May 14, 2008

ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio baseball team travels to Buffalo this week for its final Mid-American Conference series of the 2008 season. Ohio (25-27, 12-12 MAC) enters the series in search of its first MAC Tournament berth since 2003 as the Bobcats are currently in third place in the MAC East Division standings. Buffalo (13-36, 6-17 MAC) enters this weekend having lost 10 straight and as one of only two teams eliminated from tournament contention, but the Bulls are a respectable 8-6 at home. The series begins on Thursday afternoon, with first pitch slated for 3 p.m.

This year's MAC Tournament, played in nearby Chillicothe, Ohio at VA Memorial Stadium (May 21-24), will be made up of eight teams. The eight teams will be comprised of the top three teams in each division and the next two teams (regardless of division) with the best overall winning percentage. The division winners will be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, with all other seeds being based on conference winning percentage.

For Ohio to qualify, it can either finish in the third spot in the East or take one of the final two spots based on overall winning percentage regardless of division. Currently Ohio is in third place in front of Akron (8-10 MAC) in the East Division. There are several scenarios that could work out for Ohio to take third in the East. If the Bobcats sweep Buffalo they will be assured third place regardless of what Akron does this weekend. If Ohio goes 1-2 this weekend, the only way Akron would overtake them for the third spot would be if it won all three games (or if Akron went 2-0 in a rain-shortened series). If Ohio goes 2-1 this weekend, Akron would have to sweep or go 2-0 in a rain-shortened series to climb over the Bobcats. If Ohio does not finish third in the East it will be battling Ball State (11-9 MAC), Western Michigan (11-10 MAC), Central Michigan (11-12 MAC), and Toledo (8-12 MAC) for the final two spots, depending how the games play out this weekend.

Ohio Baseball This Week
-Ohio at Buffalo - Thursday, May 15 at 3 p.m.
-Ohio at Buffalo - Friday, May 16 at 3 p.m.
-Ohio at Buffalo - Saturday, May 17 at 1 p.m.

Pitching Probables
(Ohio's Listed First)
Thursday
#33 Chris Rigo (Jr., RHP, 6-3, 205)
4-3, 5.76 ERA, 79.2 IP, 51 ER, 63 K, 33 BB

#9 Mike Stangroom (Jr., RHP, 6-4, 210)
2-4, 2.97 ERA, 60.2 IP, 20 ER, 44 K, 20 BB

Friday
#14 Matt Smith (Sr., LHP, 6-3, 190)
4-2, 5.20 ERA, 62.1 IP, 36 ER, 37 K, 22 BB

#16 Jesse Reinstein (Fr., LHP, 6-2, 205)
1-5, 6.14 ERA, 44.0 IP, 30 ER, 40 K, 24 BB

Saturday
#1 Zach Elmer (Jr., LHP, 5-11, 185)
4-3, 3.52 ERA, 64.0 IP, 25 ER, 43 K, 37 BB

#13 Tony Kurtz (Sr., RHP, 6-0, 220)
0-0, 12.00 ERA, 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 2 K, 2 BB

Scouting Buffalo
Buffalo enters this weekend's series with a record of 13-36 and 6-17 in the MAC. The Bulls have lost 10 straight games, including a narrow defeat in their most recent outing at Ohio State, 14-13. Buffalo has had a tough time on the road this season, having gone just 3-26, but at home the Bulls are 8-6. At the plate the Bulls are led by second baseman Brian Randazzo. Randazzo is batting .306 on the season with 22 RBI and 25 runs scored. The top pitcher for Buffalo is Mike Stangroom, who is Thursday's probable starter. Stangroom has the second-best ERA in the MAC at 2.97. The Bulls are coached by Ron Torgalski, who is in his second season at the helm of the program.

All-Time Series
Ohio holds a 12-9-1 advantage in the all-time series against Buffalo. Last year Buffalo traveled to Athens, where the Bulls took the series 2-1. Buffalo won the first game, 7-4, Ohio took game two, 14-9, and Buffalo won the rubber game, 13-10. All 22 meetings between the two teams have been during Head Coach Joe Carbone's tenure at Ohio.

Stiffler Player of the Week
Ohio senior Matt Stiffler was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week for his outstanding play the week of May 12. Stiffler batted .526 and posted a 1.263 slugging percentage to lead Ohio to a 5-0 record and a sweep of rival Miami this past week. Stiffler connected on four home runs for the week to increase his season total to 15 and extended his current hitting streak to 12 games. The Bellbrook, Ohio, native collected nine RBI and nine runs scored and posted a .609 on base percentage. Stiffler is batting .360 on the season and is second in the MAC in hits per game (1.58), runs scored per game (1.23) and triples per game (.12). The Bobcat leadoff hitter is leading the league in total bases per game (2.88) and is fourth in slugging percentage (.658).

Five-Game Winning Streak
Ohio enters this week on a five-game winning streak, after entering the week before on a seven-game losing streak. During the seven-game skid the Bobcats batted just .259 and had a team-ERA of 7.25. In the last five games the Bobcats have turned it around, however, as the team is batting .343 with a team-ERA of 5.71.

Stiffler Chasing Bobcat History
Matt Stiffler is currently first in career triples (16), third in runs scored (167), sixth in total bases (353), seventh in hits (221) and 10th in doubles (40) all-time at Ohio. Stiffler's 82 hits this season tie for fifth at Ohio in a single season and put him just 10 away from establishing a new Bobcat record. His 15 home runs on the year are tied for seventh best in a season.

Elmer Stays at Top
Junior left-hander Zach Elmer has been the most consistent pitcher in the Bobcats' rotation this year as he enters this weekend with a 3.52 ERA, third best in the MAC. Elmer has started 12 games this season for Ohio and worked 64.0 innings, allowing just 25 earned runs. The Delaware, Ohio, native is holding batters to a .228 average, third-best in the conference.

Seeing Double
Junior Brandon Besl has 19 doubles on the season, which is a team-high and places him tied for fourth in single season history at Ohio. The record for doubles in a season is 32 by Ryan Kyes in 2001. Besl leads the MAC in doubles per game (.46) and is also fourth in the conference in batting (.383), third in hits (1.56 per game), third in RBI (1.07 per game), third in total bases (2.73 per game) and second in slugging percentage (.671).

Ohio in MAC Stats
Ohio enters this week third in the MAC in batting (.310) and fifth in team pitching (5.63 ERA). In MAC games, Ohio is also third in batting (.309) and fifth in pitching (5.34 ERA). Last year the Bobcats finished second in the league in batting (.298) and ninth in pitching (5.55 ERA).

Did you get the Memo?
Junior right-hander Kevin Mementowski has emerged as the Bobcats' top reliever this season. Mementowski, who earned his first save of the season last week, has a 5.08 ERA this season, but in MAC play has lowered his ERA to 2.52, tops in the MAC. Mementowski has appeared in 12 games out of the bullpen in conference action and allowed just seven earned runs in 25.0 innings.