Bulldogs open College Baseball Classic on Friday

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University baseball team heads to Norwich, Conn., this weekend as three of the best teams in the Northeast come together for the first annual Dodd Stadium College Baseball Classic. The Bulldogs open play against Connecticut on Friday at 3:00 p.m.

The Bulldogs (15-8) enter the weekend with five-straight wins and victories in 12 of their last 14 games. The Huskies (13-13) and Seawolves (13-10) are both coming off mid-week victories over Yale and Sacred Heart, respectively. Bryant will face UConn and Stony Brook twice each over the course of the three-day event.

Set up as a showcase for the top teams in the region, the College Baseball Classic will do just that this weekend. All three have enjoyed immense success the last several years with the Seawolves advancing to the College World Series in 2012 and both the Bulldogs and Huskies winning at least one game last year in the NCAA tournament.

This season, the Black and Gold have been an exciting team to watch offensively. They have blended hitting for average and for power to the tune of a .306 team average and 51 doubles in just 23 games. Bryant has also shown its explosiveness on the bases, stealing 42 bases already this year. The leader of the offense is junior Carl Anderson (Sudbury, Mass.), the Bulldogs' centerfielder that can hit for average (team-high .360), power (team-high 8 doubles) and has speed to burn (team-high 12 steals). Eight of Bryant's regulars are hitting over .300 and eight of the nine members of Wednesday's starting lineup have 10-plus RBI and 10-plus runs scored. Freshman Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) emerged from a small slump with five hits against Hartford and is now hitting .315 with 17 RBI and 18 runs scored.

On the mound, starting pitching has helped the Black and Gold rebound from a 3-6 start to the year. Over the last 14 games, five different Bryant starters have combined to register 11 quality starts. Junior Kevin McAvoy (Syracuse, N.Y.) has been the most dominant of the bunch, posting back-to-back complete-game shutouts. The third-year righty blanked Albany on six hits and struck out a career-high 12. McAvoy, the team leader in strikeouts (36), will get the ball on Friday, while senior Craig Schlitter (Guilford, Conn.) will toe the rubber on Saturday. Schlitter has three-straight quality starts and has allowed three runs or less in five of his six outings this year. He's 4-1 with a 3.03 ERA and became just the fifth pitcher to record 200 strikeouts in a career last weekend against Albany. Classmate Vaughn Hayward (Glendale, R.I.) will be in search of his fifth-straight win in game one on Sunday and sophomore Kyle Wilcox (Sandy Hook, Conn.) will start the finale against Connecticut Sunday afternoon.

UConn enters the weekend hitting .271 and has posted a 2.42 ERA. Bobby Melley, the younger brother of former Bulldog soccer player Allison Melley, is hitting a team-leading .376 with eight doubles and 21 RBI. Blake Davey is off to a great start as well, hitting .345 with five doubles, four home runs, 15 RBI and 22 runs scored. Bryant will face a pair of veteran arms from the Huskies in senior lefty Anthony Marzi on Friday and redshirt junior Jordan Tabakman on Sunday. Marzi is 3-2 with a 2.27 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts (38), while Tabakman is 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA in 32 innings.

The nation's top fielding team at .989, Stony Brook is hitting .258 and has posted a 3.56 ERA. Bryant will see the Seawolves top arm on Saturday as senior Frankie Vanderka gets the ball. Vanderka is 2-3 with a 2.21 ERA in 40.2 innings and has three-career no-hitters, including his most recent one two weeks ago against Albany. Offensively, Robert Chavarria is hitting .347 with 10 RBI and 14 runs scored, while Kevin Krause is hitting .321 with three home runs, 17 RBI and four stolen bases.

Bryant and Stony Brook will play at noon on Saturday and Sunday's doubleheader begins at 12:00 p.m.