Baseball team looks to make noise at Regionals

What: NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional Baseball Playoffs
When: Thursday, May 15, 2008 – Sunday, May 18, 2008
Where: Point Stadium on the campus of Pitt-Johnstown University

Team Info
The KU baseball team will head into this week’s North Atlantic Regional playoffs looking to continue its Cinderella run to the Division II World Series. The Golden Bears enter the tournament with an automatic bid after shocking the entire region by winning the PSAC Championship earlier this month. The Golden Bears enter Regionals with a 30-24 record and have won 12 of their last 14 games against PSAC foes.

Kutztown will be the six seed in the tournament and its opening playoff game will be against top-seeded West Chester on Thursday at 11 a.m. The Golden Rams went 41-14 this season and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper has them ranked 24^th in the nation.

Six teams will contend for the Regional crown in the double elimination tournament. The other first round games will match second-seeded West Virginia State with fifth-seeded Shippensburg and third-seeded Concord with fourth-seeded Pitt-Johnstown. Three teams come from the PSAC, while the other three are from the WVIAC.

The Golden Bears were a combined 7-3 against the other five playoff teams in 2008. They were 0-1 against Concord, 5-2 against West Chester, and 2-0 against Shippensburg. KU did not play West Virginia St. or Pitt-Johnstown in the regular season.

Last season, KU won the North Atlantic Region Championship, which qualified them for the Division II World Series, where they were eliminated in just two games.

The Golden Bears started their improbable run to the Regional playoffs back in April when they completed the regular season by taking three of four games from West Chester. The wins improved their PSAC East record to 11-9, which earned them the division’s second seed in the six team conference playoffs. KU opened the tournament with a 4-3 win over Indiana (Pa.) and a 9-2 shellacking of Millersville, before falling for the first time against WCU 1-0. The Golden Bears responded by defeating Millersville again 8-7 before meeting West Chester for the PSAC title. KU needed to win back-to-back games against the Golden Rams to take the title and they did just that. The Golden Bears won game one 6-2 before escaping in the deciding game by a score of 8-7.

Probable Starting Lineup
1. LF – Chad Lightcap (.387-6-40)
Is the team’s best hitter by a longshot and is tops on the team in batting average, RBIs, runs (47), slugging (.620), and on-base percentage (.488).

2. 2B – Mike Kacelowicz (.315-1-20)
Spent much of the season as the leadoff hitter, but has done well in the two spot.

3. 3B – Mike Dugan (.286-1-19)
Frey could end up in this spot, but Dugan has the hot bat and will likely get the nod if he continues hitting.

4. DH – James Quigley (.330-1-17)
Quigley missed a big part of the early season, but has been stellar since his return.

5. CA – Matt Kulbacki (.286-7-32)
Will split time at catcher with Scott Kacelowicz, but his bat will be relied upon for power. He leads the team with seven homers.

6. RF – Corey Buletza (.278-1-23)
Captain versatility can play all three outfield spots and has started at least one game batting in every spot in the order except ninth.

7. CF – Garrison Rausch (.193-0-13)
Rausch struggled with the bat all season long, but has been hot over the last few games and could hit anywhere from fifth through eighth.

8. 1B – Jared Frey (.250-0-20)
Frey will be at the top of the order if he starts hitting again. He was well over .300 earlier this year, before a huge late-season dropoff.

9. SS – Mark Renda (.250-0-16)
Brett Wigder is likely to share time here, but Renda seems to be getting more playing time as of late. He leads the team with 17 steals.

Bench
CA – Scott Kacelowicz (.309-0-9) – Will see time at catcher
OF – Jeff Kistle (.220-1-11) – Will get a few spot starts and pinch hit opportunities
IF – Brett Wigder (.281-0-19) – Will see time at shortstop.
1B – Andy May (.311-1-9) – Will be limited to pinch hitting unless Frey struggles badly.
OF – Nole Saylor (.281-1-7) – Could see a start in centerfield.
OF – Bryan Riggins (.222-0-9) – Unlikely to see much time, but did get a rare start in PSACs.

Probable Pitching Rotation
1. LHP Darin Gorski (8-3 2.08)
The staff ace leads KU in wins, innings pitched (73.2), and strikeouts (78) and is best among the starters in ERA and opponent batting average (.208).

2. RHP Phil Rummel (6-5 3.39)
Has been better and better as the season has gone on and is not much of a dropoff, if any, from Gorski.

3. RHP Derek Reis (4-2 2.63)
A more than formidable third option, Reis is third best on the team in ERA in 51.1 innings of work.

4. LHP Garrison Rausch (1-3 6.17)
2008 was a struggle, but the senior has come up big in important games this season and could see a start.

5. RHP Jason Herr (0-2 3.72)
Herr started the decisive final game against West Chester and did a nice job. He could be rewarded with another spot start if necessary.

6. RHP Mike Bucklin (2-0 5.40)
He got a spot start in PSACs and could be used if Coach Blum is in a bind.

Bullpen
RHP Trent Mertz (1-0 1.80) - Leads the team in ERA and has 16 strikeouts in 20 innings of relief.
RHP Justin Jachowicz (1-3 3.33) – One of Coach Blum’s go to guys in the pen.
LHP Ryan Cassidy (2-2 4.24) – A top lefty option out of the bullpen.
RHP Mike Moran (1-1 4.86) – Has recorded more strikeouts than innings pitched so far this season
RHP Anthony Fegely (1-1 2.89) – Only worked 9.1 innings in 2008.
RHP Steve Craig (2-1 7.04) – Started earlier this season, but has struggled in limited action since then.
LHP Jordan Smith (1-1 5.02) – Unlikely to see much work

Outlook
As mentioned in last week’s PSAC preview, the Golden Bears aren’t the team that everyone feared in 2007, but teams are definitely going to take them more seriously now they’ve dominated West Chester and came out as champions of the always competitive PSAC. Last years team was loaded with veteran talent, but in 2008 its young talent, which can sometimes be even scarier for opponents.

The run to a Regional title will be the team’s toughest challenge of the season, but the Golden Bears’ deep pitching staff will keep them competitive against anyone. The young offense has been red hot, but the two week layoff from PSACs could be troubling for their momentum. It will be interesting to see if they continue to swing the bats well.

The Golden Bears have had success against the top teams in the PSAC, a strong pitching conference, but the WVIAC is more of a hitting-first conference. They say pitching wins championships, so that could give KU somewhat of an edge. The Golden Bears are another strong sleeper pick in Regionals as long as the offense continues to put runs on the board.