Saturday, May 5, 2007 12:18 AM CDT
Another tough OVC series for EIU baseball
by the jg/t-c
sports@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON - For the second weekend in a row, Eastern Illinois baseball hits the road for an Ohio Valley Conference series at a league front-runner, as the Panthers head to Clarksville, Tenn., for a three-game set at Austin Peay.
The Governors moved into a three-way, first-place tie with Jacksonville State and Southeast Missouri (last weekend’s opponent) thanks to their series sweep at Tennessee-Martin to close out the month of April.
Led by OVC Pitcher of the Year favorite Shawn Kelley (8-2, 2.40 ERA), APSU leads the league in team ERA (4.01). The senior righthander will start the series opener against EIU’s top starter, Chris Vaculik (4-6).
The Panthers (18-21, 8-9 OVC) faced Kelley twice last season, knocking him around for 10 hits and eight runs over 4 2/3 innings in Charleston en route to finishing off a three-game series sweep. But he got the last laugh in the rematch, allowing just one run in a complete-game effort in the OVC Tournament. The 10-2 loss to the Govs (27-17, 12-6 OVC) in the tourney ended EIU’s season.
“Austin Peay is really pitching well,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “Kelley just locates well and comes right at you. I feel we have to go back to being aggressive, getting bunts downs, using the hit and run and stealing bases. It’s to our advantage if we take it to him, not the way he took it to us in the tourney.
“I do anticipate some low-scoring games unless we can get this thing rolling like we are capable. With (Erik) Huber back, I hope we can get some offense going finally.”
Kelley has walked just 10 batters in 82 2/3 innings this season and two of his five wins in OVC play have been in complete-game shutout fashion.
Charleston’s J.B. Gilbert is Austin Peay’s fifth-leading hitter with a .301 batting average. The starting second baseman has three home runs and 22 RBIs in his first season with the Governors after two years at Olney Central College.
Vaculik, meanwhile, has also been at his best in OVC play this season. Despite a rough outing at Southeast Missouri last weekend, his 3.20 ERA in conference contests still ranks fourth among the league leaders. Vaculik did not surrender an earned in three appearances out of the bullpen against the Govs last season and pitched in all three games of the EIU-APSU series in Clarksville in 2005.
“Chris knows the importance of this outing and I’m confident he will give us a chance to win,” Schmitz said.
Alex Guttosch, however, was the standout performer in EIU’s sweep of APSU last season. The righthander pitched six innings of scoreless relief, earning the win in both games one and three, en route to taking home OVC Pitcher of the Week honors. He was the only relief pitcher to win the award in 2006. After winning his first career game as a starter in OVC play last weekend, Guttosch is slated to again start game two of this weekend’s series.
Eastern and Austin Peay have been headed in opposite directions as of late. The Govs have won five straight and seven of their last eight. The Panthers, meanwhile, have dropped five of their last six.
The first of today’s doubleheader and the series finale Sunday are slated for 1 p.m.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Game 1
Chris Vaculik (Sr, RHP) vs. Shawn Kelley (Sr, RHP)
Game 2
Alex Guttosch (Jr, RHP) vs. Matt Reynolds (Sr, LHP)
Game 3
TBA vs. Ryne Mantooth (So, RHP)
Underclassmen leading the way in OVC
Richie Derbak and Brett Nommensen have been EIU’s most consistent performers in OVC play this season. The two underclassmen are both batting above .380 versus league foes.
Derbak has hit safely in seven consecutive OVC contests while Nommensen has recorded a hit in a team-high nine straight conference games.
Nommensen leads the team in hits (24), runs scored (16) and on-base percentage (.486) in OVC play.
Derbak has been EIU’s top clutch hitter in conference competition, batting .444 (8-for-18) with runners in scoring position. Six of his 11 RBIs have come with two outs.
Sophomore Jordan Kreke has also been very steady in weekend series, sharing the team lead in RBIs (13) with Ryan Campbell.
Seven of Kreke’s RBIs have come with two outs. Campbell’s nine-game hitting streak in OVC play, meanwhile, came to an end in the rubber game of the Southeast Missouri series.
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