MU Starts Busy Week at Ball State Wednesday
3/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Miami RedHawks (2-8, 0-0 MAC)
Games 11-14
March 11 at Ball State | March 13-15 at East Tennessee State
ABOUT BALL STATE (7-7, 0-0 MAC): The Cardinals are coming off a weekend in which they went 2-2 at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla., earning victories over Maine and Dartmouth. In their last game of the tournament this past weekend, they fell to Indiana, 16-1.Last season, the Cardinals went 39-18 (22-4 MAC) and were the MAC West Division Regular Season Champions. They were pegged to finish first in the MAC West again this season in the preseason poll and are one of a few favorites to win the MAC Tournament.
SERIES HISTORY: The RedHawks are 74-60 all-time against the Cardinals. The two teams last met in the 2013 MAC Tournament, a Ball State 13-7 victory. Tuesday’s game will be a non-conference matchup.
ABOUT EAST TENNESSEE STATE (7-6, 0-0 Southern): The Buccaneers are coming off a weekend in which they were swept by West Virginia. Like Miami, ETSU has played USC Upstate and UNC-Asheville. Also like Miami, they defeated USC Upstate and fell to UNC-Asheville. The Buccaneers went 27-30 (13-13 Atlantic Sun) last season, finishing fifth in their conference. They moved back to the Southern Conference this past July.
SERIES HISTORY: The RedHawks are 3-0 all-time against the Bucs. The two teams last met in March of 1976. The RedHawks swept the three-game series.
POWER UP: Senior Ryan Powers looks to continue his stride after his breakout season during the 2014 campaign. The 6-foot-5 right-handed pitcher appeared in 16 games, starting 13. He finished with a 9-3 record and a 4.25 ERA on the way to claiming Second-Team All-MAC Honors. As if that wasn’t enough, Powers was one of two RedHawks who had his name called in the 2014 MLB Draft. The righty was selected in the 22nd round (652 overall) by the Philadelphia Phillies. So far this season, Powers has a 1-3 record with a 5.06 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .208 against him. On February 20th, Powers started against USC Upstate and pitched six scoreless innings, allowed no hits and struck out a career-high eight Spartan batters. Powers shined again this past weekend at South Carolina. In his start on Friday, he allowed just two runs and four hits to a highly-ranked Gamecock club.
SADA’S SUCCESS: Steve Sada had a freshman year to remember last season and the second-year player will look to be slotted in as the team’s starting second baseman once again. Sada hit .309 while recording a .391 on-base percentage and drew a team-best 24 walks. Like Powers, Sada earned Second-Team All-MAC honors. In addition, he was tabbed a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American. So far this season, Sada is hitting .275 and is leading the team with four runs batted in.
HONCHEL RISING: Honchel has moved up the career batting average list and currently sits at sixth all-time with a .358 average. This season, Honchel is off to a hot start, boasting a .475 batting average with four doubles, six runs and one RBI. In addition, he leads the RedHawks with six multi-hit games and has reached base safely in ten straight games.
STEP ON UP: After some injury problems last season, senior Kendall Johnson has been pegged to be the team’s new first baseman. In 39 games last season, Johnson hit just .185. Hayden loves his defensive game and believes he will be a key asset to the team this season. “I’m looking forward to see what Kendall Johnson can do from the first base position, to see if he can hold his own,” said Hayden. “He had a really nice fall, especially towards the end. He’s tremendous defensively. We want to try to make it work with him over there and we’re confident he’s going to do a good job.” So far this season, he is hitting .231 and has garnered a .323 on-base percentage.
SOLID SEDIO: While the offense has struggled to create noise so far this season, shortstop Chad Sedio joins Honchel as one of the guys the team has leaned on. The junior is hitting .281, has a .395 on-base percentage, 2 RBIs and has scored five runs. He is a career .301 hitter and has been a solid piece of the lineup during his time at Miami and will look to maintain his production as the team finds their footing offensively. He has reached base safely in eight straight games and has three multi-hit games.
NEW FACES: The bullpen has seen a number of fresh faces this year and the newcomers have been good so far this season.
Gus Graham: 2 app, 3 IP, 1R, 1 BB,
2 SO, 0.00 ERA and a .100 opp. bat avg.
Chris Ticherich: 1 app, 3 IP, 1 BB, 2 SO,
1 SV and 0.00 ERA
Will Schierholz: 5 app, 4.0 IP, 1 BB,
5 SO, 0.00 ERA and 1 SV
Nick Scheller: 4 app, 6.0 IP, 5R, 3 SO, 7.50 ERA and a .240 opp. bat avg.
