DALLAS BAPTIST @ INDIANA STATE
April 25-27 | Terre Haute, Indiana | Bob Warn Field
                                                        
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
DBU Audio: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Livestats: ISU Livestats
Facebook: DBU Athletics
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Dates: April 25-27, 2014                            
Time: 5:30 PM (Fri.) 1 PM (Sat.) 12 PM (Sun.)                                                    
Stadium: Bob Warn Field (2,000)                                     
Broadcast: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Talent: Reagan Ratcliff, Brendan Smith, and Nate Frieling
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
 
Friday, April 25
DBU – RHP Paul Voelker (6-3, 3.28 ERA, 60.1 IP, 23 BB, 59 K)
vs.
Indiana State – LHP David Stagg (5-3, 2.28 ERA, 67 IP, 31 BB, 65 K)
 
Saturday, April 26
DBU – RHP Cy Sneed (6-2, 3.12 ERA, 66.1 IP, 23 BB, 49 K)
vs.
Indiana State – RHP Brad Lombard (6-1, 3.18 ERA, 65 IP, 25 BB, 42 K)
 
Sunday, April 27
DBU – RHP Cory Taylor (3-2, 3.45 ERA, 57.1 IP, 27 BB, 61 K)
vs.
Indiana State – RHP Kurt Kudrecki (4-3, 4.08 ERA, 53 IP, 24 BB, 30 K)
 
THE LEAD – The Dallas Baptist Baseball Team opens a four-game road trip, traveling to Missouri Valley Conference foe Indiana State University this weekend. The conference series begins Friday at 5:30 PM.   Saturday's game is scheduled for 1:00 PM and the series concludes on Sunday with a 12:00 PM start.
 
DBU (27-13, 6-3) finished their recent four-game home stand with a 2-2 record.  The Patriots win in Saturday's series finale versus Evansville snapped a season-low, four-game losing streak.  On Tuesday, DBU won in walk-off fashion, 7-6, in 10 innings over Stephen F. Austin.
 
The Patriots enter this weekend tied with Evansville atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings at 6-3.  In their inaugural season in the MVC, DBU began league play at 5-0 before dropping the first two games versus the Purple Aces last weekend.
 
The Patriots are 12-7 away from the friendly confines of Horner Ballpark and have won seven of their last ten games on the road.  In conference action, DBU has taken road series at both Bradley and Illinois State.  DBU also swept a three-game series at Missouri State that did not count toward either teams conference record.
 
12 of the remaining 15 games for the Patriots are against MVC opponents.  All three non-conference match-ups are versus Big 12 foes, including a pair at each home venue versus the University of Oklahoma and a home date with Texas Tech.
 
RECENT ACTION – Drew Turbin's RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the 10th capped off a dramatic come from behind win on Tuesday against Stephen F. Austin.  Down 6-0 entering the bottom of the sixth, DBU scored seven unanswered runs and won their second game of the year in walk-off fashion.
 
Sophomore right-hander, Drew Smith, gave up six runs on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen in the top of the third. DBU's bullpen responded with 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, limiting SFA hitters to a pair of hits and combining for eight punch outs.  Sean Stutzman paced the way for the pen, tossing three shutout innings and striking out four.
 
Josh Urban was the first Patriot reliever to enter the game and the redshirt-senior worked 2.1 innings and fanned two batters while holding SFA scoreless.  Sophomore, Brandon Koch, escaped with the go ahead runner on third in the ninth for the Lumberjacks. The Plano, Texas, native threw 1.2 innings while striking out two and walking one en route to his fourth win of the season.
 
After being shutout for the first five innings offensively, the Patriot bats came to life in the sixth with a two-run double by redshirt sophomore, Justin Wall, to put DBU on the board.  Turbin also followed in the sixth with a two-run double of his own to cut the defecit to two.  Senior, KJ Alexander, launched a two-run homer in the seventh, his third long ball of the season, that knotted the affair at six apiece and gave DBU a chance to complete the comeback in extra frames.
 
Turbin's game-winning base hit in the 10th was both his third hit and third RBI of the night.  The base knock plated redshirt sophomore, Trevin Sonnier, who led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
 
Also collecting multi-hit days were sophomore, Austin Listi, Alexander, and junior, Nash Knight with two apiece.  The Patriots collected 11 hits total on the evening.  
 
HITTING NOTES – Drew Turbin's heroics on Tuesday lifted the utility player to a team-best .305 batting average.  He's started half of the squad's 40 games, appearing in 27 contests, including 15 starts in the last 17 games.  Over that stretch of 15 starts, Turbin has collected 19 of his 25 hits on the season.
The native of Hayden, Idaho, now has seven multi-hit games on the campaign and his three-hit day on Tuesday marked the third time this year he has collected three hits in a game. 
 
Senior, Mike Wesolowski, paces the Patriots in several offensive categories entering the weekend.  Despite snapping  a season-long and team-best, 13 game hitting streak on Tuesday, he did extend his stretch of reaching base safely to 18 consecutive games, tying him  with Trevin Sonnier for the longest streak this season.
 
The first baseman's .301 batting average is currently second best on the squad and he is tops in hits with 47 and hit by pitch at 17. Wesolowski has crossed the plate 35 times for second best on the club and is tied for third in doubles and home runs with nine and three, respectively.
 
Austin Listi carries an active three-game hitting streak into this weekend and has tallied base knocks in seven of the last ten contests.  The Huffman, Texas, native is batting .500 (5-for-10) during the team's last three games and has scored five runs and picked up two RBI.
 
Listi has raised his batting average to .273 entering this weekend and ranks as the team and league leader in runs scored with 37.  He also leads the club in homeruns with six and is second in slugging percentage (.453), hits ( 41), and total bases  (68).  His 28 RBI on the season is third most on the club.
 
Sophomore, Daniel Salters, continues to rank as one of the Patriots' top offense performers  with a .497 slugging percentage.  Splitting time at catcher and designated hitter, Salters leads the club with 32 RBI, doubles with 14, triples with five, total bases with 75, and walks with 32.
 
The Eufaula, Oklahoma, product joins Wesolowski in a tie for the club-lead with 13 multi-hit games.  Salters and Wesolowksi each have nine games with two hits and have collected three hits in a game on four separate occasions.  Salters has cracked the top three in several other categories including: second on the squad with four homeruns and third with 32 runs scored and hits with 39. 
 
KJ Alexander has hit safely in seven of the last ten games, with four of them counting as multi-hit performances.  He ties Listi with the longest active hitting streak at three games in a row.  The senior from Denton, Texas,  is batting .272 and added to his RBI total of 26 after recording two on his third long ball of the season in Tuesday's win.  He ranks fourth on the team in RBI and is in a three-way tie for third in homeruns.
                               
ON THE BUMP – Through 362.1 innings, DBU hurlers have allowed 178 runs, 144 earned, to compile a 3.58 ERA. In addition, the Patriots lead the Missouri Valley Conference with 349 punch outs.
 
Back on the mound for the Patriots in the series opener is junior, Paul Voelker.  The junior from Plymouth, Minnesota tossed five innings last Friday versus Evansville, surrendering five runs (three earned) off eight hits, two walks, and three strikeouts.  Away from Horner Ballpark, the right-hander has a record of 4-0.

Matching the team-high in wins, junior, Cy Sneed, is coming off his roughest outing of the year last Saturday.  The native of Twin Falls, Idaho, saw his ERA ecliplse the 3.00 mark for the first time in five weeks, after giving up season-highs in runs (eight) and hits (12).  Still, the durable right-hander logged six innings of work for the ninth time in 10 starts this season.
 
Sunday's starter, sophomore, Cory Taylor, picked up the lone win last weekend in the series versus Evansville, lifting him to a 3-2 record.  The righty leads the staff with 61 strikeouts.
 
Out of the pen, Brandon Koch remains spectacular with an ERA south of 1.00.  His 0.71 clip is the lowest on the squad, while his 46 strikeouts are the most among all DBU relief pitchers.
 
Emerging as the team's closer with a team-best five saves, Koch was also named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Mid-Season Stopper of the Year Watch List.  Opponents are hitting just .167 off the Plano, Texas, native, who also boasts an unblemished record of 4-0.  He earned his most recent win on Tuesday, holding SFA scoreless in his 1.2 innings on the hill.
 
SCOUTING THE SYCAMORES – Indiana State comes in this weekend at 7-5 in conference action and a half game behind DBU and Evansville for first place in the MVC standings.   They have won their last three games and six of their last eight.  Last weekend, they dropped a non-conference series at Canisius. 
In Missouri Valley Conference action, the Sycamores own conference series wins over Wichita State and Southern Illinois.  Indiana State swept the Shockers, while taking two two-of-three from Southern Illinois.  The Sycamores have also dropped conference series to Evansville and Illinois State, losing two-out-of-three to each of those teams. 

Indiana State owns the highest RPI in the Missouri Valley Conference, according to Warren Nolan.com.  They enter this weekend with a #20 RPI ranking, while DBU is third in the conference with a RPI rating of #33.  Illinois State is one spot ahead of the Patriots at #32.
 
Offensively, Indiana State entered this week in the middle of the pack in the MVC, as their .276 average is fifth best in the conference.  They rank last in the conference in homeruns, with just 12 on the season, but are second in stolen bases with 52. 
 
Mike Fitzgerald and Derek Hannahs are the two lone batters in the Sycamore lineup hitting over .300.  Fitzgerald leads the team with a .339 average, while Hannahs is hitting .313.  Hannahs also leads the club in RBI with 27.  Landon Curry is tops on the team with 16 stolen bases in 21 attempts.
 
Entering this week, Indiana State boasted the top ERA in the league at 3.09.  David Stagg owns a 2.28 ERA in 10 starts and is 5-3 on the season.  Stagg is fourth in the conference with 65 strikeouts and will take the ball in the opener on Friday.

Freshman closer, Ryan Keaffaber, is tops in the conference in saves with eight and was named Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week last week.  He joins DBU's, Brandon Koch, on the NCBWA Mid-Season Stopper of the Year Watch List announced on April 23.
 
SERIES HISTORY – The Patriots lead the all-time series 4-2, but have dropped the last two contests to Indiana State.  The programs played each other in three-game sets in 2011 and 2012.  DBU swept the Sycamores at home in 2011, but dropped the series at Indiana State in 2012.  The Patriots claimed the opener 15-2, before falling in the final two games, 6-3 and 7-5.
 
Cy Sneed started in the Patriots lone win two years ago, throwing six innings of two-run ball, allowing eight hits, no walks, and collecting six strikeouts.  DBU compiled 12 runs in the eighth and ninth innings of the blowout.  
 
UP NEXT – Dallas Baptist completes the four-game road trip at the University of Oklahoma on April 29. First pitch is at 6 PM.  The Patriots will be back at home after their game in Norman, Oklahoma, with a conference series versus Missouri State, May 2-4.