April 7, 2009

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Release in PDF Format

Cleveland State (18-12, 6-2) at Detroit (7-21, 3-6)
Date: Wed.-Thurs., April 8-9, 2009
Site: Buysse Ballpark (500), Detroit, Mich.
Time: 2:00 p.m. (4/7) & 1:00 p.m (4/8)

Games 34-36
Loyola (16-12, 4-2) atCleveland State
Dates: Friday-Saturday , April 10-11, 2009
Site: Viking Field (500), Cleveland, Ohio
Time: 2:00 p.m. (4/10) & 12:00 noon (4/11)

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State continues its northern schedule this week when the Vikings play six Horizon League games. The week opens with a three-game series at Detroit. CSU will meet the Titans for two games on Wednesday (April 8) starting at 2:00 p.m. and then finish the series on Thursday (April 9) with a single game starting at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings then return home to host Loyola for three games, starting with a 2:00 p.m. doubleheader on Friday (April 11) followed by a single game at 12:00 noon on Saturday (April 12). CSU, winners of five straight, is 18-12 overall and in second place in the Horizon League with a 6-2 mark

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: In her third season as head coach of the Viking softball team, Angie Nicholson has the deepest and most experienced team to work with to date. With nine starters returning from last year's squad that posted a 31-18 record and the addition of four first year players, the Vikings have been tabbed to win the Horizon League title for the first time in program history. Like all good teams, the Vikings are strong up the middle. The middle of the infield consists of the senior duo of second baseman Christa Coppus (.323 avg., 18, runs, 24 RBI), a first team all-league choice in each of the last two seasons, and Natalie DeMatteis (.333, 13, 8) at shortstop. Senior Amanda Houchin (.350, 12, 15), a first team honoree in 2007, moves from second to third with sophomore Katelyn Ciminelli (.304, 10, 15), a Horizon League All-Newcomer choice last season, returning at first base with junior Mimi Mahon (.353, 13, 8) handling the majority of the catching duties. Junior Lia Gordon (.318, 17, 22, 9 HR), who missed most of 2008 because of illness, is having a record-setting year at DP. The outfield is led by second team all-league choice Danielle Young (.258, 10, 8) in center with freshman Megan Bashak (.352, 17, 19) in left. Sophomore Shalyn Adams (.344, 7, 7) is the primary starter in right field. 2008 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Amanda Macenko (14-8, 3.21 ERA) is back for her junior campaign after leading the league in all but one statistical category last year.

COPPUS SETS RBI MARK: With six RBIs in the four games last week, Christa Coppus has set the CSU career record for RBIs with 117. It was her two-run single in the sixth in the comeback win over Morehead State that allowed her to topple the old mark of 114 set by Amy Jauert from 1995-98.

LAST TIME OUT: The Vikings had a great week, going 4-0 including a 2-0 league mark. Here is a summary of those games:

Game 27: CSU 4, Niagara 3
Shalyn Adams' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth scored pinch-runner Alicia Nichols to give CSU a 4-3 win over Niagara. Megan Bashak and Christa Coppus drove in runs and Amanda Macenko struck out nine to earn the win.
Niagara 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 -3-6-1
Cleveland State 0 0 1 0 2 1 x -4-8-1
WP: Macenko (12-8). LP: DiMatteo (6-2).

Game 28: CSU 8, Niagara 7
CSU rallied from a 5-0 deficit to score six runs in the last three innings to claim an 8-7 win over Niagara. Christa Coppus drove in two runs in the sixth to break the CSU career RBI record (with 116) and Shaylyn Adams singled to drive in Natalie DeMatteis with the game-winning run with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Niagara 1 4 0 1 0 1 0 - 7-9-2
Cleveland State 0 0 2 0 2 3 1 - 8-13-1
WP: Bate (2-3). LP: Gleiser (1-3).

Game 29: CSU 3, Butler 1
Megan Bashak and Christa Coppus each had two hits and an RBI and Amanda Macenko threw a seven-hitter as the Vikings upended Butler, 3-1.

Cleveland State 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 - 3-8-1
Butler 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1-7-2
WP: Macenko (13-8) LP: Fisher (6-10)

Game 30: CSU 6, Butler 3
Natatlie DeMatteis and Danielle Young each drove in a pair of runs and the Vikings banged out 11 hits in a 6-3 win over the Bulldogs. Amanda Macenko allowed three runs on six hits to improve to 14-8 this season.

Cleveland State 0 1 2 0 0 1 2 - 6-11-0
Butler 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 - 3-6-1
WP: Macenko (14-8). LP: Malinkey (2-5).

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE ROAD: One of the reasons for the Vikings' success the last couple of seasons is their ability to win games on the road. CSU is 4-1 in league road games this season, including four consecutive wins heading into the series at Detroit. Last year, the Vikings were a league-best 9-2 on the road in league competition en route to winning their first-ever regular season crown.

.300 REASONS WHY CSU IS WINNING: One reason why the Vikings rank second in the league with a .309 team batting average has been the consistency of the batting order from top to bottom. In fact, of the nine batters in the usual starting lineup, eight are hitting .300 or better with a ninth batter, reserve outfielder Alicia Nichols, hitting .333. Mimi Mahon (.353), Megan Bashak (.352) and Amanda Houching (.350) rank sixth, seventh and ninth, respectively in the league in batting this season. The only non-.300 hitter in the starting lineup, centerfielder Danielle Young, hit .417 last week to raise her average to .258.

179 & COUNTING FOR COPPUS: Senior Christa Coppus enters the week having started every game during her Viking career, a streak that stands at 179 games and counting. She earned the starting nod in all 53 games as a freshman in 2006 and started 47 straight in 2007. Last year, she was one of five Vikings to start all 49 contests and she is just one of two players to start all 30 games this season. Tiffany Stocker (1999-02) owns the school record for career starts by starting all 200 games in her career, a record that Coppus can catch provided CSU plays most of its 58 scheduled games this year.

VIKINGS TOPPLE HOMERUN RECORD: A three homerun barrage against Morehead State last week allowed the Vikings to break the school record for homeruns in a season. With 23 games left in the regular season, CSU has hit 27 homeruns, one more than the previous record of 26 set in 2006. Lia Gordon leads the team with a school-record 10 homeruns this season while Christa Coppus has six, Amanda Houchin four and Megan Bashak three.

GORDON EXTENDS HOMERUN MARK: A fifth inning homerun in the nightcap against Niagara last week allowed junior Lia Gordon to extend her school record for homeruns in a season to 10, the most by a Horizon League player this season. The record is quite an accomplishment, especially when you consider that last year at this time, she was struggling through an illness plagued season that limited her to just .137 hitting in 23 games. Now healthy, she has bounced back to break the 12-year old record of eight set by Amy Jauert in 1997.

. . . AND THE BEAR HAS AWAKENED: Another player who is out to prove the 2008 was an aberration is senior Amanda Houchin. A first team All-Horizon League choice as a sophomore after hitting .383 (57-149), she struggled at the plate early last season and batted just .261 (37-142). Houchin has bounced back to her sophomore year form, ranking third on the team and ninth in the Horizon League with a .350 batting average (25-67) with four home runs, six doubles, 15 RBI and 12 runs scored.

AN INFIELD SHIFT: When Cleveland State started the 2009 season, it boasted the entire starting infield from a year ago returning intact. Now, midway through the year, only Katelyn Ciminelli is starting at the position she played last year as Angie Nicholson rotated the infield, moving Natalie DeMatteis from third to short, Christa Coppus from shortstop to second and Amanda Houchin from second to third.

CLOSING OUT WINS: One trend that has held true this season is that the Vikings are very difficult to come back on, owning a perfect 13-0 in games in which it led after both five and six innings. Last year, CSU was 21-1 in games it led after five innings and 22-1 in games in led after six innings with the lone loss coming when Wright State scored three in the top of the seventh to come back from a 4-3 deficit in the second round of the league championship.

NEXT UP: The Vikings remain at home to continue the 13-game homestand when CSU hosts Eastern Michigan for a 3:00 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, April 14.