Baseball Looks to Complete NE10 Tenure on Top in Championship Saturday Battle with Franklin Pierce

Matchup	Merrimack (28-18) vs. Franklin Pierce (26-22)
Dates//Times	Saturday, May 11, 2019 // 12 p.m.
Venue	Onondaga Community College // Syracuse, N.Y.
Gameday Links	Live Stats // Watch // Twitter // Instagram

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Winning its first three contests of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship by a combined score of 19-8, the Merrimack College baseball program enters Saturday's NE10 Championship needing one win to complete its title defense as the third-seeded Warriors meet fourth-seeded Franklin Pierce in a 12 p.m. at Onondaga Community College.

Merrimack claimed wins at Bentley (6-5), against Southern Connecticut (8-1) and at Le Moyne (5-2) to reach Saturday's final unblemished. With yesterday's win against the host Dolphins, Merrimack moved within one victory of winning back-to-back league tournaments for the second time in school history and first time in more than two decades (1995, 1996). The program will also make a bid tomorrow to become the first defending champion to repeat since Franklin Pierce won three straight league tournaments from 2007-09. With one win Saturday, the Warriors will claim their fifth league championship in school history.

The victor of Saturday's championship with claim the NE10's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division II Baseball East Regional, which will begin next week with a pair of regional pods. The Warriors have been regionally ranked throughout the spring, landing in the No. 8 spot in the most recent poll conducted by the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee. The full East Regional (eight teams) will be announced tomorrow night at 10 p.m.

2019 NE10 Championship Schedule
Tuesday, May 7th – First Round (single elimination)
Game 1:  #4 SW Southern Connecticut def. #1 SW Adelphi, 9-6
Game 2:  #3 SW Le Moyne def. #2 SW Pace, 2-1
Game 3:  #4 NE Franklin Pierce def. #1 NE SNHU, 3-2
Game 4:  #3 NE Merrimack def. #2 NE Bentley, 6-5
Thursday, May 9^th – Championship Weekend (double elimination)
All Games to be played at Onondaga Community College's Baseball Complex 
Game 5:  #3 NE Merrimack def. #4 SW Southern Connecticut, 8-1
Game 6:  #3 SW Le Moyne def. #4 NE Franklin Pierce, 16-2
Game 7:  #4 SW Southern Connecticut vs. #4 NE Franklin Pierce, 9-5
Friday, May 10^th
All Games to be played at Onondaga Community College's Baseball Complex 
Game 8:  #3 NE Merrimack def. #3 SW Le Moyne, 5-2
Game 9:  . #4 NE Franklin Pierce def. #3 SW Le Moyne, 12-1

Saturday, May 11^th
All Games to be played at Onondaga Community College's Baseball Complex 
Game 10:  #4 NE Franklin Pierce vs. #3 NE Merrimack, 12 p.m.
Game 11:  If necessary

Five Things to Know:

• Merrimack's three tournament wins to date have featured deep starts by each of its starting pitchers. On Tuesday, senior Cam Monagle pitched into the ninth inning against Bentley for his fourth win of the season against the Falcons. On Thursday, sophomore Vin Zappulla struck out a career-best 10 Owls to beat SCSU, and to top in all off, classmate Timmy Kalantzakos threw 6.1 hitless innings en route to a complete-game triumph to top the Dolphins. The team has only need two innings out of its bullpen over its last three games
• Offensively, Merrimack is hitting .309 in the NE10 Championship. The Warriors have used the same starting nine in each contest, with six of the nine hitting at least .300 or better. Freshman Kurtis Stadnicki and junior Nick Shumski are tied for the team lead in hitting in the tournament (.417) while senior Matthew Ronai is hitting an even .400, as well. Junior Joey Porricelli leads the team in OPS (1.126), homers (2), runs scored (4) and RBI (6) over the tournament
• It has been an award-filled week for the team, in addition to the on-field notoriety. Porricelli was crowned NE10 Co-Player of the Year, recognizing the tremendous season by the third baseman. He also was an all-conference first-team selection, and was joined on the top team by Monagle. Shumski earned all-league second-team honors at shortstop, while Kalantzakos was a first-time all-conference selection on the second team too. Ronai rounded out the all-league picks on the third team, while Stadnicki and classmate Michael Golankiewicz were all-rookie squad picks
• On Friday, a quartet of Warriors were recognized for their work in the classroom. Junior Thomas Joyce, Kalantzakos, Monagle and Ronai were deemed Google Cloud Academic All-District selections by the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA). All four Warriors were significant contributors on the diamond, while qualifying for consideration by having at least a 3.30 GPA in the classroom. For Joyce, it marked his second straight selection while Ronai completed his career with three all-district nods
• The Warriors are within striking difference of a few tournament marks in their final year as NE10 members. Merrimack's 33 conference tournament victories are the second to only Franklin Pierce for the most among current NE10 members. The team recorded its ninth finals appearance as well, one shy of tying the NE10 high. The Warriors will now have a chance of joining the 1990, 1995, 1996 and 2018 squads as NE10 Champions; a fifth league championship would tie the NE10 record, as well

Scouting Report:
NE10 Rank in ()

Team Links	Schedule Roster Statistics
Batting Average	.256 (10th)
Runs Scored	269 (6th)
Home Runs	27 (2nd)
Team ERA	4.16 (5th)
Fielding Percentage	.960 (9th)

Up Next:
If the Warriors lose in Saturday's first game, a winner-take-all contest will commence at approximately 3 p.m. back at O.C.C. If the Warriors prevail, Merrimack will win its fifth ever conference tournament, claim back-to-back titles for the first time in 23 years and become the first NE10 program to repeat as champions since the Ravens won a three-peat from 2007-09.