April 14, 2005

Contact: Chris Urban

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Setting the Scene: The Vikings resume Horizon League play this weekend in Dayton when they battle Wright State in a four-game series. The two teams will square off for a 6:30 p.m. contest on Friday (April 15), a 12:00 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday (April 16) and conclude with a Sunday (April 17) game beginning at 12:00 p.m.

Previewing the Vikings: The Vikings are 5-16 and 1-3 in the Horizon League after losing a pair of non-conference games to Toledo (14-1) and Kent State (5-1). Infielder Dominic Erney (.356, 9 R, 26 H, 16 RBI) continues to be the Vikings' hottest bat, hitting .357 and slugging .857 in conference play. Sophomore right fielder Marc Sikora (.305, 9 R, 18 H, 7 RBI) has been equally as hot, raising his average over 200 points in the last two weeks. On the mound, right-handers Matt Kaltenbach and Gian Testa lead the team in both ERA (3.76 and 3.13) and innings pitched (38.1 and 31.2) while combining to strike out 57 and walk only 11. Head coach Jay Murphy is in his ninth season with the Vikings and holds a 161-285 record.

Previewing the Raiders: Wright State enters this weekend with a 14-15 overall record and a 3-1 mark in Horizon League play. The Raiders claimed three wins from UIC over the weekend, all in one-run contests, before dropping an 8-5 game to Kent State on April 12. The Raider offense has been the key to their success this season with a .315 average, 19 home runs and a .440 slugging percentage thanks to eight regulars batting over .300. Amin Abusaleh (.359, 23 R, 37 H, 25 RBI) and Justin Wilson (.359, 10 R, 28 H, 13 RBI) pace the squad in hitting, while Paul Majestic (.327, 18 R, 36 H, 20 RBI) and Brian Shuop (.297, 26 R, 30 H, 16 RBI) lead the team with four home runs apiece. The pitching staff has provided ample support, touting a 5.51 ERA and a .281 opposing batting average. The Raiders are coached by Rob Cooper, who is in his first season at the helm.

Hit Me: With the exception of the final four innings of Sunday's game against Youngstown State, the Viking bats have not been able to produce much run support in the last week. Cleveland State was limited to one hit - a two run home run by Erney in the first - in the first five innings on Sunday and trailed 8-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth before the Vikings rallied for seven runs. Prior to that, CSU combined to produce six runs in three games while striking out 26 times. Since then, the Vikings plated only one run in each of the last two games while being limited to six hits against Toledo and three at Kent State.

Missing in Action: After sitting out from the starting lineup in the last five games, senior shortstop Ben Smith has already missed more starts than he has in his previous three seasons. Smith took a break from the starting nine only once in both 2003 and 2004 after starting in all 52 games his freshman year in 2002. A sore shoulder has been the culprit, relegating him to a pinch hitting role in three games. Smith has made the most of his limited time, however, rapping three hits and an RBI in his three appearances.

Sikora Kicks It Up a Notch: Right-fielder Marc Sikora has been finding his stroke of late. After collecting just two hits in his first seven games (.094), the sophomore has rapped out 18 hits in the past 11 contests, including seven multi-hit games, to bring his average up to .305. He keyed a five-run come-back win over Youngstown State on April 10 with a game-tying grand slam.

Record Watch: Viking seniors Dominic Erney and Matt Kaltenbach, along with junior Gian Testa, are poised to climb into the top five in the Cleveland State career charts in several categories:

Kaltenbach Moves Into Second: With five innings of work against Youngstown State on April 10, senior right-hander Matt Kaltenbach passed Dave Boyza for second in school history. Kaltenbach currently stands at 278.0 innings, one-third of an inning beyond Boyza's 277.2. First place, however, is a ways off, as Jerry Long is comfortably the all-time leader with 399.0.

Testa Could Be Chasing a Single-Season Mark: It may be pretty early in the year, but right-hander Gian Testa is already at a record-setting pace for the single-season strike-out mark. At a rate of 1.04 strikeouts per inning (33 strikeouts in 31.2 innings), Testa is ahead of Jerry Long's pace of 0.98 in 2002 when he struck out 106 in 107.2 innings. The only thing that may hold Testa back is his lack of innings during his career. This season will be his first as one of the Vikings' front line starters and, as one of the team's relievers during the last two seasons, he pitched only 47.2 innings in 2003 and 41.0 in 2004.

Katlen Makes Up for Lost Time: After undergoing shoulder surgery last season, Jeff Katlen has returned to the Viking lineup for the first time in over a year to post a .280 average in 12 starts in center field. After opening up with a 6-for-8 performance against Cincinnati, Katlen's luck seemed to run short as he missed the next three series with pneumonia. The CSU center fielder returned to the lineup in the home opener with Bowling Green and has continued his run of success with 14 hits and a .360 slugging percentage.

...And Makes His Return to the Mound: It had been over three years since Jeff Katlen toed the rubber in a college baseball game, but Wednesday against Kent State, the Lyndhurst, Ohio native was the starting pitcher for the first time since Feb. 24, 2002. After working through trouble in first, Katlen yielded only two hits over the next three innings while striking out four against the Golden Flashes. It was a far superior outing compared to his last time on the mound when he allowed five runs in 1.1 innings in a start against Charlotte.

Forest Hill Hosts Vikings Again: Cleveland State returns to Forest Hill Park in East Cleveland for the second season this year. Forest Hill Park, which is shared by the cities of Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland, occupies 235 acres of green space east of downtown Cleveland. The land the park sits on was originally donated to the cities by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in 1938. The park, while not located on campus, is a much closer venue than Memorial Field in Euclid, the home of the Vikings for the eight seasons prior to 2004.

...While Two Others Add a Professional Touch: Cleveland State has always benefited from a strong relationship with professional baseball, and this season is no different as the Vikings will host games at both Jacobs Field and Eastlake Ballpark. CSU will celebrate a decade of baseball at the home of the Cleveland Indians with the annual Jacobs Field game under the lights on May 3 against Ohio University. The Vikings will also play seven games at the home of the Lake County Captains, the Cleveland Indians' single-A affiliate. CSU will welcome Horizon League foe Youngstown State for three games on April 8-9 and will host the school's first-ever college-professional double-header on May 17, when the Vikings take on Purdue at 12:00 noon before the Captains battle Greensboro at 6:35 p.m.

Next Up: The Vikings welcome Akron to the newly-renamed Classic Park in Eastlake on April 19 at 6:00 p.m. before heading to Fort Wayne, Ind. on April 20 for a 4:00 contest with IPFW. CSU continues on to UW-Milwaukee for a four game Horizon League match-up over the weekend.