KUTZTOWN, PA (April 26, 2010) – The Kutztown University baseball team begins the 2010 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) baseball tournament against Mercyhurst College Wednesday afternoon. The game begins at 3:30 p.m. and will be played at Johnstown's Point Stadium. Tickets are $7. (DIRECTIONS)
The Golden Bears (34-11 overall) enter the tournament as the second seed from the East Division. They finished a game behind West Chester in the PSAC East. Also in Kutztown's half of the bracket are West top-seed Indiana, Pa. and East Stroudsburg, the fourth place finisher from the East Division.
Kutztown finished the last week of the season with a 5-3 record. Two of its three losses were by 3-2 scores to Bloomsburg and Millersville. However, none of that matters as the Golden Bears begin their quest for their sixth PSAC title in school history. The Golden Bears have won four PSAC crowns in the last 11 years.
The winner of the eight-team PSAC tournament (top four teams from the Western and Eastern Divisions) will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament when the pairings are announced on Sunday May 9.
The Golden Bears' 34 wins this season mark the eighth consecutive year that KU has won more than 30 under coach Chris Blum, who has 293 career victories. It also is the 16th straight winning season for KU, which is ranked second in the Atlantic Region by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association and 10th nationally in the same poll.
Kutztown will be playing a familiar foe in its first round game. Mercyhurst (25-20) eliminated Kutztown from the PSAC playoffs last year, 9-2, in the semifinals. In last year's contest, Jeff Kistle (Sandyston, N.J./Kittatinny) provided Kutztown's offense with a two-run home run. He had two hits in the game. Mike Bucklin (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin) tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings for Kutztown. The Lakers enter the PSAC playoffs with momentum, having won their last four games – all against Clarion.
The Lakers have been paced this season by Ethan Santoral, who leads the team with a .414 batting average. He also has 55 hits, seven home runs and 36 runs batted in. Bill Gerstenslagel (.414) and Adam Gray (.347) have also been formidable for the Lakers. Gray is second on the team with 50 hits and 30 runs batted in. Trey Bennett has posted a .333 batting average and driven home 32 runs. Kevin McCall has also banged out 44 hits.
Mercyhurst advanced to the NCAA Atlantic Regional finals last year before falling to West Chester. The Lakers have a balanced pitching staff as evidenced by Nick Gillung, Jordan Backes, Adam Gray and Ben Rawding being named as the PSAC West Pitcher of the Week at least once during the season. Backes leads the Lakers with six wins and 62 strikeouts. Offensively, Mercyhurst scored double digit runs in three of its four wins against Clarion last weekend.
Of course, scoring double digit runs is nothing new for Kutztown, which has done it 20 times this season. The Golden Bears scored 20 runs against Adelphi, which was ranked third in the NCAA East Region, and 21 against Millersville last week. With the conference's second best earned run average (4.73), Mercyhurst's pitching staff will be challenged against Kutztown, which ranks near the top in several offensive categories.
Despite being blanked by Millersville on Saturday afternoon, Kutztown still leads the PSAC in walks (216), and on-base percentage (.438). The Golden Bears are second in runs scored (403), runs batted in (354), and home runs (46). Kutztown is third in batting average (.339), slugging percentage (.508), hits (477) and total bases (716).
Individually, sophomore Shayne Houck, a national player of the year candidate, has been the fire that has fueled the KU offense most of the season. He leads the PSAC in batting average (.493), slugging percentage (1.007), on-base percentage (587), runs scored (65), runs batted in (69), home runs (16) and total bases (137). Houck is tied for third with 20 doubles and fifth with 67 hits. Houck has established single-season school records in runs, doubles, home runs, runs batted in, batting average and total bases. The .493 average is Houck's lowest since the season started in February.
However, Houck has been far from a one-man show. Senior Jared Frey has been sizzling lately and his .444 batting average is third in the PSAC. Other top hitters for Kutztown are Mike Dugan (.395 batting average) and James Quigley (.394). Senior Mike Kacelowicz slugged two home runs in the victory over Adelphi last week. Adding depth to the lineup has been Brett Wigder's .373 average and Brad Stoudt's .338.
Senior lefthander Nathan Reed made national headlines last week by tossing a no-hitter against Bloomsburg. It was the Golden Bears' first no-hitter since 2004. Reed has a 5-2 overall record and a .266 earned run average. Adam Maini (Macungie/Emmaus, PA) leads KU with a 1.80 earned run average. Tyler Persun is 5-0 for the Golden Bears. Mike Bucklin and Jonathan Grosse lead the Golden Bears with six wins each.
The winner of this game meets the winner of the Indiana-East Stroudsburg Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. The losers will battle in an elimination contest Thursday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.
ABOUT POINT STADIUM
Point Stadium is the name of 2 stadiums located on the same site in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The "Point" refers to its location is at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh, Stoneycreek, and Conemaugh Rivers. The original stadium opened in 1926 with a capacity of 17,000. The stadium featured an upper-deck on top of the grandstand. The Greater Johnstown High School football team regularly sold out the Point for their rivalry games between Windber High School and Altoona Area High School. The upper grandstand was later removed and capacity was reduced to 10,000. It was the home of numerous minor league baseball teams and the AAABA baseball tournament. It was also used for filming in All The Right Moves.
Point Stadium has unusual field dimensions. Fitted into a rectangular city block, it was just 251 feet down the right field line and 262 feet down the left field line, but bulged out to over 400 feet in center field, depending on the location of a snow fence which cut off the farthest reaches of the stadium in right center field. Huge nets are put in left field to keep balls in play, preventing easy home runs, and also to prevent balls from reaching the adjacent street. Point Stadium's dimensions: (1926-2002)
- Left Field Foul Line: 262 feet
- Center Field: 385 feet
- Right Field Foul Line: 251 feet
The original Point Stadium was torn down in 2005 to make room for a new $8 million Point Stadium. The new, 7,500-seat stadium opened on August 8, 2006, for a game between Johnstown and Chicago in the annual AAABA National Tournament. Bishop McCort High School currently plays their home football games here. Sportexe artificial turf was installed before the 2007 AAABA National Tournament.
Point Stadium is also used by the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown for selected home games. UPJ will host the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball championships at Point Stadium in the 2008, 2009, and 2010 seasons.
- Left Field Foul Line: 290 feet
- Left Center Field: 336 feet
- Center Field: 409 feet
- Right Center Field: 395
- Right Field Foul Line: 290 feet
-- KU --
