by Matt Plante
Vice President
Week #11 in College Baseball
Top Tier Alumni Roundup: Top Performances from the week
Sean Hjelle, Kentucky
Hjelle was lights out on the mound for the #13 ranked Kentucky Wildcats this past weekend vs. Missouri. Hjelle went 8 innings to get the win giving up 0 earned runs 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. Hjelle is now 6-3 on the year with a 2.95 ERA and collecting 66 strikeouts in 73.1 innings of work. The Wildcats took 2 of 3 from Missouri over the weekend to improve to 29-15 overall and 10-11 in the SEC.
Jesse Forestell, Western Michigan
Forestell was explosive at the plate this past weekend vs. Eastern Michigan. Forestell ended up collecting a hit in every game this past weekend going 6 for 14 hitting .429 with a homerun and 5 RBI’s to help the Broncos take 2 of 3 from Eastern Michigan. Western Michigan is now 18-18 overall and 8-8 in the MAC.
Quinn Snarskis, Illinois
Snarskis pitched really well against the #12 ranked Indiana Hoosiers over the weekend. His efforts however got him a no-decision as the Hoosiers came back to beat the Fighting Illini in extra innings on Saturday. Snarskis went 7 innings giving up only 1 run on 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 3. The Fighting Illini lost lost 2 of 3 vs. the Hoosiers this past weekend and are now 25-14 overall and 10-5 in the Big Ten. Snarskis has a 3.13 ERA in his senior campaign.
Michael Kruse, Benedictine (KS)
Kruse picked up another win this past weekend vs. Mount Mercy (IA) to improve him to 9-2 on the year as a starter for the Ravens. Kruse went 5 innings giving up 0 runs on only one hit while striking out 8. Kruse finished the regular season as the top pitcher on the staff with a 2.63 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 73.1 innings of work. Benedictine is now 26-27 overall and heading into the playoffs next week.
Ben Zordani, St. Xavier
Zordani collected a hit all 5 games he played in this past week, going 11 for 19 hitting .579 with two doubles and 5 RBI’s. Zordani’s offensive explosion helped St. Xavier beat St. Ambrose twice and helped them take 2 of 3 vs. Olivet Nazarene. St. Xavier is now 23-26 overall and Zordani is hitting .329.
Peyton Isaacson, St. Leo
Isaacson went 3 for 7 hitting .429 with 2 RBI’s over the weekend vs. Eckerd. Isaacson also picked up his 12th save of the year, pitching 1 inning giving up 0 runs on 0 hits. St. Leo took both games from Eckerd and improve to 33-9 overall and are ranked #17 in the nation in D2. Isaacson on the year is hitting .357 with 17 doubles, 11 home runs, and a slugging % of .675. Isaacson has 12 saves on the year on the mound as well, with a 4.02 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 15.1 innings of work.
Collin Clayton, John A. Logan CC
Clayton continues to be on a tear at the plate as he went 5 for 13 this past week hitting .385 with 2 more doubles and 2 RBI’s. John A. Logan won all 5 games this past week to improve to 33-11 overall. Clayton is hitting .421 on the year with 21 doubles, 3 triples, 1 home run, 36 RBI’s and 14 stolen bases.
Marius Balandis, Iowa Western CC
Balandis picked up his 6th win of year vs. Marshalltown CC this past weekend. Balandis went 4 innings giving up 0 runs on 2 hits while striking out 5. Iowa Western swept Marshalltown over the weekend and are now 42-5 overall. Balandis has a 3.57 ERA on the year with 38 strikeouts in 35.1 innings of work.
Jack Carberry, Western Illinois
Carberry picked up a win in his mid-week start vs. SIUE going 3.1 innings giving up 0 run on 0 hits and 3 walks while striking out 2. Carbery has a 1.93 ERA in 14 innings of work this year as a true freshman for the Leathernecks.
Ben Dickey, Northwestern
Dickey had a good week offensively for the Wildcats, going 5 for 14, hitting .333 with a double and an RBI over the 4-game span last week. The Wildcats won all four games and are on a winning streak heading into the tail end of the season and are now 13-24 overall.
Brian Schrimmer, Bradley
Schrimmer made two relief appearances this past week going a total of 4.1 innings giving up 0 earned runs on only 1 hit and 3 walks while striking out 4. Schrimmer has a 0.98 ERA in 18.1 innings of relief work on the year. Bradley is now 26-11 overall.
Richard Fordon, Northwestern
Fordon picked up his 3rd save of the year against Penn State over the weekend. Fordon went 1 inning in a close game vs. the Nittany Lions giving up 0 runs on 2 hits while striking out 2. The Wildcats swept Penn State over the weekend and beat UIC in the mid-week to improve to 13-24 overall and 4-14 in the Big Ten.
Max Maney, Carroll
Maney picked up two big saves this past weekend to help Carroll sweep Wheaton (IL). Maney went a total of 1.2 innings giving up 0 runs on 0 hits while striking out 1. Maney has 6 saves on the year and helped Carroll improve to 20-14 overall.
Cam Fowler, Nebraska-Omaha
Fowler threw really well in relief vs. Kansas State in the mid-week game. Fowler picked up the loss tossing 4 innings giving up 0 earned runs on only 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 3. Nebraska-Omaha lost 2 of 3 vs. North Dakota State over the weekend as well and slipped to 14-25 overall.
Brett Taucher, SIUE
Taucher picked up the loss despite giving up an earned run this past week vs. Western Illinois. Taucher threw 2 innings in his start vs. the Leathernecks giving up 0 earned runs on 2 hits and 2 2 walks while striking out 3. SIUE is now 13-29 overall on the year.
Tyler Lass, Northwestern
Lass made two relief appearances this past week going a total of 1.2 innings giving up 0 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. Northwestern won all 4 games this past week to improve to 13-24 overall.
Michael Sebby, Illinois State
Sebby made 3 relief appearances this past week going a total of 2 innings giving up 0 runs on 1 hit while striking out 1. Sebby picked up the win in relief vs. Butler to finish the weekend with a split vs. the Bulldogs. ISU is now 15-24 overall on the year.
Kevin Sullivan, Middle Tennessee State
Sullivan went 3 for 10 hitting .300 with a double this past weekend vs. UTSA. However, MTSU lost 2 of 3 vs. UTSA and are now 22-22-1 overall and 7-13-1 in Conference-USA.
Mark DiLuia, Maryland
DiLuia got the Friday night start vs. Michigan State this past weekend. DiLuia took the loss but pitched really well going 6.2 innings giving up 3 earned runs on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 1. Maryland won 2 of 3 vs. MSU over the weekend to improve to 19-24 overall and 5-9 in the Big Ten.
Justin Kelly, Wayne State
Kelly collected 6 hits this past week 3 of which were home runs along with getting 7 RBI’s. Wayne State split with Northwood over the weekend and are 24-18 overall. Kelly is hitting .283 on the year with 11 doubles, 9 home runs and 41 RBI’s.
Willie Bourbon, Northwestern
Bourbon went collected 5 hits this past week, along with 2 RBI’s to help the Wildcats takeall four games. Bourbon is the Wildcats leader offensively with 5 home runs and 25 RBI’s on the year. Northwestern is now 13-24 overall.
Keaton Rice, Bradley
Rice went 3 for 11 this past week with a double and 5 RBI’s. Rice helped Bradley beat Illinois and Chicago State in the mid-week. Bradley lost 2 of 3 on the weekend vs. Missouri State and are now 26-11 overall and 8-4 in the MVC. Rice is hitting .340 as true freshman for the Braves this year.
Dalton Parker, Purdue
Parker made one relief appearance this past weekend going 1.1 innings giving up 0 runs on 0 hits while striking out 3. The Boilermakers won all 5 games this past week to extend their winning streak to 8 games. Purdue beat both Chicago State and #12 ranked Indiana in the mid-week and swept Rutgers over the weekend to improve to 24-16 overall and 10-4 in the Big Ten.
Gunnar Haskins, Augustana
Haskins went 7 for 19, hitting .368 this past week with 3 doubles and 7 RBI’s. Augustana swept North Park over the weekend and are 23-12 overall.
Bobby Kametas, Creighton
Kametas picked up his 4th save of the year vs. Nebraska in the mid-week game, where he went 1 inning giving up 0 runs on 0 hits. Kametas threw one more time in relief over the weekend vs. Georgetown but didn’t fair as well giving up 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 1 in his 0.2 innings. Creighton lost 2 of 3 vs. Georgetown and are now 25-13 overall and 4-7 in the Big East. Kametas currently has a 3.38 ERA in 13.1 innings of work out of the bullpen.
Robby McGaha, Olney Central CC
McGaha collected a hit in all five games he played in this past week, going 6 for 18 hitting .333. Olney Central is now 33-11 overall and MaGaha is hitting .303 on the year.
Wyatt Trautwein, UIC
Trautwein had a quality start vs. Northwestern in the mid-week game but took the loss in his efforts. Trautwein went 4.1 innings giving up 0 earned runs on only 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 1. UIC bounced back by sweeping UW-Milwaukee over the weekend and improving to 23-14 overall and 11-7 in the Horizon.
Louis Niemerg, Maryville
Niemerg threw well this past weekend vs. Drury but picked a no-decision going 7 innings giving up only 1 run on 7 hits and 6 walks while striking out 2. Maryville lost 3 of 4 vs. Drury over the weekend and are now 23-23 overall.
Kolton Rominski, Hillsdale
Rominski made 3 relief appearances this past week. In his 1st appearance vs. Siena Heights he picked up the win going 1.1 innings giving up 0 earned runs on 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 3. Rominski went a total of 2 more innings over the weekend vs. Lake Erie giving up 0 runs on 0 hits. Hillsdale lost 2 of 3 vs. Lake Erie and are now 20-25 overall.
Preston Perry, Adrian
Perry made one relief appearance this past weekend, going 1 inning giving up 0 runs on 0 hits while striking out 2. Adrian swept Trine over the weekend to improve to 28-5 overall and are ranked 22nd in the nation in D3.
Sam Cottingham-Beard, Western Illinois
Cottingham-Beard went 1 inning in relief vs. SIUE and gave up 0 runs on 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 2. Cottingham-Beard has a 3.38 ERA in 16 innings out of the bullpen this year for the Leathernecks.
Jeremy Gaines, John A. Logan CC
Gaines went 5 for 17 on the week, helping the Vols win all five games this past week and improving them to 33-11 overall. Gaines is hitting .321 on the year with 13 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, 20 RBI’s and 12 stolen bases.
Ryan Hodgett, Bradley
Hodgett made one relief appearance this past week going 1 inning giving up 0 runs on 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 1. Hodgett has a 3.70 ERA on the year.
Eric Giltz, SIUE
Giltz collected 4 hits this past weekend with an RBI as they swept Samford and improved to 13-29 overall on the year.
Ashton Creal, John A. Logan CC
Creal went 5 for 17 this past week with 3 RBI’s. John A. Logan is now 33-11 overall on the year and Creal has gotten a lot of playing time as a freshman.
Michael Schalasky, UIndy
Schalasky picked a win this past weekend vs. UW-Parkside going 5 innings giving up 2 runs on only 1 hit and 2 walks while striking out a staggering 9 batters. UIndy went on to take 3 out of 4 from UW-Parkside and improve to 27-18 overall.
Travis Upp, IPFW
Upp collected a hit in every game this past week, but IPFW lost 2 of 3 vs. South Dakota State over the weekend. Upp is hitting .303 on the year and is leading the team in doubles with 8 and RBI’s with 21. IPFW is now 10-27 overall.
Neil Lambert, Bowling Green
Lambert collected 5 hits over the weekend with 3 doubles and 3 RBI’s, but Bowling Green got swept by Central Michigan and dropped to 10-29 overall.
Nick Menken, Virginia Tech
Menken collected 4 hits this past week with a homerun and 6 RBI’s. However it wasn’t enough as the Hokies lost 2 of 3 vs. #9 ranked Duke over the weekend and fell to 18-26 overall and 10-10 in the ACC.
Luke Bechina, St. Ambrose
Bechina made two relief appearances this past week going a total of 7.1 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 3. St. Ambrose swept Calumet St. Joseph over the weekend and are 16-29 overall.
Tommy Duddleston, UW-Stevens Point
Duddleston went 8 for 27 this past week with 2 doubles and an RBI. UW-Stevens Point swept IIT over the weekend and are now ranked 25th in the nation for D3 at a record of 22-8 overall.
Welby Malczewski, Auburn
Malczewski made one relief appearance this past weekend vs. #1 ranked Florida where he went 1 inning giving up 1 run on 3 hits. Auburn #19 ranked in the nation lost 2 of 3 vs. Florida and are now 31-14 overall and 10-11 in the SEC.
Brenden Heiss, John A. Logan CC
Heiss got his 6th win of year vs. Rend Lake CC this past weekend. Heiss didn’t have his best stuff but still managed to get the win going 6 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 7 hits and 3 walks whiles striking out 9. On the year, Heiss has a 2.23 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 44.1 innings of work.
Michael Bieterman, Heartland CC
Bieterman went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI’s vs. Kankakee CC this past week. Bieterman is hitting .358 on the year and has helped guide the Hawks to a 33-8 overall record.
Andrew Padilla, Webster
Padilla made his 1st start this past weekend, picking up his 1st win vs. Iowa Wesleyan. Padilla went 4 innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. Padilla also made a relief appearance earlier in the week as well vs. Greenville going 1 inning giving up 0 runs on 0 hits and 1 walk while striking out 2. Webster is ranked #18 in D3 baseball and improved to 29-7 after winning all 5 games this past week.
