Baseball Preps for AIC Doubleheader Sunday; Contests Moved to Bedard Field in Springfield

Matchup	Merrimack (12-11) at American International (11-10)
Dates//Times	Sunday, April 7, 12 p.m. | 3 p.m.
Venue	Bedard Field | Springfield, Mass.
Gameday Links	Live Stats // Twitter // Instagram

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College baseball program shifts its attention back to Northeast-10 Conference play on Sunday afternoon when the Warriors face American International for a NE10 doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. The contests will be played at Bedard Field in Springfield, Mass. after originally being scheduled to be hosted at Saint John's Preparatory School. Due to the contests originally being the Warriors' home games, Merrimack will still bat second in both tilts despite the contests being played on AIC's campus.

Five Things to Know:

• The Warriors' most recent contest saw Merrimack fall in non-conference play at Assumption, 12-0, on Friday afternoon. AIC most recently played the Greyhounds as well, dropping a 14-12 non-league decision. The Yellow Jackets will play two against Assumption on Saturday before taking on Merrimack on Sunday.
• For the Warriors, the week began with award recognition for a pair of Warriors: junior Thomas Joyce was named NE10 Player of the Week as well as National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Region POTW, and senior Cam Monagle earned both NE10 and NCBWA East Region Pitcher of the Week. Joyce led Merrimack in OPS, slugging and RBI from the cleanup spot last week, driving in seven including an inside-the-park homer against Stonehill on Sunday. Monagle tossed a complete game shutout against Bentley, needing only 86 pitches to do to throw the first Merrimack complete game of the season
• Junior Joey Porricelli leads the team across the board offensively, including 32 hits, four homers and 21 RBI. His 57 total bases lead the NE10, while his 13 extra-base hits pace Merrimack and rank second in the conference. The third baseman's four triples also lead the conference, while his four homers and 21 RBI are among the top eight in the league. Porricelli's 14 stolen bases also lead Merrimack and are good for a tie for third in the NE10
• Individually, seven pitchers for Merrimack have accounted for over 80 percent of the team's innings thrown this season. The sophomore starting tandem of Vin Zappulla and Timmy Kalantzakos led the group, tossing 39.0 and 37.0 frames, respectively. Monagle ranks third with 33.0 innings followed by freshman Sean Thompson with 24.0. The quartet have started 22 of 24 games for Merrimack this season. The trio of senior Riley Sorenson, junior Dylan Stevens and sophomore Jake Thibault have emerged as the team's top bullpen arms, with Sorenson serving as the closer (team-leading three saves)
• As a team, Merrimack ranks seventh in the NE10 in batting average (.254), tied for ninth in runs scored (119) and fifth in steals (42). On the mound, the Warriors' 4.72 earned-run average ranks sixth in the league. The Warriors have been impressive in the field, sitting among the top three in the NE10 with a .969 fielding percentage. The Warriors lead the NE10 with 18 runners caught stealing, led by freshman Kurtis Stadnicki who has gunned down 12 would-be base stealers

Scouting the Opposition:

Merrimack (12-12)	Stat Category	AIC (11-10)
.254	Batting Average	.233
.341	On-Base Percentage	.346
.348	Slugging Percentage	.315
4.76	Team ERA	5.17
162	Team Strikeouts	131
42	Total Stolen Bases	56
.969	Team Fielding Percentage	.948
Joey Porricelli (.314)	Batting Average Leader	Josh Aviles (.313)
Porricelli (4)	Home Runs Leader	Two Tied (2)
Porricelli (21)	RBI Leader	Andrew Ciacciarelli (18)
Cam Monagle (1.64)	ERA Leader (Individual)	Nick Kennedy (2.37)
Vin Zappulla (26)	Strikeouts Leader	Joe Kemlage (31)

Up Next:
Merrimack will be off until Wednesday when they face Bentley University at DeFelice Field in Waltham, Mass. for the second of the three-game divisional series between the Warriors and Falcons. The Warriors will serve as the "home" team and bat second in Saturday's game against the Falcons.