Feb. 26, 1998
Kentucky (3-3) vs. Long Beach State (2-8)
Site: Long Beach, Calif.
Stadium: Blair Field (3,000)
Game One: Friday, Feb. 27 — 10:05 p.m.
Game Two: Saturday, Feb. 28 — 4:05 p.m.
Game Three: Sunday, Feb. 29 — 4:05 p.m.
The Coaches: Kentucky head coach Keith Madison is in his 20th season atUK and is 589-452-4. Dave Snow is 369-202-3 in his 10th season atLong Beach State. He has an overall record of 531-283-4 in 13seasons.
The Series: This is the first meeting between the two teams.
Streaks: UK is on a one-game winning streak while Long Beach Statehas dropped two in a row.
Probable StartersFriday: LHP Jason Chaney (0-1) Kentucky LHP Daryl Grant (2-1) Long Beach St. Saturday: RHP Josh Paxton (1-0) Kentucky RHP Jeff Leuenberger (0-0) Long Beach St. Sunday: RHP Aaron McGlone (0-0) Kentucky RHP Caleb Balbuena (0-1) Long Beach St.
Breaking Down the Series
UK makes its fourth consecutive road trip this weekend as it travels to LongBeach, Calif., for a three-game series with Long Beach State. The series willconclude a month-long road trip as the Wildcats make their home debut on March 3against Lincoln Memorial. UK will aim to gain some momentum this weekend asconference season approaches. The Wildcats open SEC play at Vanderbilt with athree-game series beginning on March 6.
Long Beach State finished first in the Big West South Division last year with a39-26 mark and won two games in the NCAA South I Regional. This will be only thesecond trip to the Golden State for the Wildcats under head coach Keith Madison.UK went 2-4 in the Pepsi Classic in Fresno, Calif., in 1994. UK is 0-3 againstteams from California in the Madison era, including NCAA Regional losses toStanford (two-games, 1988) and Southern California (1993).
NEXT UP: UK Opens Home Season
After spending the first month of the season on the road, UK will play its firsthome game of the season on Tuesday, March 3 against Lincoln Memorial at 3 p.m.UK takes on Ohio University at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4.
Scouting Long Beach State
The 49ers head into the weekend with a 2-8 mark after losing two of three toTulane over the weekend. Long Beach State won the opener (14-6) on Friday, butdropped a pair of games on Sunday (1-2, 3-7).The teams were scheduled to play onSaturday, but heavy rain forced a doubleheader on Sunday. Junior Chuck Lopez is17-for-36 in 10 games with two doubles and two RBIs. 3B Paul Day is hitting .452with one home run and a team-leading eight RBIs. Left-hander Daryl Grant, whowill pitch on Friday against Kentucky, is 2-1 in 1998 in five appearances. Granthas allowed only five earned runs in 19.2 innings.
Wildcats Overall
This is the 102nd season of Kentucky baseball. The Wildcats have an all-timemark of 1258-1073-22 for a winning percentage of .534.
Bendix Has Career Day at the Plate
LF Andy Bendix went 5-for-9 in the two-game series at Southern Mississippi lastweekend. Bendix, a senior from Eugene, Ore., went 3-for-6 on Sunday with a homerun and a career-high six RBIs. Through six games, Bendix is hitting .364 withone homer and seven RBIs.
McGlone Picks Up Where He Left Off
P/3B Aaron McGlone began the 1998 season on the pitching mound in the samefashion he finished the 1997 season. McGlone, 3-1 in 1997, threw four shutoutinnings against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 15 in his first start of the season.McGlone allowed only four hits and struck out four before leaving the gamebecause of a set pitch count. He is scheduled to pitch game three against LongBeach State on Sunday.
McGlone made his first SEC start against SouthCarolina in the final game of the 1997 season, pitching a two-hit, complete-gameshutout for his first complete game and shutout of his career.
Last Time Out
Andy Bendix had three hits, including his first homer of the season, and drovein six runs to lead UK to a 10-6 victory over Southern Mississippi Sunday atPete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss. The win gave the Wildcats a split in thetwo-game series.
RHP Josh Paxton, 1-0, allowed just one run over five innings of work to get thevictory. In addition to Bendix, the Wildcats got two hits apiece from DavidCheatle, Aaron McGlone and Jason Colemire.
Frequent Flyer Miles
After the three-game series in Long Beach, Calif., Kentucky will have traveled10,604 miles in a month to play its first nine games. The AAA breakdown:
Lexington to Phoenix to Lexington 3,724
Lexington to Myrtle Beach to Lexington 1,168
Lexington to Hattiesburg to Lexington 1,298
Lexington to Long Beach to Lexington 4,414
UK will play on four different fields, catch six different flights, play inthree different time zones and make a 22-hour roundtrip bus ride. The Wildcatswill play their first home game on March 3 against Lincoln Memorial at 3 p.m.
UK Gets 18 Hits Against Southern Mississippi
UK had 18 hits in its 15-10 loss to Southern Mississippi on Saturday. Thelast time the Wildcats had more than 18 hits was April 28, 1996 in a 17-7 winover Vanderbilt.
Plotts Becomes Eligible
1B/DH Micah Plotts, a transfer from Evansville, received a one-time transfer andbecame eligible immediately for Saturday’s game against Southern Mississippi.Plotts, who was forced to miss the first four games, went 1-for-3 in thetwo-game series.
California Connections
Assistant Coach Jan Weisberg (San Jose/San Jose CC), 2B David Cheatle(Wheatland, Calif./Sacramento City College), 1B John Wilson (Leona Valley/LosAngeles Baptist), C Jason Pasero (San Francisco/San Francisco CC), OF JustinBunch (Toluca/College of the Canyons) and P Jason Chaney (Orangevale/SacramentoCC) are all natives of California.
Head Coach Keith Madison
Since becoming the Wildcats coach in 1979, Keith Madison has guided his team to589 victories – more than any other baseball coach in school history and thesecond-highest mark among active coaches in Southeastern Conference games.
In his 19 seasons, 77 players whom Madison has coached have signed procontracts, 15 of whom have seen time in the major leagues. With UK’s win overTennessee on April 13, 1996, Madison moved into third place on the SEC all-timevictories list. Madison is just 11 wins shy of 600. Against Ohio University onMarch 12, 1996, Madison achieved another milestone by coaching in his 1,000thcareer game. Over the last 19 seasons, UK has averaged 31 wins a season andadvanced to the NCAA Tournament in 1988 and 1993, with the team’s ’88 berthrepresenting the school’s first NCAA appearance in 38 years. Madison took over aprogram in 1979 that had just finished last in the SEC Eastern Division. Madisonguided his first team to a 29-18 mark, setting the school record for wins in aseason. Madison improved that mark from 39 wins (1981) to 40 (1987) to 41(1991).
Through all the success, Madison has guided eight All-Americans, 19 first-teamAll-SEC players, and 33 players to SEC academic honors. Madison has coached afirst or second-team All-SEC selection 18 of his 19 years at Kentucky.
On the national scene, Madison was named the fourth vice-president of theAmerican Baseball Coaches Association in 1995. In the ABCA officer rotationsystem. Madison has moved up to third vice-president of the organization. Hewill assume the presidency of the organization in 1999.
No. Score Date 1 UK 11, Georgetown (KY.) 1 March 6, 1979 50 UK, Southern Illinois, 4 April 25, 1980 100 UK 16, Cincinnati, 6 March 25, 1982150 UK 12, West Florida 3 March 4, 1984200 UK 4, Western Kentucky 3 May 5, 1985 250 UK 12, Louisville 4 April 16, 1987300 UK 9, LSU 7 May 12, 1988350 UK 14, Vanderbilt 2 April 7, 1990400 UK 10, Armstrong State 9 Feb. 16, 1991 450 UK 12, Marshall 11 April 7, 1993500 UK 9, Louisville 8 May 11, 1994550 UK 16, Cincinnati 7 April 10, 1996
Madison in SEC All-Time Coaching Victories
1. Ron Polk, Mississippi State (1976-97) 888 2. Skip Bertman, LSU (1984-) 6893. Keith Madison, Kentucky (1979-) 5894. Dave Fuller, Florida (1948-75) 5525. Paul Nix, Auburn (1963-84) 506
Senior David Cheatle is proving that size doesn’t matter in baseball. Cheatle,the second-smallest player on the Wildcats squad, stands only 5-foot-9. Cheatleis hitting a team-leading .520 and has hit safely in all six games. Cheatle, whohas five multi-hit games, is 13-for-25 with a home run and five RBIs.
Cheatle went for 5-for-9 in the Wildcats’ two games at the season-openingCollege Sports Classic, including three hits in their 5-4 win over OklahomaState.
Cat Scratches
David Cheatle, Aaron McGlone and Jason Colemire have hit safely in all sixgames.
UK has 10 errors in 1998 compared to 21 errors in 1997 after six games.
UK was 0-5-1 in 1997 after six games.
The first four batters in the lineup in game one against SouthernMississippi went a combined 12-for-21 with six runs scored and seven RBIs.
Aaron McGlone has recorded an RBI in all six games.
Nine freshmen have seenaction this season, including five on the mound.
UK has 11-plus hits in four ofits six games.
UK Gets Win Over Ranked Opponent
Kentucky’s win over No. 6 Oklahoma State on Feb. 7 was its first win over aranked opponent since its 14-1 victory over No. 8 Tennessee on April 11 lastyear. The Wildcats were 4-18-1 against ranked opponents in 1997.
Two-Year Veteran
Senior Andy Bendix can be considered “the veteran” of this year’s squad. Bendixis the only player who has played in more than one season at Kentucky. Bendixplayed in six games last year before undergoing season-ending surgery to repairtorn labrum in his right shoulder. In 1996,
Bendix hit .296 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs. Bendix, who was granted a medicalhardship, is hitting .364 this season.
Wildcats’ Bats On Fire
While the temperature was falling in Lexington during the opening week, it wassoaring in Phoenix at the season-opening College Sports Classic thanks in partto the Wildcats bats. UK outhit New Mexico State (12-6) and Oklahoma State(11-4) in its first two games. The Wildcats recorded 11 RBIs, six doubles and atriple.
Meade Gets Two Hits in Season Debut
Sophomore Jeff Meade had a solid showing in his season debut in the Wildcats’8-7 loss to Coastal Carolina (2/15). Meade, who had only eight at-bats lastseason due to a foot injury, went 2-for-4 with two singles.
Loggins and Murphy Hit First UK Homers
Josh Loggins and Mark Murphy hit UK’s first home runs of the season againstCoastal Carolina. Murphy blasted a shot over the scoreboard in right field inthe first game of the series. Loggins, who led the team with 11 homers lastseason, slapped a shot over the right field wall in the second game. Bothplayers were leading off an inning.
PRESEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Cats To Face Five New Opponents in 1998
UK will play six new opponents this season, including four in the first threeweeks. The Wildcats beat New Mexico State 8-6 in the team’s first-ever meetingat the College Sports Classic in Phoenix, Ariz. and split a series with SouthernMississippi (10-15, 10-6). Long Beach State, Belmont and Western Carolina willalso be new additions to the Wildcats’ schedule.
Eight of UK’s opponents finished in the final 1997 USA Today Top 25 poll.
Wildcats Hire Assistant Coach
Former Birmingham-Southern College assistant Daron Schoenrock was namedassistant coach in May. He will serve as pitching coach and also head therecruiting process.
Schoenrock, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, served as the assistant head coachat Birmingham-Southern for eight years under head coach Brian Shoop. While hewas at BSC, the Panthers were ranked nationally seven of his eight years. Healso coached two All-Americans, seven All-Conference selections and seven MajorLeague draft picks.
In 1995, Schoenrock was hired by the Chicago White Sox organization and assignedto Bristol, Tenn., (A-Appalachian League), where he was responsible for tutoringpitchers from the 1995 draft.
1998 SEC Baseball Tournament
The SEC has adopted a new format for its 1998 baseball tournament, May 13-17, atthe Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Birmingham, Ala. The new format is aneight-team double elimination tournament that is modeled after the College WorldSeries. The tournament field includes the top three teams from the SEC’s Easternand Western Divisions plus two at-large bids based on conference winningpercentage. The eight teams are seeded 1-8 with the two divisional championsguaranteed of the top two seeds.
1997 Recap
With the loss of nine seniors, in addition to All-America center fielder ChadGreen moving into the professional ranks, UK Coach Keith Madison labeled the1997 campaign a rebuilding year at the beginning of the season. And though thefinal record may indicate a disappointing season at 20-34-1, the Wildcatsgrabbed victories in four of their final five games to end the season on apositive note.
In what has become a Madison mainstay during his 19 years as UK coach, Kentuckyput all the pieces together at the end of the year. In the final week of theseason, the Wildcats ran off four victories in their final five games, toppingVanderbilt and Louisville before taking two-of-three from South Carolina.Freshman right-hander Aaron McGlone tossed a complete game two-hitter againstthe Gamecocks in his debut as an SEC starting pitcher. Kentucky hit for a .285batting average for the season, led by Josh Loggins’ .338 average. Loggins ledthe team in seven offensive categories. Outfielder Justin Bunch had the hot batlate in the season, earning SEC Player of the Week honors for the final week ofthe season.
Kentucky By the NumbersHome Record: 0-0Home Conference Record: 0-0Road Record: 1-3Road Conference Record: 0-0Neutral Record: 2-0Neutral Conference Record: 0-0vs. SEC East: 0-0vs. SEC West: 0-0vs. ranked opponents: 1-0Extra Innings: 0-0Extra inning SEC games: 0-0Extra inning home games: 0-0Extra inning road games: 0-0On Grass: 3-3On Artificial Turf: 0-0Longest winning streak: 2Longest losing streak: 3Outside of Kentucky: 3-3In the state of Kentucky: 0-0When scoring first: 2-1When opponent scores first: 1-2When UK has two errors or less: 2-3 When UK has more than two errors: 1-0 When UK leads after the 7th inning: 1-1When UK trails after the 7th inning: 2-2 When UK is tied after 7 innings: 0-0When UK leads after the 8th inning: 2-1When UK trails after the 8th inning: 1-2 When UK is tied after 8 innings: 0-0When UK out-hits the opponent: 2-1When UK is out-hit by the opponent: 1-2As many hits as the opponent: 0-0With 0-3 hits: 0-0With 4-6 hits: 0-1With 7-9 hits: 0-1More than 9 hits: 3-11-run games: 1-12-run games: 1-03-run games: 0-03+ run games: 1-2When scoring 0-3 runs: 0-0When scoring 4-6 runs: 1-2When scoring 7-9 runs: 1-0When scoring more than nine runs: 1-1On weekends (Fri., Sat., Sun.): 3-3On weekdays (Mon-Thurs.): 0-0Longest game: 3:23 (2/21 vs. Southern Miss.) Shortest game: 2:36 (2/7 vs. Oklahoma State)
Scoring By Innings: UK OPP1st 3 72nd 1 13rd 13 14th 2 45th 5 96th 2 77th 6 48th 10 69th 6 710+ 0 0
DID YOU KNOW?
Kentucky has scored four-plus runs in five different innings this season…UKscored a season-high five runs in an inning against New Mexico St. and SouthernMississippi (Game One).
1998 SEC Standings Eastern Divison SEC Games All GamesTeam W L Pct. W L Pct.Vanderbilt 0 0 .000 6 0 1.000 Georgia 0 0 .000 7 1 .875 South Carolina 0 0 .000 8 2 .800Tennessee 0 0 .000 7 2 .778Florida 0 0 .000 7 3 .700Kentucky 0 0 .000 3 3 .500Western Division SEC Games All GamesTeam W L Pct. W L Pct.Alabama 0 0 .000 8 0 1.000 Arkansas 0 0 .000 6 1 .857 Auburn 0 0 .000 7 2 .778Miss. State 0 0 .000 3 1 .750Ole Miss 0 0 .000 5 3 .625LSU 0 0 .000 4 3 .571
THE KENTUCKY FLAVOR
Seventeen of the 35 players on the Kentucky roster hail from the BluegrassState…The rest of the breakdown: California (5), Indiana (5), Florida (1),Arizona (1), Georgia (1), Ohio (1), Oregon (1) and Tennessee (1)…UK has fiveplayers from Lexington.
Nine Signees for Kentucky
Head coach Keith Madison signed nine players in the fall to national letters ofintent to play baseball at Kentucky next season. The list of eight high schoolplayers and one junior college player includes four pitchers, four positionplayers and one pitcher/outfielder. Jeff Goldbach, a senior at PrincetonCommunity High School in Princeton, Ind., will join the UK baseball program as apitcher/outfielder. Goldbach was named the 1997 Southwestern Indiana Player ofthe Year and a TPX/Louisville Slugger All-American.
The four position players to sign with Kentucky are first baseman ChrisDeLeenheer from Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kan.,outfielder/pitcher Jason Graham from Cardinal Newman High School in West PalmBeach, Fla., third baseman Jonathan Peacock from Lake Park High School inRoselle, Ill., and outfielder Pete Rasmusen from McHenry High School in McHenry,Ill. Graham led the Cardinal Newman Crusaders last season in runs (19) andtriples (3), while stealing 10 bases in 12 attempts. Peacock was named mostvaluable player of his high school team last season and was selectedAll-Conference and All-Area.
Rasmusen, a four-year starter on the varsity squad, was named All-Conference andAll-Area his sophomore and junior seasons. One of the four pitchers to jointhe Wildcats is local talent Jarrod Reynolds, a right-hander from Lafayette HighSchool in Lexington. In 1997, Reynolds was named first team All-City, andselected to the 11th region All-Tournament team and State SectionalAll-Tournament team. Brandon Girdler, a right-hander, will join the Wildcatsfrom Somerset High School, where he has tossed two no-hitters in his career, 252strikeouts and holds a 0.90 ERA in 196 innings pitched. He has been namedAll-District, All-City and Honorable Mention All-State. Right-handed pitcherClint Kelley holds a 1.88 ERA with a 17-9 record for Morton High School inMorton, Ill. He earned All-Conference honors his sophomore and junior seasonsand led last year,s team in hitting, RBIs and ERA.
Right-handed pitcher Ethan Crum will be the only junior college transfer joiningKentucky next season. The Murray, Ky., native transferred from Murray State toNeosho Community College in Neosho, Kan., this season. While at Murray State,Crum stole 12 bases on 16 attempts. Coming out of high school, Crum earnedall-state selections his junior and senior seasons.
