Games 14-16
ARKANSAS STATE RED WOLVES (7-6)
at Austin Peay Riverview Inn Challenge
March 9-11, 2012  1:00 p.m., 11:00 a.m., & 2:30 p.m.
Raymond C. Hand Park (777)  Clarksville, Tennessee
Radio:  KNEA 970 AM & AStateRedWolves.com
LiveStats at AStateRedWolves.com

LEADING OFF:  After playing their last 10 games at home, the Arkansas State Red Wolves (7-6) hit the road this weekend, traveling to Clarksville, Tenn. to take part in the Austin Peay Riverview Inn Challenge.  The Red Wolves went 7-3 in the 10-game home stand, but will be looking for their first road victory after an 0-3 start away from Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field.  Arkansas State will get the weekend started Friday morning when the Red Wolves take on the Dayton Flyers (2-8) in a 1:00 p.m. game.  A-State will take on Northern Illinois (0-11) Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and will wrap up the Riverview Inn Challenge Sunday at 2:30 against host Austin Peay (8-3).  All ASU baseball games, with the exception of Friday's game, may be heard on KNEA 970 AM and through the StateZone portion of AStateRedWolves.com.   Friday's game may be heard on 101.3 KBTM and 1230 AM.        LiveStats may also be accessed by logging on to AStateRedWolves.com.

THE TEAMS:  Arkansas State will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak when the Red Wolves take the field against Dayton Friday morning.  After jumping out to a 7-1 start in their 10-game home stand, the Red Wolves dropped both games of a midweek series with Southern Illinois-Edwardsville March 6 & 7, losing 5-3 and 5-2.  Dayton enters the Challenge at 2-8 on the season.  The Flyers won one of three games last weekend at Tennessee Tech and suffered an 8-5 loss at Butler Tuesday.  Northern Illinois traveled to Surprise, Ariz. last weekend, with the Huskies losing all four games they played at the Coca Cola Classic.  NIU was defeated by Winthrop 14-7, No. 11 Arizona St. 4-3, Saint Mary's 10-5 and No. 24 Oregon St. 11-3.  Austin Peay enters the Challenge on a four-game win streak.  The Governors hosted the Riverview Inn Classic last weekend and defeated Youngstown St. 8-2, Iowa 4-3 in 10 innings and Akron 14-4.  In its only midweek action, APSU beat Alabama A&M 7-1 in Huntsville, Ala.

ASU AGAINST THE FIELD:   Friday's game with Dayton will be the first meeting between the Red Wolves and the Flyers.  Arkansas State holds a 4-2 lead in the series with Northern Illinois, with the last meeting being during the 1997 season.  The Red Wolves lead 8-4 in the series against Austin Peay, including a 2-1 series victory over the Governors during the 2011 season. 

ON THE MOUND FOR ASU:  Senior right-hander Jacob Lee will get the start on the mound when the Riverview Inn Challenge opens Friday afternoon, making his fourth start of the season.  Lee has worked 16 innings on the year, striking out 18 batters.  He has given up seven runs on 17 hits, walked five batters and has an ERA of 3.94.  Junior right-hander Daniel Wright has made four appearances on the season, starting in three games.  Wright has given up 15 runs (eight earned) in 16.2 innings of work.  He has 11 strikeouts to his credit, has walked four batters and given up 22 hits.  Wright's ERA stands at 4.32 heading into the weekend.  Sophomore right-hander Bradley Wallace will be making his third start and fifth overall appearance on the season in Sunday's finale.  He has given up eight runs on 18 hits, with 10 strikeouts and three walks in 13 innings of work, with an ERA of 5.54.

OFFENSE COMES ALIVE:  The Arkansas State offense exploded for 37 runs in the Red Wolves' three-game sweep over South Dakota State March 2-4, blasting 40 hits along the way.  The Red Wolves slugged eight doubles, two triples and two home runs in the three games against the Jackrabbits and posted a team batting average of .354.  ASU's 37 runs in the series was the most since the Red Wolves scored 38 against New Orleans in 2010.

SLOW START, BIG FINISH:  Heading into this weekend's Riverview Inn Challenge, the Red Wolves are being outscored 18-2 in the first two innings combined, but are making up for it in the late innings, outscoring their opponents 20-4 in the eighth inning.  Arkansas State has yet to lose a game when leading after six innings, posting a 6-0 record when leading after six and a 7-0 mark when ahead after eight.  The Red Wolves have yet to score a run in the ninth inning this season, but have surrendered just one ninth-inning score on the year. 

STEALING THE SHOW:  The Red Wolves were a perfect 6-of-6 on stolen base attempts last weekend against South Dakota State.  Arkansas State was led by junior outfielder Michael Faulkner, who finished the weekend with four stolen bases on four attempts.

KYLE SHUTS DOWN JACKRABBITS:  With a 30 mph wind blowing out that had already played a part in five runs through the first four innings for South Dakota State, senior reliever Cory Kyle went to the mound and shut down the Jackrabbits through the final five innings, striking out six in ASU's 15-5 win March 2.  Kyle picked up the win after holding the Jackrabbits to just one hit after SDSU had belted out eight in the first four frames.  Kyle allowed just two baserunners in the final five innings, walking one and giving up one single.

MARCHING THROUGH MARCH:  The Red Wolves have gotten off to a 3-2 start in the month of March, and stand at 32-29 (.524) in the month of March under head coach Tommy Raffo.  With their 7-3 start at home this season, Arkansas State has also improved to 58-40 (.591) at home during Raffo's four seasons at ASU. 

BEST IN THE BELT:  Heading into this weekend's action, ASU's Michael Faulkner is tied for the league lead with 10 stolen bases, but is the only player in the league with 10 stolen bases who has not been caught stealing.  Faulkner's 10 stolen bases are good enough to tie for ninth-best nationally and his average of .76 stolen bases per game ranks 16th in the nation.  Zach George is tied for the league lead with two triples. John Koch is tied for the league lead with three saves on the season and is the league-leader with seven games finished.

EMERY COMES THROUGH:  Junior outfielder/designated hitter Ryan Emery led the ASU batting attack during the week of Feb. 20-26, hitting .467 with two game-winning RBI hits to help the Red Wolves to a 4-2 record.  With the Red Wolves trailing 4-3 in the eighth inning of game two against Evansville, Emery hit a two-run single to erase the deficit and send home the winning run in ASU's 5-4 win.  He came up big again in the Sunday finale, delivering an RBI single up the middle in the eighth that again proved to be the winning run in a 3-2 victory for the Red Wolves.  For the week, Emery went 7-for-15 with four RBIs, a run scored, a walk and a sacrifice.

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL HOME DEBUT:  With their 11-3 victory over Murray State Feb. 22, Red Wolves extended their winning streak in home openers to 22 games, a run that dates back to the 1991 season.

LEE ON PACE:  Senior right-hander Jacob Lee is on pace to become the Red Wolves' career strikeout leader.  With 212 strikeouts in his career, the 2011 preseason SBC Pitcher of the Year needs 40 strikeouts to break the 40-plus year-old record of 251 set by Rusty Bourg in 1967-70.

4-K INNING FOR FARLEY:  Arkansas State senior right-hander Brandon Farley notched a rare four-strikeout inning in the Red Wolves' 11-3 victory over Murray State Feb. 22.  After Murray State's Ty Stetson reached on a dropped third strike to lead off the seventh inning, Farley proceeded to mow down the next three batters to close out the frame with four strikeouts.  Farley faced seven batters on the afternoon, striking out five without giving up a hit or issuing a walk.

FIRST WIN FOR SHORDON:  True freshman Levi Shordon made the most of his first career start against Murray State Feb. 22, picking up the win in ASU's 11-3 victory.  In four innings of work, the lefty from Simi Valley, Calif. gave up just three hits and one run, while striking out one.  Shordon gave up the run in the first, then settled in and pitched three and one-thirds innings of shutout baseball to earn his first win.

CAREER HIGH FOR FAULKNER:  Arkansas State junior Michael Faulkner drove in a career-high four runs in the Red Wolves' 11-3 victory over Murray State Feb. 22.  Faulkner's previous career high was three runs, set in 2001 against Memphis and again against Louisiana-Lafayette.

MOTHER NATURE UNKIND:  The Red Wolves came up on the short end of a 2-1 score against Lamar in the season opener, with both the Cardinals and Mother Nature playing a role in the loss.  Trailing 2-1 in the top of the ninth, Arkansas State was poised to tie the game or take the lead when the game was called due to weather.  The Red Wolves had runners at first and second with just one out when heavy rainfall forced officials to call the game, giving Lamar the win.

STRONG DEBUT FOR LEE:  Arkansas State senior Jacob Lee was outstanding in the season opener for the Red Wolves, striking out five batters in six shutout innings of work on the road at Lamar.  Lee walked just one batter and surrendered just five hits – all singles. 
 
FIRST HOME RUN:  Arkansas State sophomore Claude Johnson slugged his first career home run during the Red Wolves' opening weekend at Lamar.  Johnson went 1-for-2 in Sunday's finale to notch the home run.  As a freshman last year, Johnson hit .220, going 11-for-50 with three doubles and two RBIs.
 
NEWCOMERS SHINE:  Newcomers Stuart Levy and Drew Burks both enjoyed solid outings in their first two games as Red Wolves last weekend, each hitting .333 in a pair of games against Lamar.  Burks, a junior transfer from Coffeyville CC, started at DH and went 2-for-6 with a double and a walk to post an on-base percentage of .429.  Levy, a true freshman from Little Rock, drew one start at catcher and went 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch to record an on-base percentage of .500.

ASU IN SEASON OPENERS:  The Red Wolves are 32-32 all-time on opening day.  Arkansas State dropped its season opener Feb. 17, falling 2-1 on the road at Lamar.  The Red Wolves are 2-2 in season openers under head coach Tommy Raffo, defeating Texas State 4-3 in 2009 and Southern Illinois 14-5 in 2010.
 
SUCCESS UNDER RAFFO:  Arkansas State has won two games at the Sun Belt Conference tournament each of the past two seasons under fourth-year head coach Tommy Raffo.   Prior to Raffo's coming to Jonesboro, Arkansas State had not won a game at the SBC Tournament since the 1997 season.  The Red Wolves advanced to the tournament semifinals in 2010 and went 2-1 in pool play a year ago - with the only setback being a 13-inning loss to eventual runner-up Florida International.