Playoff berth on line for baseball team

What: Kutztown Golden Bears @ East Stroudsburg Warriors
When: Friday, April 18, 2008 @ 1 p.m. (Doubleheader)
Where: Mitterling Field on the campus of East Stroudsburg University
~and~
What: East Stroudsburg Warriors @ Kutztown Golden Bears
When: Saturday, April 19, 2008 @ 1 p.m. (Doubleheader)
Where: North Campus Field on the campus of Kutztown University
Radio: Golden Bear Network at 12:50 p.m. (Mike Clay)

Game Info
The KU baseball team will head into this weekend’s set of home-and-home doubleheaders with the East Stroudsburg Warriors looking to jump back into the PSAC playoff race.

The Golden Bears currently sit at 16-17 overall this season and are 5-7 in the PSAC East. They trail West Chester (8-4), Mansfield (7-5), and Millersville (7-5) for one of the three playoff spots. ESU (5-7) and Bloomsburg (4-8) round out the division and are competing with the Golden Bears in an attempt to overthrow one of the top three teams.

KU’s latest divisional action was this past weekend when they scored a grand total of five runs in four games en route to dropping three of four against Millersville. On Friday night, the Golden Bears were downed on the road by scores of 5-1 and 6-0. On Saturday at North Campus Field, they managed to take game one 3-2 before dropping game two 3-1.

KU played a few non-conference foes during the week with the results still unavailable. The Golden Bears will complete a pair of doubleheaders at Lincoln on Wednesday before heading to Adelphi for one game on Thursday.

The Warriors are 16-21 overall this season and, as mentioned, are tied with KU for fourth in the East at 5-7. Their most recent action was a doubleheader split with Bloomsburg over the weekend. At home on Friday, they fell 9-7 before winning 8-0. Then on Saturday they won 15-4 and lost 10-6.

The two teams have already met once this season—an early season meeting in Newport News, Virginia on Feb. 24. The Golden Bears dominated that affair, winning it 10-1.

Last year, the teams met a total of six times, including once during the PSAC playoffs. The Golden Bears won all five regular season meetings, including a 7-2 early season victory played in Newport News, a home doubleheader sweep by scores of 15-6 and 6-3, and finally a road doubleheader sweep by scores of 8-4 and 5-2. The Warriors, however, were able to get their revenge in the playoffs with a 9-5 win.

Probable Starting Lineups
Kutztown:
1. Mike Kacelowicz – SS
2. Jared Frey – 1B
3. Chad Lightcap – LF
4. James Quigley – DH/3B
5. Corey Buletza – LF/RF
6. Matt Kulbacki/Scott Kacelowicz – CA
7. Garrison Rausch – CF
8/9. Mark Renda/Mike Dugan/Jeff Kistle/Brett Wigder – UT
SPs: Phil Rummel, Darin Gorski, Garrison Rausch, Derek Reis

East Stroudsburg:
1. Chad Schlegel – 2B
2. Brendan O’Malley – 3B
3. Mike Bortz – CF
4. Chris Zsenak – 1B
5. Kyle Sheaffer – LF
6. Kevin Thompson – RF
7. Blake Knecht – DH
8. Brendan O’Connor – CA
9. Edwin Padua – SS
SPs: Dave Boyer, Jeremy Gigliotti, Bill Hezel, Christian Saveri, Steve Prazenka

Scouting Report
The Golden Bears are led offensively by Chad Lightcap (.419-5-23). He leads the team in batting average, homers, RBIs, runs scored (28), slugging percentage (.657), and on base percentage (.519). Jared Frey (.333-0-9) has progressed nicely in his second season and is second on the team in batting average. Scott Kacelowicz (.333-0-4) and Matt Kulbacki (.301-5-19) have been a formidable catching combination and both are hitting over .300. Brett Wigder (.304-0-14), James Quigley (.300-0-4), and Corey Buletza (.299-1-16) have hit well in extensive action as freshmen. Mike Kacelowicz (.288-1-12) has been mired in a slump, but remains the teams leadoff hitter and is tops on the team with 12 doubles and 17 walks. Mike Dugan (.276-1-9), Jeff Kistle (.257-0-10), Mark Renda (.245-0-14), Nole Saylor (.231-0-3), and Andy May (.192-0-3) are five other freshman who will see a decent amount of at-bats during the weekend. Garrison Rausch (.160-0-6), who has been starting to heat up at the plate, will man center and bat in the middle of the order. Buletza and Renda have a team high 14 steals.

Darin Gorski (6-2 2.61), Phil Rummel (4-3 3.40), and Derick Reis (1-2 2.43) are likely to be three of the weekend’s four starters. The fourth spot was Garrison Rausch’s (0-3 6.12) earlier this season, but his struggles may have lost him that spot. Against Millersville this past weekend, Justin Jachowicz (0-3 4.05) made his second start of the season. Ryan Cassidy (1-1 4.09) and Steve Craig (2-1 5.00) are likely candidates if Rausch or Jachowicz don’t get the call.

Chris Zsenak (.382-1-17) and Blake Knecht (.350-1-5) are good for more than having confusing last names, as they are one-two on the Warriors in hitting. Mike Bortz (.337-7-25) is tops on the team in homers and is tied with Kyle Sheaffer (.309-1-25) for the team lead in RBIs. Bortz and Zsenak each have scored a team-best 23 runs, while Sheaffer leads his squad with 11 steals.

Dave Boyer (5-3 4.60), Jeremy Gigliotti (2-4 7.11), Bill Hezel (2-6 7.56), Christian Saveri (3-2 4.70), and Steve Prazenka (2-1 3.89) are the likely candidates for the four starts. Saveri is the only one who hasn’t started at least six games this season, but he did get a start against Bloomsburg this past weekend.

Outlook
The Golden Bears will obviously be looking to win all four games this weekend, but the team’s offensive struggles make that seem like wishful thinking. Fortunately for them, they do have the pitching to pull it off. The offense just needs to show up.

The Golden Bears could end up eliminated from the playoffs if they lose the series and that would a huge disappointment, as they certainly have the pitching they would need to make a run in PSACs. Basically, KU needs to take at least three games this weekend. After this four-game stretch, all that is left is four games with West Chester, the PSAC East leader and the 10^th ranked team in the nation. If KU is on the outside looking in after this weekend, they will be in serious trouble.