April 27, 2007
Contact: Alan Ashby
Complete Release in PDF Format
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Upcoming Games:
at UIC
April 28 (DH) -- 1:00 p.m. CST
April 29 -- 11:00 a.m. CST
Chicago, Ill. -- Flames Field
Leading Off: Cleveland State returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at UIC. Historically, the Vikings have not fared well against the Flames, winning just eight of 39 all-time meetings. However, CSU has claimed 4-of-6 the past two regular seasons, taking 2-of-3 each year. UIC did win the last meeting, a 2-1 decision in the 2006 Horizon League Championship semifinals.
Weather Woes: To say the Vikings have struggled with Mother Nature this season would be a massive understatement. While Cleveland State has played 31 games so far this year, the Vikings have also had 20 contests either postponed or canceled due to various forms of weather -- including 13 cancelations in the month of April alone. Here's a (not so) brief recap of the beating the schedule has taken to this point:
Postponements (6): 3/27 at Oakland (DH-moved to 5/2), 4/4 at Kent State (DH-changed to single game on 4/4), 4/9 at IPFW (DH-moved to 4/10)
Cancelations (15): 2/25 at Longwood Invitational (Consolation/Championship), 3/24 at UMBC Spring Classic (forced cancelation of bracket play), 4/4 at Kent State (only one game was made up) 4/6 & 7 at Butler (three games), 4/12 at Niagara (DH), 4/15 vs. Wright State, 4/17 at St. Francis (DH), 4/25 vs. Youngstown State (DH), 4/26 at Toledo (DH)
April Showers Bring?: In addition to preventing the Vikings from getting into any kind of rhythm this year, the poor weather this year has wiped out more than a quarter of Cleveland State's schedule. If the Vikings are able to play all 10 of their remaining regular season contests, they will have played only 41 of the 56 originally scheduled contests (27%). The last time CSU played fewer regular season games was in 1997, when the team was 30-8 heading into the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament.
Hitting The Skids: Cleveland State's current six-game losing streak is the longest since the 2005 squad dropped its final nine contests at the Rebel Spring Games (March 12-18). As a matter of fact, the Vikings went more than two calendar years without losing more than two games in a row (April 7, 2005-April 18, 2007).
Senior Salute: In between games of last Saturday's doubleheader with Loyola, Cleveland State took a moment to recognize seniors Sarah Milosek and Michele Penney. The pair -- who both enter this weekend with career .297 batting averages -- have played in 295 games in their standout careers for the Vikings, starting all but 13 of those contests. Milosek ranks first in school history with a .990 fielding percentage (9 errors in 872 chances), while Penney ranks fourth among the career leaders in doubles (28), home runs (11) and RBI (84) and seventh in runs (78) and hits (148).
Vikings Among Nation's Best: The NCAA released its third set of national stats on April 22 and the Vikings were well-represented in the rankings. As a team, Cleveland State ranked in the top 25 in batting average (12th - .318), stolen bases per game (8th - 2.06) and earned run average (25th - 1.77). Individually, Whitney Willard was second in stolen bases per game (0.93) and 50th in runs per game (0.93), while Amanda Macenko was 99th in ERA (1.9) and 75th in victories (15).
Coppus Comes On Strong: While sophomore Christa Coppus has been consistent all year at the plate for the Vikings -- collecting at least one hit in all but six contests, was never hotter than during her career-best eight game hitting streak from March 31-April 14. The Tiffin, Ohio native was 11-for-24 (.458) during the skein to raise her average to .402 at the time. Now hitting .384, Coppus also paces Cleveland State in hits (38), doubles (8), home runs (3), RBI (24) and slugging percentage (.576).
