Baseball, Assumption Resume Divisional Series Tuesday Night at LeLacheur Park

Matchup	Assumption (19-13, 4-5 NE Div.) at Merrimack (18-12, 7-1 NE Div.)
Dates//Times	Tuesday, April 16, 2019 // 7 p.m.
Venue	LeLacheur Park | Lowell, Mass.
Gameday Links	Live Stats // Twitter // Instagram

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Looking to increase its season-long winning streak to seven games and even its season series with Assumption, the Merrimack College baseball program resumes its Northeast Division series with the Greyhounds tomorrow night at 7 p.m. from LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass.

Merrimack enters Tuesday night trailing Southern New Hampshire by half a game for a share of the Northeast Division lead. The Warriors have claimed three divisional series to date, and have yet to lose since falling to Assumption in non-league action on April 5.  

Five Things to Know:

• The Warriors pounded out 31 combined hits and scored 28 total runs in Merrimack's doubleheader sweep of Saint Anselm on Sunday, 14-5 and 14-3. The two wins ensured Merrimack the series victory over the Hawks, with one more game between the local rivals remaining this season. Merrimack did not lose a game last week (4-0), scoring a combined total of 50 runs over the four victories.
• Freshman Michael Golankiewicz impressed, earned Northeast-10 Conference Rookie of the Week honors following a week that saw him hit his first two career homers. Juniors Joey Porricelli and Nick Shumski combined to score 17 runs from the top two spots in Merrimack's order while junior Thomas Joyce and senior Matthew Ronai – occupying the No. 3 and No. 4 holes respectively – combined for 17 hits and 13 RBI across the four games.
• Across the team's season best winning streak, the Warriors have outscored opponents by at least six runs in five of the six games. Sophomores Vin Zappulla and Timmy Kalantzakos along with senior Cam Monagle have accounted for five of the six victories during the run, with the first two posting two wins each to improve their respective records to 5-1
• Offensively, Merrimack boasts names across the NE10 leaderboard. Joyce ranks 10^th in the conference in hitting (.333) and ninth in on-base percentage (446). Porricelli paces the league in runs scored (36), ranks second in steals (22), third in total bases (66) and fourth in extra-base hits (15). Both Porricelli and Shumski are tied for the league lead in triples (4), while the combination of Shumski and Joyce sit just outside the top 10 in RBI with 26 each
• Monagle's most recent outing came last Wednesday against Bentley, when the senior righty tossed eight shutout innings against the Falcons to extend his shutout streak over Bentley to 17 frames. He lowered his ERA to a team-best 1.32 with the outing, ranking fourth in the NE10 and fifth nationwide. Zapulla and Kalantzakos continued to be work horses for Merrimack, ranking seventh and fifth respectively in innings pitched across the NE10 this spring

Scouting the Opposition:

Merrimack (18-12, 7-1 NE Div.)	Stat Category	Assumption (19-13, 4-5 NE Div.)
.269	Batting Average	.287
.355	On-Base Percentage	.397
.368	Slugging Percentage	.408
4.10	Team ERA	5.01
206	Team Strikeouts	230
65	Total Stolen Bases	31
.968	Team Fielding Percentage	.963
Thomas Joyce (.336)	Batting Average Leader	RJ Libby (.325)
Porricelli (4)	Home Runs Leader	Two Tied (2)
Joyce // Nick Shumski (26)	RBI Leader	Hunter Tralli (5)
Cam Monagle (1.32)	ERA Leader (Individual)	Cole Chudoba (2.91)
Timmy Kalantzakos (39)	Strikeouts Leader	Chudoba (48)

Up Next:
The Warriors welcome Saint Michael's for a three-game series spanning Friday and Saturday. The series opener will be on Friday night at 6 p.m. from the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m. at Holman Stadium in Nashua, N.H.