Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne – perhaps the Summit League’s most surprising team –kicks off Summit League action today at Western Illinois.
A Mastodon squad that finished 19-36 in 2014 and was picked to finish dead last in the conference preseason poll went 9-5 in non-conference play and currently sits at the top of the Summit League standings.
After series wins against Alabama A&M, Murray State and Norfolk State, IPFW’s 8-3 record heading into last weekend was their best start since 1998. The Mastodons led the NCAA in runs scored and ranked in the top-10 in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging heading into their final non-conference series against intrastate rival Butler (midweek contests with Northern Kentucky and Ohio State were canceled). IPFW made the two-hour trek down I-69 and looked primed to notch at least two wins against the struggling Bulldogs, who limped into the weekend with a 1-9 record.
IPFW wound up dropping two of three in Indianapolis to the Bulldogs. A Butler squad that had been outscored 73-42 in its first 12 games blasted the Mastodons 12-0 in the series opener; a result that earned Bulldog southpaw Jeff Schank BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week honors as the sophomore tossed a complete game, fanning ten and walking just two.
The Mastodons bounced back for a 10-8 victory in the front end of a Sunday twinbill but dropped the rubber match, 7-6. IPFW squandered a 6-5 lead in the eighth inning as the Bulldogs scored twice in the inning to rally for the win and clinch their first weekend series of the season.
IPFW entered the series with a .340 team batting average but were held to a .262 clip by a Butler team that ranks 269th in the nation in ERA (7.43).
Despite last weekend’s disappointments, IPFW still ranks in the top-10 nationally with a gaudy team slash of .323/.415/.505.
The NCAA recently released statistical trends that compared the use of the raised-seamed baseball that was used in 2014 to the flat-seamed baseball that is being used this season. What’s clear is that more balls are leaving the yard; home runs are up more than 40 percent from 0.33 per game in 2014 to 0.47 per game in 2015.
IPFW belted 14 homers through their first 14 games—they had eight at this point in the 2014 season. The other five teams in Summit League have hit 19 long balls combined.
Three of the Summit’s top-five hitters suit up for IPFW. Sophomore infielder Jackson Boyce leads the league (.438/.525/.500), junior outfielder Brandon Soat ranks third (.390/.446/.695) and sophomore Brock Logan is fourth (.382/.488/.529). IPFW boasts four players with at least two home runs, including conference leader Shane Trevino (4). There are five hitters in the IPFW lineup batting at least .353 and no starters are hitting south of .258.
The Mastodons’ scorching trunks have compensated for the team’s pitching woes (5.58 ERA). IPFW’s staff ranks second-to-last nationally in walks per nine innings (7.58) and gives up 9.42 hits per game but those blows are softened when you’re scoring 8.4 runs per game. IPFW has scored a league-high 117 runs—30 more than second-ranked South Dakota State.
Senior righty Ryan Wells (1-2, 8.40 ERA, 18 K) should pitch tonight and will be followed by Saturday starter Evan Miller (1-0, 6.75 ERA, 23 K) with junior Trevor Storie (2-1, 5.59 ERA, 12 K) closing out the weekend. Jake Weber (1-0, 2.79 ERA, 9.2 IP) has been IPFW’s best reliever.
And after a frustrating end to the non-conference schedule, IPFW looks to regain some swagger when they travel to Western Illinois (2-8) for a three-game set starting Friday afternoon at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium in Macomb, Ill.
The Mastodons went 1-3 against Western Illinois last season. The Leathernecks were picked to finish fifth in the 2015 Summit League preseason poll.
Mother Nature has been the major storyline for WIU, as the Leathernecks were forced to go to Plans B, C and D for their entire non-conference schedule. WIU was swept opening weekend by the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State; a series that was relocated from Nashville to Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Bad weather also shifted WIU’s two-game set with No. 24 Oklahoma from Stillwater to Auburn University’s Plainsman Park. The Leathernecks sandwiched two losses to the Cowboys around an 11-3 setback to Jacksonville State to go 0-3 in SEC country.
The Leathernecks wasted a quality pitching performance in their first loss to No. 24 Oklahoma State. Junior right-hander Joe Mortillaro allowed the Cowboys just one unearned run with nine strikeouts and left the game after the fifth inning with a 2-1 lead. WIU added a lone tally in the seventh to make it a 3-1 score but the Leatherneck bullpen gave up three runs in the bottom of the seventh before OSU reliever Koda Glover slammed the door with two strikeouts in the final frame.
Last weekend’s series against Missouri Valley foe Evansville was moved from Evansville, Ind., to the Lake Point facility in Emerson, Georgia. WIU got off the schnide by splitting the four-game series with the Purple Aces.
The light-hitting Leathernecks are in the Summit League basement in terms of overall hitting (.210/.321/.267) but rank second with four home runs—10 behind league leader IPFW.
WIU stands fourth in the league with a 5.82 ERA and like IPFW ranks near the bottom nationally in walks per nine (6.48), WHIP (1.88) and hits per game (10.43).
Sophomore lefty Preston Church (1-2, 3.50 ERA) twirled a five-hit shutout in the series finale against Evansville. The lefty scattered five singles in eight innings and posted a career-high eight strikeouts to earn his first Summit League Pitcher of the Week certificate.
Rotation mainstay Tom Constand (0-3, 8.57) has gotten off to rough start, but the senior lefty has had success against IPFW in the past. The 2014 Summit League Tournament honoree is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in his last four appearances against the Mastodons.
Newcomer Joe Mortillaro (0-1, 2.64 ERA) has quickly moved into the weekend rotation after spending his first two seasons in the junior college ranks.
Infielder Payton Jeffers is the team’s top hitter through 10 games, with a .364/.462/.364 slash.
JJ Reimer, a 2014 second team all-league and all-tournament team selection, looks to shake his slump at the start of Summit play. Reimer batted .319 with a .429 slugging percentage last year but is currently hitting .121/.268/.333 with a team-best six RBI.
Sophomore catcher Adam McGinnis was recently named to the 2015 Johnny Bench Award National Watch List.
The good news for WIU is that there’s no rain in the forecast for the weekend in Macomb, so their league opener against IPFW should take place in the friendly confines of Alfred D. Boyer Stadium. Now would be an ideal time for the Leathernecks to find some offense and leap over some teams in the standings. But it will be more interesting to see if IPFW can keep winning and begin to prove that they’re not the team that the rest of the Summit League expected them to be in 2015.
