with Iona last weekend, sophomore Danny Wilson led the Bulldogs' offense with a .455 batting average, going 5-for-11 at the plate with four runs batted in, two extra-base knocks and one run scored. He slugged .818 for the weekend and boasted an on-base percentage of .538 as he walked twice and didn't strike out.
OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION: Last weekend against Iona, three Bulldogs scored multiple runs led by Joe Tietjen's four. Carmine Pagano scored three runs against the Gaels and Brandon Lankford scored two. Danny Wilson led the way with four RBIs and Tietjen, Jake Madole, Lankford had two RBIs each for the weekend series.
THE PITCHING CORPS: Against the Gaels of Iona last weekend, Asheville's pitchers combined for a 4.00 ERA and held Iona's batters to a .273 batting average. The Bulldogs combined to strike out 19 batters led by Spencer Orr, Joe Zayatz and Kole Harris all with four. In three innings of work, Brandon Harris held Iona's hitters to a .091 batting average as he gave up just one hit.
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.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING: Senior Justin Woods did a little bit of everything while in Spartanburg. The senior started his week off by recording his first career grand slam against USC Upstate on Wednesday, Feb. 22. The four-RBI performance was just the beginning as he led the team with nine RBIs on the week. For the week, he batted .313, including two home runs and a double, scored three runs and boasted a slugging percentage of .750 to go with a .450 on-base percentage. In the field, he had seven putouts. But his week didn't end there as he came on to pitch the final two innings of UNC Asheville's 7-6 come-from-behind win over Wofford on Sunday, Feb. 26, earning the win and striking out two batters, including the last batter of the game. In his two innings of work, batters hit just .167 against him (one hit) and he didn't walk a batter compared to his two strikeouts.
LAST TIME OUT (at App State, 3/8/17): The UNC Asheville baseball team came from behind once Wednesday evening, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead, but Appalachian State ruined the comeback attempt at Beaver Field and claimed a 4-3 win. The first three and a half innings passed scoreless despite the Bulldogs getting runners on and in scoring position. In the bottom of the fourth, the Mountaineers broke the scoreless tie by putting up a two-spot with a two-run home run. In the top of the sixth inning, Brandon Lankford hit his team-leading fourth home run of the season to set the score at 2-1. It was his eighth extra-base knock of the season. Justin Woods followed two at-bats later with a single down the right field line and Andrew Friedholm then ripped a two-out double down the opposite line, allowing Woods to race all the way home from first, tying the score at two-all. In the top of the next inning, Kyle Carruthers led off with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunch by Carmine Pagano. Joe Tietjen then moved Carruthers to third with a well-placed bunt for a single and Lankford then batted Carruthers in. It was the first run scored of the season for Carruthers and the second RBI of the game for Lankford. In the bottom of the inning, App State scored two unearned runs to retake the lead, including one off a wild pitch. The Bulldogs were able to get runners to second and third in the top of the eighth with no outs, but the Mountaineers got out of the jam without giving up a run with a pop up, a strikeout and a ground out. App State then sat UNC Asheville down in order in the top of the ninth to finish off the one-run win. Both Tietjen and Woods finished the game with multiple hits. Tietjen went 2-for-4 at the plate while Woods went 3-for-4 with a run scored. App State was led by Drake Zupcic and Avery Jackson's two-hit performances as well as Tyler Stroup's pair of RBIs. The Bulldogs went "johnny wholestaff" Wednesday evening with eight different pitchers toeing the rubber. Woods led things off and Greg Gasparro, Nick Boyles, Blake Brown, Eric Whitecavage, Austin Fahr, Ryan Tapp and Jesse Juday followed. Tapp (0-3) was saddled with the loss as he gave up the game-winning run. Reed Howell (1-0) earned his first win of the season, pitching 2.1 innings before Matt Brill came in to close the game out. Brill earned his second save of the year.
UP NEXT: UNC Asheville will play a pair of midweek games next week beginning with a road tilt at Charlotte on Tuesday, March 14. The game against the 49ers is slated for 5 p.m. The next evening, Wednesday, March 15, the Bulldogs will host East Tennessee State for the first game of a home-and-home series. The game against the Buccaneers will feature a 6 p.m. first pitch at Greenwood Field.
LANKFORD NAMED BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: 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: 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 weekend series with UMBC
"Obviously it all starts on the mound, so we switched up our rotation a little bit this weekend. We're going to go with freshman Brandon Harris on Friday and then we will stay with Joe Zayatz on Saturday and Spencer Orr on Sunday. Hopefully they continue to improve on what they did for us last weekend. I thought both Joe and Spencer had very good starts on Saturday and Sunday and Brandon did a nice job out of the bullpen on Friday for us, and that's why we made the transition this week with him starting. Obviously after our midweek game, I'd like to see us play a little bit better defensively and clean up that area and limit our opponent to 27 outs."– Scott Friedholm
On utilizing the entire roster
"We are getting to a part of the year where it doesn't matter if you're a freshman or a sophomore, junior or a senior. They've all played a similar amount of games and have a similar amount of plate appearances. Everyone has a role and our expectations of them as coaches will never change: go out and play hard with focus and energy. Now some guys are starting to see and better understand the roles they are slipping into and I use the term of slipping not as a negative thing, it's a positive. Kyle Carruthers has put together some really good games for us where he's coming in late defensively and putting together good at-bats. Jake Madole is getting the chance to start at first base, but if we have to go with a defensive change we have been able to put Carruthers in right and move Danny Wilson back to first base. We're getting a much better feel for what our team is and what we, as coaches, need to do to put our guys in the best spot possible to be successful." – Scott Friedholm
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