The Omnibus

Issue date: 3/30/07 Section: Sports

Junior outfielder Brad Mountjoy looks to collect one of his three hits in a double-header against Missouri Southern State. SBU lost the first game 12-7 and won the second 9-6. SBU will continue conference play Friday, March 30 versus the Truman State Bulldogs.

Southwest Baptist used three home runs in game two to split a double header with Missouri Southern Tuesday, March 27.
Home runs from sophomore Jason Asher, his first, junior Chris Martinez, his fourth, and senior Skyler Powers, his third, led to a rain-shortened 9-6 win over the Lions.
SBU had what has been a statistical anomaly for them in game one when they lost 12-7. SBU lost only their third game when scoring more than five runs (SBU is now 8-3 in those situations) but got back on track in game two.
Sophomore Ray Kelly had the best pitching performance of the day for the Bearcats. Kelly went seven innings, giving up six runs on 10 hits while striking out two and walking one. The win evened out his season record at 2-2.
The Bearcats are now 10-14 overall and 3-6 in the MIAA.
Head Coach Sam Berg was pleased with Kelly's performance.
"Ray pitched really well on three days rest," said Berg. "It picked us up. I was happy with the way we hit and pitched in the second game."
Ray's performance was clutch because of the way SBU's home turf has been treating pitchers lately. The Bearcats have now given up 32 homers on the season with 27 of them being hit in Bolivar.
The home runs can be attested to the tremendous amount of windy games SBU has played at home. This can be measured by the fact that SBU is giving up nearly two home runs (1.69) a game at home, but only .625 home runs on the road. SBU is 9-7 at home and 1-7 on the road so far this season.
This leads to the idea that SBU's offense is the key to winning for the Bearcats. Their 2-11 record when scoring less than five runs a game seems to signal this theory.
It should help, then, that SBU's starting catcher and leading hitter Powers is back in the line up. Powers is hitting .400 (16 of 40) with three home runs, 14 runs batted in and three doubles since missing 10 games due to a knee injury. The Bearcats were 3-7 with him out of the lineup.
Martinez has also excelled lately, hitting two home runs against Southern on Tuesday and has seven RBI in his last three games. He is also leading the team with 23 runs scored.
SBU will continue conference play Friday when they travel to Kirksville to play Truman State.
The Bearcats will play a double header Friday, March 30 and Saturday starting at noon on each day. Truman is 5-17 overall and 1-6 in the MIAA and have lost eight of their last 10 games.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools