Opposition Research - Lindenwood University

Opposition Research - Lindenwood University

St. Charles, Mo. - Your Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats baseball team travel to St. Charles, Missouri, to play the Lindenwood University Lions in a key MIAA Conference match-up this weekend. The Bearcats and Lions will match-up in a 3-game series with Game 1 on Friday, March 4, 2016, at 4pm, Game 2 on Saturday, March 5, 2016, at 1pm, and Game 3 on Sunday, March 6, 2016, at Noon. Lindenwood was picked pre-season #4 by the MIAA baseball coaches.

Lindenwood enters this weekend's match-up with a 6-4, 1-2 MIAA record. In the Lions first MIAA Conference series, they clobbered the Missouri Southern Lions in Game 1 by the score 16-2 before losing Games 2 and 3 to finish the weekend 1-2. As far as non-conference opponents, Lindenwood played a common opponent as Northwest by traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, to sweep a double-header with Christian Brothers University. In addition, Lindenwood swept a 2-game series with Harris-Stowe State University and later lost 2 of 3 from Augustana University from South Dakota. In total, Lindenwood has a home record of 3-2 and a road record of 3-2 to start the 2016 NCAA regular season.

Lindenwood's Head Coach is Doug Bletcher who has been with the Lions for the past 9 seasons. Coach Bletcher has an impressive coaching record. He has been a college coach for 18 seasons. In an interview about the upcoming 2016 NCAA season, Coach Bletcher said "Its about as optimistic as I've been since I've been at Lindenwood going into a season." Coach Bletcher was excited about the pitchers the team added and the depth that it created for the season. If there is a weakness that Coach Bletcher hinted to it was the Lions Defense, "The challenge for us is going to be defensively. We want to match-up defensively very well. We've got an extremely impressive record when we have, over the last 4 years, have given-up 4 runs or less. It's just a dominant record and then when we give-up 5 runs or more its totally in reverse."

Coach Bletcher complimented the parity in MIAA baseball, but then said that there were probably "8 or 9 teams that could take this conference in any given year."

Coach Bletcher concluded "Overall, I do think this is the best NCAA team that I've had, offensively and defensively, and I'm really looking forward to that."

2016 Lindenwood Statistics - 

Player	avg	gp-gs	ab	r	h	2b	3b	hr	rbi	tb	slg%	bb	hbp	so	gdp	ob%	sf	sh	sb-att	po	a	e	fld%
Ehrhard,Mike	.484	8-8	31	7	15	4	0	2	12	25	.806	3	2	6	0	.556	0	0	0-0	54	3	0	1.000
Quinones,Drew	.429	9-9	35	13	15	3	2	2	16	28	.800	4	2	3	0	.488	2	0	1-1	13	2	0	1.000
Singbush,Rayce	.378	10-10	37	11	14	4	1	2	15	26	.703	4	3	10	0	.467	1	0	4-5	13	1	2	.875
Prindle,Nathan	.364	10-10	33	17	12	4	0	3	11	25	.758	8	6	11	0	.553	0	0	5-5	16	22	6	.864
Degener,Wes	.361	10-10	36	15	13	1	2	0	7	18	.500	14	0	6	0	.540	0	0	1-1	10	0	0	1.000
Sosnowski,Ryan	.333	10-10	30	13	10	2	0	0	7	12	.400	11	2	7	0	.523	1	0	1-1	68	8	0	1.000
Baxter,Sam	.313	10-8	32	10	10	1	1	1	8	16	.500	5	2	7	1	.425	1	0	0-0	2	14	1	.941
Perkins,Zac	.235	8-6	17	7	4	0	0	0	5	4	.235	4	4	2	1	.480	0	2	0-0	8	13	1	.955
Fuller,Jackson	.182	6-4	11	3	2	0	0	0	1	2	.182	3	1	1	0	.400	0	0	0-0	3	5	2	.800
Lang,Bobby	.077	4-4	13	2	1	1	0	0	1	2	.154	2	0	4	0	.200	0	0	0-0	0	0	0	.000
Bibbs,Michael	.067	6-4	15	1	1	1	0	0	1	2	.133	3	0	4	1	.222	0	0	0-1	15	1	0	1.000
----------
Sherwood,Paul	.400	5-2	5	1	2	0	0	0	2	2	.400	0	0	1	0	.400	0	0	0-0	1	4	0	1.000
Paulda,Nick	.333	2-1	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	.333	0	0	0	0	.250	1	0	0-0	10	4	0	1.000
Saladino,Vince	.250	4-2	8	0	2	0	0	0	2	2	.250	0	1	3	0	.300	1	0	0-0	0	0	0	.000
Cooper,Jake	.143	4-2	7	1	1	1	0	0	2	2	.286	2	0	3	1	.333	0	0	0-0	2	5	0	1.000
Revetta,Dominic	.000	2-0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1	0	.000	0	0	0-0	5	0	0	1.000
Teter,Kyle	.000	2-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0-0	0	0	0	.000
Tibbs,Lucas	.000	3-0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0-0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	.325	10-10	317	103	103	22	6	10	92	167	.527	63	23	69	4	.461	7	2	12-14	228	95	15	.956
Opponents	.305	10-10	305	78	93	16	6	8	68	145	.475	37	24	83	11	.416	4	2	4-6	225	79	16	.950

LOB - Team (84), Opp (66). DPs turned - Team (13), Opp (4). IBB - Team (1), Cooper,J. 1. Picked off - Degener,W. 1, Ehrhard,M. 1, Prindle,N. 1.

Player	era	w-l	app-gs	cg	sho	sv	ip	h	r	er	bb	so	2b	3b	hr	ab	b/avg	wp	hbp	bk	sfa	sha
Law,Connor	2.40	3-0	3-3	0	0/0	0	15.0	12	7	4	6	17	2	0	1	53	.226	2	1	0	1	1
Georgen,Austin	4.15	1-0	2-2	0	0/0	0	8.2	7	5	4	1	10	1	2	1	33	.212	0	0	0	1	0
Breihan,Devin	6.35	0-0	4-0	0	0/0	1	5.2	6	5	4	6	5	1	0	0	23	.261	0	2	1	0	0
Boyd,Jevon	6.75	0-1	3-0	0	0/0	0	6.2	6	6	5	4	10	1	1	1	25	.240	0	3	0	1	0
Kleekamp,Brendan	10.80	0-0	6-0	0	0/0	0	6.2	11	8	8	4	4	2	0	1	28	.393	2	3	0	0	0
Meine,Austin	11.74	1-1	4-0	0	0/0	0	7.2	12	10	10	1	8	1	1	1	32	.375	3	6	1	0	0
Hartlieb,Geoff	12.34	0-2	3-2	0	0/0	0	11.2	19	18	16	6	11	2	0	2	52	.365	4	3	0	0	1
----------
Patterson,Elijah	4.15	0-0	5-1	0	0/0	0	4.1	3	3	2	4	2	1	0	0	13	.231	5	3	0	0	0
Arnberger,Skyler	6.23	0-0	3-1	0	0/0	0	4.1	5	4	3	5	8	2	0	0	17	.294	0	0	1	0	0
Eilers,Andrew	6.75	1-0	3-1	0	0/0	0	4.0	5	5	3	0	5	1	1	0	18	.278	1	1	1	1	0
Brewer,Wade	13.50	0-0	1-0	0	0/0	0	0.2	2	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	4	.500	0	1	0	0	0
Simmons,Steffen	27.00	0-0	1-0	0	0/0	0	0.1	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	.500	0	0	0	0	0
Teter,Kyle	99.00	0-0	1-0	0	0/0	0	0.1	4	5	5	0	1	2	0	0	5	.800	1	1	0	0	0
Totals	7.82	6-4	10-10	0	0/0	1	76.0	93	78	66	37	83	16	6	8	305	.305	18	24	4	4	2
Opponents	11.16	4-6	10-10	1	0/0	1	75.0	103	103	93	63	69	22	6	10	317	.325	27	23	3	7	2

PB - Team (2), Sosnowski,R. 1, Paulda,N. 1, Opp (4). Pickoffs - Team (2), Law,C. 1, Kleekamp,B. 1, Opp (3). SBA/ATT - Sosnowski,R. (4-4), Paulda,N. (0-2), Boyd,J. (0-1), Breihan,D. (1-1), Arnberger,S. (1-1), Hartlieb,G. (1-1), Kleekamp,B. (1-1), Patterson,E. (0-1).

Northwest - Northwest Missouri State University enters this weekend with a 7-5, 2-1 MIAA record having played Northeastern State University in Maryville to open Conference play. The Bearcats are 2-1 in home games, 2-4 in road games, and 3-0 in neutral site games.

2016 NWMSU statistics - 

Player	avg	gp-gs	ab	r	h	2b	3b	hr	rbi	tb	slg%	bb	hbp	so	gdp	ob%	sf	sh	sb-att	po	a	e	fld%
Appel,Dane	1.000	1-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1.000	0	0	0	0	1.000	0	0	0-0	2	0	0	1.000
Gotta,Nick	.390	12-12	41	5	16	4	1	1	15	25	.610	14	0	3	0	.526	2	0	4-6	18	32	2	.962
Greenslade,Kolby	.318	12-12	44	10	14	2	1	0	3	18	.409	2	0	9	1	.348	0	1	5-7	14	0	0	1.000
Fort, Garrett	.295	12-12	44	12	13	1	1	0	5	16	.364	7	4	9	3	.436	0	0	5-6	22	1	0	1.000
Adams,Ozzie	.283	12-12	46	11	13	1	0	0	5	14	.304	5	3	5	1	.389	0	2	2-3	17	34	2	.962
Hrdlicka,Jay	.263	12-12	38	5	10	3	0	0	7	13	.342	12	0	9	1	.440	0	0	2-2	29	2	1	.969
Handzlik,Kevin	.250	7-5	20	1	5	1	0	0	3	6	.300	0	1	4	0	.286	0	0	0-0	3	5	1	.889
Meyer,Derek	.227	9-5	22	1	5	1	0	0	3	6	.273	0	0	6	3	.227	0	0	0-0	43	6	0	1.000
Howard,Nick	.185	9-7	27	4	5	1	0	0	4	6	.222	3	1	9	0	.281	1	1	0-0	6	12	1	.947
Lewis,Jake	.171	11-11	35	7	6	2	0	1	4	11	.314	3	1	4	0	.256	0	0	2-4	53	0	0	1.000
Wulff,Austin	.143	12-7	28	3	4	1	0	0	2	5	.179	4	2	9	0	.286	1	0	0-0	18	0	0	1.000
Barratt,Aaron	.143	7-4	14	3	2	1	0	0	2	3	.214	0	1	3	0	.188	1	1	1-1	7	0	0	1.000
Douglas,Zachary	.143	5-2	7	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	.143	0	3	5	0	.400	0	0	0-0	19	3	1	.957
Holler,James	.120	10-6	25	1	3	0	0	0	2	3	.120	1	0	7	0	.154	0	0	0-0	57	3	0	1.000
Wilkinson,Luke	.000	1-1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1	1	.000	0	0	0-0	0	1	0	1.000
Pablo,Nikko	.000	1-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0-0	1	6	1	.875
Totals	.248	12-12	395	63	98	18	3	2	56	128	.324	51	16	83	10	.353	5	5	21-29	312	122	9	.980
Opponents	.239	12-12	377	55	90	14	1	3	47	115	.305	37	8	90	3	.316	5	12	12-14	318	146	19	.961

LOB - Team (91), Opp (72). DPs turned - Team (6), Opp (12). IBB - Team (3), Gotta,Nick 3. Picked off - Fort,Garrett 2, Lewis,Jake 1, Hrdlicka,Jay 1.

Player	era	w-l	app-gs	cg	sho	sv	ip	h	r	er	bb	so	2b	3b	hr	ab	b/avg	wp	hbp	bk	sfa	sha
Smith,Carson	0.00	1-0	5-0	0	0/0	0	6.2	5	1	0	0	3	1	0	0	25	.200	0	1	0	1	0
Osborne,John	0.00	0-0	1-0	0	0/0	0	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1.000	0	1	0	0	1
Hietpas,Joseph	3.04	3-0	4-4	0	0/0	0	23.2	15	9	8	9	21	3	0	1	82	.183	3	1	0	0	2
Shea,Bryce	3.18	2-0	7-0	0	0/0	0	11.1	6	5	4	5	13	1	0	0	39	.154	0	0	0	0	0
Pablo,Nikko	3.38	0-0	5-0	0	0/0	0	10.2	9	7	4	5	8	0	1	0	34	.265	3	0	0	1	4
Wagner,Jacob	3.86	0-0	3-0	0	0/0	0	2.1	3	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	8	.375	0	1	0	0	0
Caenepeel,Anthony	4.09	0-3	4-4	0	0/0	0	22.0	21	13	10	4	24	3	0	0	84	.250	1	2	1	3	0
Roberts,Brad	4.74	0-1	4-4	0	0/0	0	19.0	24	11	10	8	13	6	0	2	76	.316	0	0	0	0	4
Pearcy,Hondo	5.40	0-0	2-0	0	0/0	0	3.1	3	2	2	1	1	0	0	0	11	.273	0	1	0	0	1
Battaglia,Austin	9.64	1-1	4-0	0	0/0	0	4.2	3	6	5	5	5	0	0	0	17	.176	0	1	0	0	0
Totals	3.81	7-5	12-12	0	0/0	0	104.0	90	55	44	37	90	14	1	3	377	.239	7	8	1	5	12
Opponents	3.99	5-7	12-12	0	1/1	2	106.0	98	63	47	51	83	18	3	2	395	.248	7	16	1	5	5

PB - Team (2), Hrdlicka,Jay 1, Meyer,Derek 1, Opp (4). Pickoffs - Team (4), Pablo,Nikko 2, Caenepeel,An 1, Meyer,Derek 1, Opp (4). SBA/ATT - Meyer,Derek (8-8), Hietpas,Jose (3-3), Roberts,Brad (2-3), Douglas,Zach (2-3), Smith,Carson (3-3), Hrdlicka,Jay (2-3), Pearcy,Hondo (1-1), Shea,Bryce (1-1), Wagner,Jacob (0-1), Caenepeel,An (1-1), Pablo,Nikko (1-1).

Match-up analysis - Lindenwood knocks the cover off the ball but statistically is not very good at defense or pitching. As Coach Bletcher said in his interview, the trick for Northwest will be to score 5 runs or more every game. The Lions offense is the most impressive offense I have seen this season on paper. With 10 home runs, the Bearcat starters need to get to the 7th inning and keep the baseball in the ballpark. Offensively, Northwest will need to run with the Jonses and keep pace in a potential track meet of a series. Northwest's starters will need to throw strikes and keep the ball down. Northwest's defense must not give any extra outs to the opposing offense. And, Northwest's offense will need to put pressure on the Lindenwood pitching staff.

Here is a breakdown of key statistical categories - 

                                    LU                              NWMSU

Offense- .325 BA, .461 OB, .527 SLG      .248 BA, .353 OB, .324 SLG

Defense -                    .956                             .980

Pitching -       7.82 ERA - .305 Opp BA      3.81 ERA - .239 Opp BA

It is going to be a great weekend of baseball. There are so many story lines for this key MIAA match-up: Is Lindenwood overlooking the Bearcats since they were not pre-season top 8 or 9? Can Northwest score 5 runs or more in each of the three games against Lindenwood? Can Northwest hold Lindenwood to 4 runs or less in each of the 3 games? Can Northwest pressure the Lindenwood pitching and defense consistently to score a lot of runs? Is Lindenwood's offense to hot to stop? Can a 12th pre-season seed take two from a 4th pre-season seed?

Stay tuned and access live stats by clicking on the following link:  www.bearcatsports.com

Go Cats!!

###

Veteran Profile - Jacob Wagner

Veteran Profile - Jacob Wagner

Maryville, Mo. - The B2R features Bearcat veteran pitcher Jacob Wagner. Jacob stands 6'2" and weighs 170 lbs. He is a proud alum of John F. Kennedy High School in Buena Park, California. Jacob is the B2R's favorite kind of pitcher - side-arm/submarine. Who doesn't love a pitcher that completely changes the trajectory of a baseball on the batters by simply walking onto the mound? Jacob is one of the nicest people you are going to meet anywhere in the world. His easy-going demeanor is what you may expect of someone from sunny California. Regardless of his friendly personality, Jacob is intense when he gets on the mound. One thing I'm looking forward to with Jacob is seeing his mechanics' consistency improve from 2015 to now. Jacob did an outstanding job in his first year competing in the MIAA as a red-shirt freshman. Continued refinement of his skill is only going to give hitters more fits. Jacob's pitches dance and move with the best on the team. Wagner's development is finding the consistency in his mechanics to repeat his pitches to locate where he wants the ball to go. When Wagner is on, the batters' swings look pretty silly. I can't wait to see what 2016 holds for Jacob Wagner.

Jacob entered the 2015 NCAA season as a red-shirt freshman. In total, he threw a 7.59 ERA, 2-0 W-L record, 14 appearances, 10.2 innings pitched, allowed 15 hits, 9 runs (all earned), 11 walks, 2 strike-outs, threw 1 wild pitch, and hit 1 batter. Despite the walk/strike-out ratio in 2015, Wagner would cause soft contact and bad swings. Many times, it appeared to the B2R that batters would take a pitch because they couldn't hit it and see if the umpire called a strike. Look out MIAA of Jacob Wagner.

So far in 2016, Jacob has a 3.86 ERA, not factored in a win or loss, appeared in 3 games, worked 2.1 innings, allowed 3 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 2 strike-outs, and hit 1 batter. In Wagner's 3 outings, he was lights out in 2 of them and had a tough day on the 3rd. You can see significant success will come once Jacob finds consistency which is difficult for any pitcher to accomplish. The sky is the limit for Jacob Wagner.

Go Cats!!

###

Veteran Profile - Aaron Barratt

Veteran Profile - Aaron Barratt

Maryville, Mo. - The B2R featured Bearcat Veteran today is Right Fielder Aaron Barratt. Judging from a distance, Aaron may be the most popular guy on the team. Everybody seems to gravitate to Aaron whether it is a pitcher or non-pitcher. Aaron has an ornery side that his devilish smile and golden hair help conceal. On the baseball field, Aaron is as humble and hard working a kid as you are going to find. While other guys may hang-out in the dugout before the game, Aaron is preparing the field for play. How can you not love a guy that preps the field then plays right field? Aaron is a team-first guy. Humble. Hard working. Smooth fielder. Greased-lightning fast. He earned serious playing time as a red-shirt freshman in 2015. While his bat continues to develop, he is a premier defender and base runner. Its is no small feat to get playing time with Greenslade, Fort, and Wulff as your starting outfielders yet Aaron's hard work and tenacity forces the Coaches to write his name in the line-up. Aaron is one of the guys you root for because of his hard work, friendly demeanor, and mature approach to the game. Aaron seemingly has a smile on his face at all times. Family-first guy.

Aaron's biggest opportunity for development is going to be his offense. If he can slap a gapper he pretty much bought himself a triple with his speed. Getting on base will be key for Aaron and the Bearcats' success in 2016. The B2R is very excited to see Aaron and his success in 2016. If there are any parents out there, Aaron is a B2R recommendation to introduce your young ball players too. Hard work, great teammate, and a youthful excitement to play baseball are all characteristics Barratt would teach them.

2015 Statistics - In 2015, Barratt appeared in 27 games, made 5 starts, hit .158 in 19 plate appearances, scored 12 runs, 3 hits, 1 RBI, .158 slugging %, 5 walks, 5 strike-outs, .333 on-base %, 3 stolen bases in 3 attempts (perfect 100%), only committed 1 error.

2016 Statistics - In 2016, Barratt has appeared in 7 games, made 4 starts, hitting .143, 14 plate appearances, 3 runs scored, 2 hits, 1 double, 2 RBIs, .214 slugging %, 1 hit by pitch, 3 strike-outs, .188 on-base %, 1 sacrifice fly, 1 sacrifice hit, 1 stolen base in 1 attempt, and a perfect fielding percentage.

Look for great things from Aaron Barratt on the baseball field and in life.

Go Cats!!

###