Baseball Preparing for Pair of Midweek Games

Asheville-Midweek Notes (PDF)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team plays a pair of midweek games on Tuesday, April 18, and Wednesday, April 19, this week. The Bulldogs host USC Upstate in the final home game of the month before traveling the short distance to Knoxville to take on the Volunteers of Tennessee.

THE MATCHUPS
Teams: UNC Asheville (14-21) vs. USC Upstate (16-22)
Location: Asheville, N.C. / Greenwood Field
When: Tuesday, April 18 / 6 p.m.
Live Video: Big South Network
Live Stats: www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter: @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit

Teams: UNC Asheville (14-21) at Tennessee (18-15)
Location: Knoxville, Tenn. / Lindsey Nelson Stadium
When: Wednesday, April 19 / 6 p.m.
Live Stats: www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter: @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: Tuesday's game will be the 24^th meeting between Asheville and USC Upstate with the Spartans owning an all-time series record of 16-7 over the Bulldogs. Upstate has claimed the last four meetings with Asheville having claimed the three prior. The first meeting came back during the 1986 season. Against the Volunteers, UNC Asheville is 6-23 all-time and 6-19 in Knoxville. The Bulldogs won the meeting in 2014 and won back-to-back games between 1998 and 2000 as well as between 2005 and 2006.

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS: Since the Bulldogs and Spartans last played, USC Upstate (16-22) has gone 15-19, including 4-4 in midweek games. The Spartans claimed midweek wins over Wofford, Longwood, Presbyterian and Charleston Southern. USC Upstate is led by Charlie Carpenter's .349 batting average, 52 hits, 29 runs batted in and six home runs through 36 games. Russel Schwertfeger is second on the team amongst players who have played in over 20 games with a .339 average. Devon Ortiz leads the team with 33 runs scored while J.J. Shimko boasts a team-best 15 extra-base knocks, including 12 doubles.

SCOUTING THE VOLUNTEERS: Tennessee (18-15) is coming off a series loss to Auburn at home. In the last five games, the Volunteers have dropped four games, including a midweek tilt at East Tennessee State. In midweek games, Tennessee is 4-2 on the year with losses to Middle Tennessee State and ETSU after claiming the first four midweeks over Loyola Marymount, Austin Peay, Marshall and Tennessee Tech. Jordan Rodgers leads the Volunteers with a .379 batting average and 50 hits. He also leads the team with 27 runs scored, 14 extra-base hits and 21 runs batted in. Pete Derkay, Jeff Moberg, Andre Lipcius and Justin Ammons all boast above .300 batting averages. Ammons leads the team with nine doubles and Moberg has a team-best six home runs. Rodgers, Lipcius and Benito Santiago all lead the team with five stolen bases.

THE LAST TIME, BULLDOGS VS. THE SPARTANS (Feb. 22, 2017): The UNC Asheville baseball team came out swinging the last time the Bulldogs played the Spartans of USC Upstate, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, scoring in bunches early, but the Bulldogs ultimately fell 10-9 in 12 innings to USC Upstate at Harley Park. The Bulldogs wasted little time getting on the board as they scored two runs in the top of the first inning after Carmine Pagano and Chris Troost reached base off a hit by pitch and a four-ball walk. Two batters later, Brandon Lankford doubled to left-center field to score Pagano and move Troost over to third. Joe Tietjen then sent a sacrifice fly to right field, giving Troost enough time to cruise home and put Asheville up 2-0. After USC Upstate scored four runs in the bottom of the frame and changed pitchers, the Bulldogs burst back through with seven runs in the top of the second, highlighted by a grand slam by Justin Woods. The new Spartans' pitcher loaded the bases with the first three batters he faced before Pagano recorded the first RBI of the inning when he singled through the left side, scoring Jake Madole who singled to lead off the inning. Two batters later, Danny Wilson sent a blooper single to shallow centerfield, scoring Kole Harris and Pagano. Following another Upstate pitching change, the Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs. Justin Woods barely flinched and sent a bomb over the left field wall, setting the score at 9-4 in favor of Asheville. The homer was the sixth of Woods' career. The Spartans added single runs in the bottom of the second, third and sixth innings as well as two in the eighth frame to knot the score at 9-9 headed to the ninth. The game progressed into extra innings with both teams putting men on, but unable to move them across the plate until the bottom of the 12^th when Devon Ortiz singled down the right field line, scoring Drake Harris from second. In total, the Bulldogs collected 10 hits in the game led by Pagano, Lankford and Madole all registering two hits on the evening. Woods led the way with four RBIs and Pagano and Troost both scored two runs. The Spartans collected 17 hits on the night led by Charlie Carpenter, Brendan Brundage and. Harris all with three. Carpenter scored three runs on the night for USC Upstate. On the mound, both squads utilized eight pitchers. Eric Whitecavage threw the longest for UNC Asheville as he pitched 3.1 innings and faced 13 batters while Kevin Hickey (1-0) pitched 4.0 innings for USC Upstate to register his first win of the season. Derek Smith (0-1) closed out the game for Asheville and was credited with the loss in 1.2 innings of work that saw him strike out two batters.

SHOWING IMPROVEMENT: At this point last season, the 2016 Bulldogs were 11-24 and had two series wins to their credit. This season, UNC Asheville has shown solid improvements in most facets of the game as they are 14-21 with series wins over Iona, UMBC and Presbyterian as well as taking two of three during the tournament in Spartanburg in the second weekend of the year. The 2016 Bulldogs had also been swept three times to this point last season whereas this year's Bulldogs have taken at least one game in each of their weekend series, and had opportunities to claim four of their dropped series.

CANNONS FOR ARMS IN THE OUTFIELD: UNC Asheville boasts 13 outfield assists on the year. The mark has the Bulldogs third in the country in the category. Joe Tietjen leads the outfielders with four assists, a mark that has him tied for fifth in the nation in the category. Danny Wilson and Justin Woods both have three assists in the outfield. Kyle Carruthers has two and Tanner Bush has one.

GUNNING RUNNERS DOWN: In the road series at High Point, UNC Asheville caught five runners attempting to steal bases, including three on Friday. On the year, the Bulldogs have already caught 24 would-be base stealers, marking a +8 improvement from last season. UNC Asheville caught 16 runners attempting to steal bases last season, 28 in 2015, 21 in 2014, 23 in 2013 and 20 in 2012.

TIETJEN LEAVING HIS MARK: Senior center fielder Joe Tietjen has moved into the top-10 in program history in six offensive categories. Tietjen is currently tied for fifth all-time with 38 career stolen bases, seventh with 129 runs scored, ninth in program history with 112 runs batted in and 38 career doubles, 10^th with 20 home runs and tied for 10^th with six triples.

NEXT MARKS TO REACH: Joe Tietjen needs just one more stolen base to claim sole possession of fifth all-time in swiped bases and is seven away from fourth. He is just four runs scored away from sixth in the category. Tietjen is five doubles away from reaching a two-way tie for seventh. His next triple will move him into a tie for sixth all-time. He is just one home run away from ninth all-time and is eight runs batted in away from moving into a tie for eighth.

TURNING DOUBLE PLAYS: The Bulldogs have now turned 35 double plays on the year, two more than all of last year and an average of 1.0 per game which has the Bulldogs amongst the best in the nation.

PAGANO WITH MULTIPLE HITS: Between Friday and Saturday at High Point, Carmine Pagano went 4-for-8 at the plate. He has now recorded multiple hits in two straight games and Saturday's series-finale marked the 10^th time this season the sophomore shortstop has accomplished the feat.

ORR HOLDING OPPONENTS SCORELESS: Dating back to last weekend against Charleston Southern, Spencer Orr went 14 straight innings without giving up a run, earned or unearned. Over the last two games, Orr pitched 14.2 innings, striking out 13 batters while giving up just one run and four walks. In the last three games, Orr has given up three runs in 19.0 innings and has struck out 17 batters. He is currently 5th in the league with a 2.67 ERA, 7th with 54.0 innings pitched, tied for 9th with 46 batters struck out and tied for eighth with 15 batters struck out looking.

LAST TIME OUT (at High Point, 4/15/17): Behind a strong pitching effort from Spencer Orr, Kole Harris and Eric Whitecavage, the UNC Asheville baseball team closed out a three-game Big South Conference series at High Point with a 3-1 win over the Panthers on Saturday afternoon. Orr (2-3) pitched 7.2 innings and struck out four batters, all looking, to earn the win on the mound. He didn't give up a run for 14 straight innings dating back to last weekend's series finale before being responsible for the Panthers' lone run in the bottom of the eighth. Harris closed out the eighth frame before Whitecavage came on for the final three outs of the contest, earning his first save of the season. UNC Asheville jumped out to an early lead in the top of the fourth as the Bulldogs plated three runs. Joe Tietjen scored the first run off a base hit RBI by Kyle Carruthers. Previously in the inning, Tietjen singled to secure the Bulldogs' second hit of the game. Following a pitching change by High Point, Joe Gruszka reached base safely on a throwing error by the Panthers, allowing Joe Zayatz to score and putting Asheville up 2-0. Carmine Pagano capped off the scoring drive when Brandon Lankford drew a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded, pushing Pagano across the plate for the third and final run scored. The next four innings passed scoreless before the Panthers managed to score the single run in the bottom of the eighth. Pagano led the way at the plate for the Bulldogs, going 2-for-4 with one unearned run scored. Danny Wilson drew two walks in the game, giving him a team-best 28 on the year. Trevor Holloway (2-4) was the pitcher of record for High Point, pitching the first 3.1 innings that saw him give up all four UNC Asheville hits as well as three unearned runs.

UP NEXT: Wednesday's midweek game at Tennessee will mark the start of a stretch of five games in a row on the road for the Bulldogs. UNC Asheville will next play a three-game, Big South Conference series at Campbell this weekend beginning with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday, April 21. The Bulldogs and Camels will then play a 3 p.m. game on Saturday and will close out the series with a 2 p.m. first pitch on Sunday, April 23.

EFFECTIVE PINCH HITTER: Joe Zayatz saw just three pitches in the series finale against Charleston Southern on Sunday, April 9, but it was the third one that proved to be the payoff pitch for him as he ripped a two-out single through the right side that gave Chris Troost just enough time to round third and race home, giving the UNC Asheville Baseball team a 2-1 victory in walk-off fashion over Charleston Southern at Greenwood Field.

FIRST CAREER HOME RUNS: Joe Gruszka came in to pinch hit for UNC Asheville in the top of the ninth against Richmond on Sunday, April 2, and made the most of his at-bat, ripping a two-run home run to left field. The homer was the first of his collegiate career. He joined Jake Madole, Brandon Lankford, Kole Harris and Tyler Serricchio as players who have hit their first collegiate homer so far this season.

WOODS SAVING THE DAY: Justin Woods recorded his fourth save of the season on Friday, March 24, against Presbyterian as he pitched the final inning in the Bulldogs' 4-2 victory over the Blue Hose. He is tied for fourth in the Big South Conference with his four saves on the year.

TAKE A LITTLE OFF THE TOP: Win the game, lose the hair. That was the recipe for success on Wednesday, March 29, as the UNC Asheville baseball team worked to raise donations for a special cause in an attempt to capture a bigger victory than the 5-3 win over Western Carolina at McCormick Field. The Bulldogs held their annual Vs. Cancer Game at the historic baseball venue located in downtown Asheville. It was the fifth year of the event and it was possibly the biggest one yet. Over the previous four years, UNC Asheville baseball has raised close to $24,000. As of the most recent count, the Bulldogs had collected over $9,200 in 2017 alone, with hopes to add to that total throughout the rest of the season. The over $9,200 raised has UNC Asheville currently fifth in the nation amongst baseball programs that are raising money for the worthy cause of battling childhood cancer. The money raised will be donated to the Vs. Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Raleigh. The foundation, which operates on a 50/50 model of giving, raises funds for childhood cancer research as well as helps children live more comfortably during treatments at local children's hospitals. Vs. Cancer gives half of the proceeds raised to pediatric brain tumor research and the other half goes back to a local hospital in the community where the money was raised. For UNC Asheville, that is Mission Children's Hospital.

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 playing USC Upstate
"(USC Upstate is) a very offensive-minded team. Coach Fincher does a great job with his team from the offensive standpoint. We had a tough day with them the first go-around, they came back to win in extra innings. We are looking to bounce back and have a good, complete game and hopefully Danny Wilson will be able to give us some good innings early on the mound to let us settle the game down to give us a chance." – Scott Friedholm

On playing Tennessee
"We, as a program, have been able to compete well with Tennessee on the field. We haven't been able to beat them just yet since I've been here, but that's a very good team in Knoxville. Head coach Dave Serrano does a great job with his program. We want to go over, compete and give ourselves a chance. We could see a little bit of everybody pitching in that game to keep our arms fresh for the weekend series at Campbell, and that can create some problems for opposing teams. When they're seeing seven or eight different pitchers, it can keep them from getting into a rhythm. Everybody just has to do their job on Wednesday, get their three outs and then move on and let the next guy go in to do the same thing." – Scott Friedholm

On the defense this season
"We really focus a lot on our pitching and defense. Big compliments go to our pitching coach, Tyler Hinchliffe, for demanding our pitching staff to be quick on the mound to give our catchers a chance to catch guys trying to steal. We have three very good catchers, none of them really have a plus-plus arm, but they are all very quick and when they are given the chance they're quick and accurate and that has allowed us to throw out some base runners. That number has jumped out to me compared to last year. Last year we were also very good at turning double plays, but it can be a double-edged sword because that means you're letting a lot of base runners get on. But if we're giving up groundball singles, we're fine because the odds are that one or two are going to be right at defenders and then you can turn the double play. We've done a very good job this year of turning routine double plays and we have to continue to do that to give ourselves a chance moving forward in games and in our conference race." – Scott Friedholm

Baseball Preparing for Pair of Midweek Games

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Players Mentioned

Tanner Bush

Kyle Carruthers

Austin Fahr

Andrew Friedholm

Greg Gasparro

Joe Gruszka

Kole Harris

Brandon Lankford

Jake Madole

Spencer Orr

Carmine Pagano

Tyler Serricchio

Derek Smith

Ryan Tapp

Joe Tietjen

Chris Troost

Eric Whitecavage

Danny Wilson

Justin Woods

Joe Zayatz

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics