April 7, 2004
Penn State Game Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- 'On a long and lonesome highway east of Omaha (think Bob Seger), you can listen to the engine moanin' out his one note song, you can think about the woman or the game you played the night before, but your thoughts will soon be wandering the way they always do, on how do I get the hit, the way I always do, ridin' sixteen hours (12 actually) and there's nothin' much to do ...'
After playing 19 of its first 24 games away from Evanston, the 2004 baseball team hits the road for the sixth time, this time making the trek to State College, Pa. The Wildcats take on Penn State in a four-game conference series with game one beginning at 3 p.m. (EDT) Friday afternoon at Beaver Field. The season is not quite two months old (NU's season opener was Feb. 12) but NU has traveled six of the last nine weekends, with its shortest trip to Dothan, Ala., approximately 757 miles. The trip to Penn State is 515 miles.
While the trips have been long, the team battles through jet lag and long bus trips, putting a quality team on the field. Through the first 24 games, NU is hitting .297 as a team, 30 points higher than their 2003 season average (.267). As a matter of fact, five players are hitting above .300, led by senior Jason Krynski (.356). Krynski is tops on the team in home runs (4), doubles (10), hits (36) and is tied with junior Jon Mikrut in RBI (21). His 101 at-bats is a season high and just three short of his single-season high, along with his 10 doubles. Center fielder Matt Brimmer is hitting .339 with two home runs and 10 driven in. Freshman Caleb Fields has six multiple RBI games, and hit the game-winning home run in NU's 12-10 game three victory over Indiana last weekend. The 2003 team had only two players hit above .300.
While Krynski and the rest of the offense rack up hits and RBI, the NU pitching staff continues to lower the ERA. A big part of that is the left-handed duo of J.A. Happ and Dan Brauer. Happ is coming off his second Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award as Brauer has three already this year. Happ leads NU with a 1.99 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 45.1 innings pitched. Brauer has a 2.51 ERA and has punched out 53 in 43.0 innings pitched. Junior Chris Hayes has 15 appearances already this season and boasts a 2.70 earned-run average.