Monday, March 12, 2007

This Week in A-Sun Baseball

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Matchup of the Week

March 16-18
Jacksonville at Belmont
Nashville, Tenn.

Atlantic Sun Conference play begins this weekend headlined by preseason favorite, Jacksonville, heading to Nashville to take on the first place Belmont Bruins. The Dolphins have won 7 of 8 after a slow start to the season. The Bruins continued their torrid start with two walk-off wins last week over Eastern Illinois. Belmont will also host #1 ranked Vanderbilt on Wednesday. Lipscomb faced off with Vandy earlier in the season, but lost 16-7.

A-Sun Player of the Week
Pete Clifford, Jacksonville (Sr. - OF - Jacksonville, Fla. - Business Major)
Clifford repeats as POTW and continued his hot bat last week to almost single handedly lead the Dolphins to a 5-1 week and get JU over .500 for the first time since early February. Against Florida, Clifford had one hit, but it was a big one, as his solo home run tied the game in the seventh to set up a ninth inning rally by the Dolphins and a 6-5 win at McKethan Stadium. Clifford went yard again against UConn on March 9, this time with the bags full of Dolphins to help JU to a 5-4 win. Against Western Michigan on March 11, Clifford went 2-for-3 with three RBI to lead a 15-3 rout. Also included in his week, he extended his hitting streak to a career-high tying 16 games. For the week, Clifford batted .381 (8-21) with two doubles, two home runs, eight runs, nine RBI, 16 total bases and a .762 slugging percentage.

A-Sun Pitcher of the Week
Matt Tafazzoli (Sr. - RHP - Charlotte, N.C. - Business Administration)
Tafazzoli hurled 7.0 scoreless innings of relief to lift Gardner-Webb to an improbable, 6-2, win at the University of Georgia on Saturday night in a 17-inning marathon - picking up his first pitching victory of the season. The Charlotte, N.C., right-hander fanned two batters and scattered four singles to leave GWU with a chance to pull out the victory late. He threw 100 pitches out of the pen - and his workmanlike performance allowed GWU to eat up 16 of the game's 17 innings with just two pitchers, leaving the bullpen fresh for Sunday's finale (which GWU also won). For the week Tafazzoli went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 7.0 innings pitched (relief). He struck out 2 and walked 2 (.174 opponent BA). Tafazzoli pitched the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th innings of a 17-inning victory.

This Week's Schedule

Monday, March 12
Columbia at Campbell 3:00pm
Quinnipiac at Stetson 7:00pm

Tuesday, March 13
Columbia at Campbell 3:00pm
Reinhardt at Belmont 3:00pm CT
Jacksonville at Bethune-Cookman 6:00pm
Quinnipiac at Stetson 7:00pm
Tennessee Tech at ETSU 7:00pm
Indiana at UNF 7:00pm
Kennesaw State at Jacksonville State 7:30pm

Wednesday, March 14
Columbia at Gardner-Webb 3:00pm
Vanderbilt at Belmont 3:00pm CT
Georgia Tech at Kennesaw State 6:00pm
Indiana at UNF 7:00pm

Thursday, March 15
Columbia at Gardner-Webb 3:00pm
Farleigh Dickinson at ETSU 7:00pm

Friday, March 16
* ETSU at Gardner-Webb 3:00pm
* Jacksonville at Belmont 3:00pm CT
* Campbell at Mercer 6:00pm
* Stetson at UNF 7:00pm
Lipscomb at Georgia Southern 6:00pm CT
UAB at Kennesaw State 6:00pm

Saturday, March 17
* ETSU at Gardner-Webb (DH) 12:00pm
* Campbell at Mercer (DH) 12:00pm
* Stetson at UNF 1:00pm
* Jacksonville at Belmont 1:00pm CT
Lipscomb at Georgia Southern 12:30pm CT
UAB at Kennesaw State 2:00pm

Sunday, March 18
* Stetson at UNF 1:00pm
* Jacksonville at Belmont 1:00pm CT
Lipscomb at Georgia Southern 1:00pm CT
UAB at Kennesaw State 1:00pm

A-Sun Standings

A-Sun Players of the Week

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League Leaders

Team-by-Team Notes