Sophomore outfielder Ben Stoper tied a school record on Saturday when he stole four bases in the second game of the Yellow Jackets’ doubleheader sweep of Capital University at Heritage Field.
Stoper, who was three for five in the game and scored a pair of runs, singled and stole second base in each of his first three at bats. He tied the record in the sixth inning with another scamper for second after reaching base on a fielder’s choice. It was his seventh stolen base in seven tries this season.
B-W’s single-game stolen base record was set in 1991 when All-OAC outfielder Jim Anderson ’92 broke an OAC postseason record by swiping four bases in one of the Jackets’ conference tournament games.
Baldwin-Wallace College had more baseball players named to the Academic All–Ohio Athletic Conference team last spring than any other school in the conference.
The Academic All-OAC team recognizes the league’s top scholar-athletes. Its roster is made up of outstanding starters and key reserves who have at least a 3.25 cumulative grade point average. Roster spots are awarded by a committee of faculty representatives from each of the ten conference schools.
The faculty reps honored five Yellow Jackets with first team selections: Second baseman Nate Luken, a senior criminal justice major who graduated with a 3.86 GPA and went on to law school at Ohio State University to pursue a career as a criminal prosecutor; shortstop Nick Radca, a senior exercise science major who finished school with a 3.52 GPA and recently took a job helping the Lake Erie Crushers Frontier League baseball team with their strength and conditioning program; junior pitcher Brandon Fredericks, who entered his senior year with a 3.90 GPA in business administration; junior right fielder Mike Brisky, who completed his first year of work on a master’s degree in business administration with a 3.72 GPA; and junior center fielder Cody Kidd, a pre-med and biology major who carried a 3.79 GPA at the end of last season.
Junior pitcher Jim Jaskowak, a business administration and accounting major with a 3.57 GPA, was selected for honorable mention.
Luken, Brisky and Kidd were all repeat honorees from the 2007 Academic All-OAC team.
The Jackets’ five first team selections were the most for any baseball team in school history. The 2003 and 2006 teams held the previous record with four first-teamers each. The 2006 club still holds the record for overall picks with seven.
Five Baldwin-Wallace College baseball players were elected to the All–Ohio Athletic Conference team last spring by the league’s head coaches.
Senior shortstop Nick Radca, senior designated hitter Kevin Shenker, junior center fielder Cody Kidd and junior first baseman Riley Kreisher made the honor squad’s second team, while senior left fielder Shaun Slater received an honorable mention.
Radca, Shenker, Kidd and Slater all had career seasons at the plate. Radca hit .388 while fighting through a knee injury, Shenker led the Yellow Jackets with a .418 batting average and a .495 on-base percentage, and Kidd topped the lineup with 60 hits, 34 runs scored and 13 stolen bases from his leadoff spot. Slater hit .409 and racked up an intimidating seven assists from the outfield.
Kreisher turned in the most impressive all-around performance of the season, hitting .340 and leading the team with 18 walks, 18 doubles, 29 runs batted in and a .553 slugging percentage while playing in every game. His 18 doubles tied the Jackets’ single-season record and he was named OAC Hitter of the Week after a season-ending offensive outburst. In the field, he posted a .988 fielding average by committing only four errors in 335 chances at first base.
Kidd and Kreisher were also second team All-OAC picks in 2007.
B-W Baseball All-OAC Selections »
Despite losing its last two home games of the 2008 season, the Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team and its fans still had plenty to be proud of at the Senior Day doubleheader against Malone College at Heritage Field on May 1.
During the pregame festivities, the Yellow Jackets seniors — Shaun Slater, Kevin Shenker, Nick Radca, Nate Luken and Jerry Breedlove — were introduced to an appreciative Senior Day crowd and applauded for their hard work and dedication to the B-W baseball program.
The Senior Day doubleheader was also a “Strike Out Cancer” fundraising event organized by assistant coach Adam Howard and his wife, Jeanette. Throughout the afternoon, the Yellow Jackets sold commemorative T-shirts and freshly-grilled hot dogs to raise money for the KDH Hodgkin’s Disease Foundation. They also invited B-W alumnus and cancer survivor Phil Hlabse to throw out the first pitch and sit with them in the dugout as their special guest.
By the end of the day, the Jackets and their fans had raised more than $1,000 to help fund research towards a cure for Hodgkin’s disease.
B-W assistant football coach Ian Shoemaker volunteered to take pictures of the Senior Day activities for the Online Almanac, and you can check out more of his snapshots in the 2008 B-W Baseball Senior Day Photo Set. Thanks, Coach Shoemaker!
Baldwin-Wallace College senior second baseman Nate Luken and junior center fielder Cody Kidd have been named to ESPN The Magazine‘s 2008 Academic All–District IV baseball team.
The Academic All–District IV team is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America and honors outstanding ballplayers from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama who have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.2.
Luken and Kidd were selected to the first team of the district’s College Division, which includes players from NCAA Division II and Division III schools and the NAIA.
Luken had his best season as a Yellow Jacket this year, batting .321 with 20 runs scored and 18 runs batted in and posting a .969 fielding average. He was a first team Academic All–Ohio Athletic Conference pick as a junior and won B-W‘s Guy Fisher Award for Academic Excellence in 2006. His numerous academic accolades also include the dean’s list and membership in the Alpha Lambda, Chi Sigma Alpha, Dayton C. Miller and Pi Gamma Mu honor societies, as well as the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation Criminal Justice Award. He finished his academic career at B-W with a 3.86 GPA in criminal justice and will start law school at The Ohio State University this fall.
Kidd, who plans to attend medical school after his senior season, carries a 3.80 GPA in biology. He’s on the dean’s list and is a member of Alpha Lamda. He was a second team Academic All-District pick last year. This season, the All-OAC and Academic All-OAC center fielder hit .387 and led the Jackets with 60 hits, 34 runs, four triples and 13 stolen bases while making just two errors.
[ B-W Baseball Academic All–District IV Selections ]
Baldwin-Wallace College junior first baseman Riley Kreisher was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week on Monday after batting .500 last week and tying the Yellow Jackets’ record for doubles in a season.
Kreisher had 10 hits in 20 at bats in the Jackets’ final five games of the season. He belted five doubles and a home run for a .950 slugging percentage. He also scored four runs, knocked in five and posted a .545 on-base percentage.
His season-ending outburst of two-base hits gave him a team-leading 18 for the year and tied the school record set by Pat Shannon in 2003. He also led the team with 18 walks, 29 runs batted in, a pair of home runs and a .553 slugging percentage. He tied with junior center fielder Cody Kidd for the lead in triples with four.
[ B-W Baseball OAC Players of the Week ]
The Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team swept Wilmington College in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader yesterday and finished its season at .500 with a record of 19–19–1.
The Yellow Jackets went into Wilmington at 17–19–1 after losing back-to-back, non-conference match-ups with Hiram College and Malone College, but they bounced back thanks to junior pitcher Jim Jaskowak’s second shutout of the season and an unstoppable streak of hitting by senior left fielder Shaun Slater.
Jaskowak got the Yellow Jackets back on track by holding the Quakers scoreless on four hits in game one, picking up his fourth complete game of the season and improving his record to 5–2 with a team-leading 4.73 earned run average. Slater went 4-for-4 with a double in the opener, and then hit safely in his first three at bats of game two. He finished the day with eight hits in nine at bats and rocketed 35 points to a .409 batting average.
With the sweep, the Jackets ended up tied for 6th place in the OAC at 9–9, two wins short of the fourth and final spot in this year’s conference championship tournament.
For all the details on last week’s games, including box scores and updated statistics, check out the B-W Baseball Home Page.
[ B-W Baseball All-Time Results ]
The Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team and its fans will do their best to strike out cancer this Thursday at the Senior Day doubleheader against Malone College at Heritage Field.
The first game starts at 2 p.m., and the Yellow Jackets will be selling “Strikeout Cancer” T-shirts for $10 each. Anyone who buys a T-shirt will get a free hot dog!
All of the money raised from the T-shirt and hot dog sales will be donated to the KDH Hodgkin’s Disease Foundation to help fund research towards a cure for Hodgkin’s Disease.
Come on out to the ballpark this Thursday and help the Jackets strike out cancer!
The Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team was swept by Marietta College on Saturday and dropped out of contention for an Ohio Athletic Conference playoff spot.
The Yellow Jackets put themselves in position to win both games, but they couldn’t keep Marietta from scoring the insurance runs that made the difference in both losses. After falling behind 4–0 in the first game, they had pulled to within a run before the Pioneers scored again in the top of the last inning. The Jackets got the run back in the bottom half of the inning and had the bases loaded with one out, but they couldn’t push the deciding runs across the plate and lost 5–4.
In game two, the Jackets came back from an 8–3 deficit and again cut the Pioneers’ lead to a single run. The Pioneers then added a pair of runs in the ninth inning to go up 10–7. The Jackets scored what would’ve been the tying run in their final turn at bat, but they couldn’t overcome the two insurance runs and ended up losing 10–8.
The sweep leaves the Jackets at 7–9 in the OAC and three games out of the final playoff spot with only two conference games left. They’ll try to even up their record in the final OAC doubleheader of the season at Wilmington College this Saturday.
At 17–16–1 overall, B-W still has a shot at 20 wins thanks to strong pitching performances from sophomores Jim Palko and Cory Hanawalt leading up to the Marietta doubleheader. Palko pitched the final six innings of an 8–2 win at Case Western Reserve University, giving up one run on two hits and improving his record to 4–1. Hanawalt tossed the first complete game of his career and beat Oberlin College 8–2 to even his record at 2–2. He allowed only four hits, didn’t walk a single batter and faced the minimum number of Yeomen after the third inning.
For all the details on last week’s games, including box scores and updated statistics, check out the B-W Baseball Home Page.
[ B-W Baseball All-Time Results ]
Head coach Bob Fisher won his 600th game on March 8, 2005, at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla., when the Yellow Jackets beat Dominican College 8–4 in the first game of a doubleheader sweep.
The Jackets scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to give Coach Fisher an exciting, extra-inning win for his milestone victory.
Third baseman Mike Turchan’s dad was at the game with his camera, and he captured the antics of catcher Pat Gallagher and the rest of the seniors as they helped Coach Fisher celebrate number 600.
Gallagher was joined in the revelry by Turchan, on the right, and Adam Pajakowski, Bob Glavan and Jay Watson on the left. Andrew Russell is hiding behind Pajakowski and Glavan, and Jason Albright and Nick Slater are behind Gallagher.
