Baseball Begins Five-Game Weekend Friday in Westwood against Stonehill (3:30 p.m.)

4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM

Links (Stonehill): Live Stats (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3) | Follow @MerrimackBSB
Links (Pace): Live Stats | Video | Follow @MerrimackBSB

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After multiple postponements to their series last weekend, the Merrimack College baseball team and Stonehill College will finally hit the diamond for a three-game series beginning Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Mass. The series will conclude with a doubleheader on Saturday back at Xaverian beginning at 11 a.m. Merrimack will serve as the "home" team and bat second in all three games because the Warriors were originally supposed to host the games, but the series was moved to Westwood due to unplayable field conditions on campus. The Warriors will then travel to Pace Unviersity for a pair of games on Sunday, and serve as the away team after moving the games away from the Warrior Baseball Diamond. 

The Basics
Date/Time: 4/7 | 3:30 p.m.
Date/Time: 4/8 | 11 a.m. // 2 p.m. 
Date/Time: 4/9 | 2:30 // 5:30 p.m. 
Records: Merrimack (9-10) | Stonehill (7-13) | Pace (15-8)
Location (Stonehill): Xaverian Brothers High School | Westwood, Mass.
Location (Pace): Peter X. Finnerty Field | Pleasantville, N.Y. 

Last Time Out:

• Behind the pitching performances of redshirt-sophomore Garrett Hudson (Greenfield, Mass.) and sophomore Cam Monagle (Cambridge, Mass.), the Warriors picked up their first divisional victory with a 5-1 triumph over Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. on Wednesday afternoon
• Hudson picked up his second straight Northeast-10 Conference victory by working into the seventh inning, only conceding one run against the Greyhounds which crossed the plate in the first inning. Monagle entering the game and induced an inning-ending double play in the seventh and worked around a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to preserve the win. He has now thrown 18 straight scoreless innings over his last four appearances
• The middle of Merrimack's order put Merrimack on the board in the fourth, with a double from junior Matt Nicholson (Rockland, Mass.) and a single from sophomore Matthew Ronai (Orange, Conn.) accounting for a pair of runs. Ronai's base knock extended his hitting streak to 19 games
• Merrimack's three-run sixth inning gave the Warriors some breathing run as run-scoring singles from junior Mike Hoalcraft (Fayetteville, N.Y.) and freshman Joey Porricelli (Monroe, Conn.) headlined the offensive output

Last Season vs. Stonehill:

• Merrimack ended the regular season with a three-game sweep of the Skyhawks, winning three close games by two runs or fewer
• The Navy and Gold registered an 11-9 16-inning victory in the series opener that spanned two days as the game was called due to darkness originally. Junior Ricky Smith (Weymouth, Mass.) broke a 9-9 deadlock in the top of the 16^th with a two-run homer and Browne picked up the victory in relief
• The second game featured a go-ahead two-run shot from Nicholson as the Warriors entered the ninth inning trailing by one, 4-3. Hudson worked seven innings of scoreless relief to get the win
• Senior Cam DiSarcina (Shirley, Mass.) knocked in two of Merrimack's three runs in the series finale, which the Warriors won 3-1

The Skyhawks:

• Stonehill has played just five times since March 11^th, seeing nine games postponded due to the inclement weather in the area. Through 20 games played, the Skyhawks boast a 7-13 record including a 2-1 mark in divisional play
• In their most recent game, Stonehill edged Bentley by a 5-4 final. A RBI single in the eighth inning by senior Steve Lee proved to be the game-winning hit as Patrick Hurley worked three innings of scoreless relief
• Senior Ben Monte leads the offense with a .333 average, stroking a team-high 20 hits in 60 at-bats. Despite hitting at a .219 clip, Lee paces the group with two home runs and is second for the team lead with six extra-base hits
• Senior Jeremy Roberts has made five starts on the year, throwing a team-best 31.2 innings while collecting a 4.55 ERA. Hurley's 1.62 ERA is the lowest on the Skyhawks, working 16.2 inning across five appearances and two starts

The Setters:

• Pace recently had its nine-game winning streak snapped, but the Setters enter the weekend with 15 wins in 23 games. The Setters will be in Worcester on Saturday to face Assumption for a doubleheader before returning home to take on the Warriors
• Pace is hitting .297 as a team, trailing only Merrimack (.299) and Southern Connecticut (.307) as the top hitting program in the conference
• Five Setters are currently hitting above .300, paced by a .358 average from Garrett De Lotto. De Lotto's 44 total bases led the team, while Cory Capaldi's 10 extra-base hits - six doubles, two triples and two homers - are the most on the team
• Pace's 3.03 team ERA also registers as the third-best in the NE10, trailing Franklin Pierce (2.64) and New Haven (2.44). Seven Setters have thrown at least 15 innings and all seven have ERA's of 3.09 or lower

Up Next
The Warriors are scheduled to travel to Saint Anselm on Tuesday for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch in Manchester, N.H.

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