Saturday, April 20
Fort Wayne, Ind.
5:30 p.m.
Purdue Fort Wayne
at
Oakland
Photo by: Lucas Carter
IPFW to Face Oakland in Four-Game Weekend Series
4/18/2013 11:02:00 AM | Baseball
Live Stats
IPFW Probable Pitching Rotation:
LHP – Jason Kalber
RHP – Chuck Weaver
LHP – Brandon Pease
RHP – Steve Danielak
Oakland Probable Pitching Rotation:
LHP – Jason Hager
RHP – Jake Paulson
RHP – Tim Koons
RHP – Chris Van Dyke
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Mastodons will play a four-game series against Oakland this weekend with game one slated for Friday, April 19 at 3 p.m. IPFW recently split Summit League doubleheaders against North Dakota State and South Dakota State moving their league record to 2-4.
ABOUT IPFW (15-16, 2-4 SL)
The Mastodons picked up two league wins last weekend as Jason Kalber limited South Dakota State offensively and Kendall Whitman came up with a clutch walk-off single to give IPFW a 1-0 victory on Friday, but SDSU won a 14-11 shootout in the nightcap to even the series.
IPFW once again won the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday against NDSU. Brandon Soat led the charge early with two hits in his first two at-bats. He ended the game 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored as the 'Dons grabbed a 4-3 win before falling 6-4 in game two after a three-run ninth inning from the Bison.
IPFW is already approaching their highest season win total under the guidance of Head Coach Bobby Pierce with a good start to the 2013 season. Newcomers Tyler Shepherd and Brandon Soat have quickly impacted the lineup and seniors Clay Hathaway and Markus Kalber have stepped into leadership roles leading IPFW to a 15-16 record. Shepherd leads the club with a .333 batting average and is tied for the team lead with 15 RBI's. Soat has moved himself into the starting lineup on a more consistent basis and has responded by hitting .311 for IPFW.
Hathaway and Kalber play the middle infield positions for IPFW and both post a batting average over .300. Hathaway has started at shortstop in every game and is tied for the team lead in home runs with three. He adds eight doubles, a triple and 12 RBI's to his season stat totals. Kalber is the team leader in doubles with 13. He has two home runs and 12 RBI's.
The IPFW pitching rotation will feature senior left-hander Jason Kalber on the mound Friday. Kalber is the reigning Summit League Pitcher of the Week for his seven inning shutout win over South Dakota State last weekend. The senior lowered his ERA to 3.75 and now has 39 strikeouts on the season.
Chuck Weaver will take the hill in game one of Saturday's doubleheader leaving Brandon Pease for the start in game two. Weaver is the team leader in strikeouts with 42. He is 2-2 on the year with an ERA of 4.95. Pease is the only underclassman in the rotation as the redshirt freshman enters the weekend with an overall record of 1-0. Pease posts an ERA of 3.55 in his seven starts and is holding the opposition to a .254 batting average.
Sunday's starter will be junior Steve Danielak. Danielak has the best overall record on any IPFW starter this season at 4-2. He holds a 3.41 ERA and has 23 strikeouts in 34.1 innings pitched.
SCOUTING OAKLAND (7-23, 2-4 SL)
Oakland is 7-23 overall with a 2-4 record in Summit League competition. The Golden Grizzlies most recently took two losses vs. South Dakota State on Sunday getting swept 3-0 and 10-3.
Oakland picked up two wins at Western Illinois to begin league play, but then evened their record with two losses at Omaha. It has been a tough start to the season for Oakland who also has wins over Ohio, Buffalo, Illinois and Olivet.
Jared Theisen is leading the team with a .243 batting average. Theisen has five doubles, a triple, and 13 RBI's which leads the team. Mike Carson and Nolan Jacoby also hold a double figure RBI total while Todd Dunham leads the team in home runs with two.
Jason Hager will take the mound for Oakland on Friday. Hager is 2-5 on the year with a 4.15 ERA. The red-shirt junior has two complete games to his credit and is second on the team in strikeouts with 36.
The Golden Grizzlies will throw Jake Paulson in game one of Saturday's doubleheader followed by Tim Koons in the nightcap. Paulson is 1-5 on the mound in his eight starts. He holds a 5.36 ERA and has 26 strikeouts. Koons is 2-5 with a 4.28 ERA. The senior leads the team in strikeouts with 44.
Sunday's starter will be sophomore Chris Van Dyke. Van Dyke is 2-2 in his five starts with a 5.61 ERA. He has made eight appearances on the year for a grand total of 25.2 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .278 against him.
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