Northwestern Baseball Weekend Preview

Game Time... Northwestern faces Doane at 2:00 pm on Saturday and will face DWU on Monday.

Scouting Doane... Doane comes in tied for second, with Northwestern and Briar Cliff, in the GPAC at 3-1 and has an overall record of 10-13. They have won seven of their last nine games including a sweep of Mount Marty and a split with Dakota Wesleyan to open league play. Doane is led offensively by junior Mike Mendenhall. Mendenhall leads Doane in batting avg (.446), runs scored (16), tops the GPAC in hits (29), and is second in the GPAC with nine stolen bases. Mendenhall, a transfer from Northeastern J.C., is also second on the team with 15 RBI. Tiger starters Adam Bies (.371), Chris Williams (.351), Thomas Frinkman (.327), and Tim Engelhaupt (.320) also post batting averages over .300. Doane is hitting .299, fourth best in the GPAC.

Jacob Bartek leads Doane in ERA at 1.74 in 20.2 innings of work. He has a 3-0 record and has won his only three starts of the year. Dexter Spitsnogle, 2-0 3.18, also figures into the pitching rotation for the Tigers as does Evan Koetter, 2-3 5.91. Koetter leads the GPAC in starts with six and is second in the league with 29 strikeouts. 2007 First Team All-GPAC selection Bryan Dutcher is also back and has made four starts for Doane. Reliever Chris Plourde leads the GPAC with 13 appearances; the lefty has pitched in 16 innings. Doane's team ERA is ranked eighth in the conference.

Scouting Dakota Wesleyan... Dakota Wesleyan is coming off of two five inning shut-out victories versus Northern State and posts a 8-9 overall record. They sit at 1-3 in the GPAC, tied for eighth place. DWU has gone 7-4 in their last 11 games with four of those wins coming versus Northern State. Dakota Wesleyan is led by 2007 First Team All-GPAC performer Jake Roy. Roy leads DWU in batting avg (.462), hits (24), slg% (.712), and RBI (20). He is second in the league in RBI and third in slugging while Kyle Issacson is tied for second in the GPAC in home runs with four. DWU starters Sean Heary (.345) and Josh Pritt (.313) also have averages over .300. DWU's .296 team average is seventh in the conference.

DWU returns three All-GPAC pitchers from 2007 to 2008.  Leading the way is second teamer Chris Baker.  Baker is 1-2 with a GPAC best 1.96 era this season in three starts.  2007 honorable mention Freddy Janssen is 3-1 with a 4.45 era in five starts while honorable mention reliever Phil Johnson is 2-1 in 15 innings and has not allowed an earned run in 2008.  Other potential starters for the weekend include Corey Marek (1-1, 2.03), Robert Stevens (0-2, 3.12), and Chris Dennis (1-0, 5.51).  DWU has a team ERA of 4.12, second best in the conference.

Red Raider Notes...  Northwestern is coming off of a 4-2 Easter weekend in which they went 3-1 in GPAC play.  The Raiders split with Hastings on Friday before sweeping Concordia on Saturday.   Northwestern defeated Morningside in a non-conference game on Thursday but dropped a game with Bellevue on Monday.  The Red Raiders are 5-5 in their last ten games and have an overall record of 10-8.  Offensively, Jake Jansen leads the way batting .407.  Jansen is second in the GPAC with 19 RBI and is tied for second in home runs with four.  Grant Wall leads the GPAC in runs scored (20) and is second with eight doubles.  Senior Joe Heitritter is third in runs scored, scoring 18 times in 2008.  Red Raider starters Wall (.381), Heitritter (.350), Austin Malone (.326), and Codie Zeutenhorst (.306) are all hitting north of .300 in addition to Jansen.  Northwestern's team average of .312 is second in the conference.

Northwestern is led on the mound by seniors Mihai Burlea and Joe Grady.  Grady, this past week's GPAC/NAIA Region III Pitcher of the Week, has a 2-1 record and three saves.  He has an era of 3.70 in 24.1 innings.  2007 All-American, Burlea, is 3-2 in five starts and has a 6.94 era.  Burlea leads the GPAC in strikeouts with 31 in 23.1 innings.  Lefties Trevor Kuiper and Mike Zoellner also round out the rotation for Northwestern.  Kuiper is 1-1 with a 5.00 era while Zoellner is 1-1 with a 4.50 era.  Stuart Moore and Brad Payne have also pitched 10+ innings for Northwestern, whose team ERA of 5.76 ranks fourth in the GPAC.  

Up Next... After this weekend's games Northwestern will have their home opener on Thursday versus Waldorf at 5:00 p.m. and will face GPAC opponents Morningisde in Orange City on Friday and will be at Sioux Falls on Saturday.  

GPAC Standings