Baseball Begins NE10 Play Against Southwest Division Foes

Matchup	Merrimack (6-8) at Pace (10-4) // Adelphi (8-4)
Dates//Times	Sat., March 23 (12 | 3 p.m.) // Sun., March 24 (12 | 3 p.m.)
Venue	Plesantville, N.Y. | Finnerty Field (Pace) Garden City, N.Y. | Bonomo Memorial Field (Adelphi)
Gameday Links	Watch | Live Stats (Pace) // Live Stats (Adelphi)
Social Media	Twitter // Instagram

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The defending Northeast-10 Conference champion Merrimack College baseball program will play its first conference games of the season this weekend when the Warriors visit Southwest Division opposition in Pace University and Adelphi University. The doubleheader against the Setters will occur on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m. in Pleasantville, N.Y. while the twinbill against the Panthers will be on Sunday in Garden City, N.Y. with another noon first pitch.   

Five Things to Know:

• Merrimack added a non-conference win against American International on Wednesday in a contest played at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Senior Cam Monagle struck out a career-high 10 batters over seven quality innings while the Warriors' bats collected 12 hits highlighted by a 3-for-5 performance for junior Nick Shumski and the first career homer for senior Cory Wasylow
• The sophomore starting duo of Timmy Kalantzakos and Vin Zappulla expect to take the hill this weekend, and have led the Warriors on the mound this year. The combo have thrown over 20 innings apiece and posting sub-4.00 ERA's respectively through four starts. The former is second the squad with a 2.74 ERA while the latter's .207 batting average against is the second best among Merrimack's rotation and he is the team leader with 18 strikeouts
• Monagle lowered his team-leading ERA to 1.59 after Wednesday's start, and rose up to seventh in the NE10. The 2017 NE10 ERA champion, Monagle's two victories on the young season lead Merrimack while he ranks third on the staff with 15 strikeouts
• At the dish, sophomore Michael Jamele continued to impress, increasing his hitting streak to four on Wednesday while scoring a career-high tying two runs. Jamele's .368 average and .944 OPS lead the Merrimack, while the second-year centerfielder sits 10^th league-wide in average
• With five multi-hit games over his last 10, Shumski's average is knocking on the door of .300 (.296). The starting shortstop hit his first career homer early his season, and his 13 RBI this year are already five shy of tying his career high. Junior Joey Porricelli has paced the Merrimack offense from the leadoff spot, owning the team lead in homers (3), RBI (16) and total bases (28)

Scouting the Opposition (Pace):

Merrimack (6-8)	Stat Category	Pace (10-4)
.245	Batting Average	.285
.337	On-Base Percentage	.380
.339	Slugging Percentage	.367
5.31	Team ERA	4.05
102	Team Strikeouts	108
20	Total Stolen Bases	24
.966	Team Fielding Percentage	.976
Michael Jamele (.368)	Batting Average Leader	Michael Salmonese (.491)
Joey Porricelli (3)	Home Runs Leader	Two Tied (1)
Porricelli (16)	RBI Leader	Luke Jacobi (10)
Cam Monagle (1.59)_	ERA Leader (Individual)	Thomas Ippolito (0.63)
Vin Zappulla (18)	Strikeouts Leader	Dan Wirchansky (22)

 
Scouting the Opposition (Adelphi):

Merrimack (6-8)	Stat Category	Adelphi (8-4)
.245	Batting Average	.275
.337	On-Base Percentage	.323
.339	Slugging Percentage	.400
5.31	Team ERA	4.20
102	Team Strikeouts	98
20	Total Stolen Bases	13
.966	Team Fielding Percentage	.964
Michael Jamele (.368)	Batting Average Leader	Brandon Morse (.408)
Joey Porricelli (3)	Home Runs Leader	Two Tied (4)
Porricelli (16)	RBI Leader	Lawrence Cicileo (17)
Cam Monagle (1.59)_	ERA Leader (Individual)	Ed Baram (0.50)
Vin Zappulla (18)	Strikeouts Leader	Baram (24)

Up Next:
Merrimack begins divisional play on Wednesday when the Warriors face local rival Bentley for the first of three games from DeFelice Field. First pitch in Waltham, Mass. is set for 3:30 p.m.