Bulldogs welcome Wagner to wrap up regular season

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After claiming its third-straight Northeast Conference Regular-Season title last weekend, the Bryant University baseball team will look to secure its second-straight 40-win season as it welcomes Wagner to Conaty Park to wrap up the regular season.

The Bulldogs (37-12, 17-3 NEC) and the Seahawks (17-31, 9-11) enter the weekend in very different places. Bryant has already secured the top seed in next week's NEC tournament in Norwich, Conn., while Wagner is currently two games out of the playoff picture and desperately needs some victories.

If the all-time series between the two teams is any indication, this weekend will sure to be tight. Bryant holds a 13-3 lead in the series but all 16 games have been decided by four runs or less. Furthermore, eight of the 16 have been decided by a single run.

The pitching staff's of both teams also point to this being a low-scoring series as the Bulldogs and Seahawks feature two of the top team ERAs in the league. Bryant's 3.18 ERA is second, while Wagner sits in fourth at 4.48. The Bulldogs' quartet of Kevin McAvoy (Syracuse, N.Y.), Craig Schlitter (Guilford, Conn.), Kyle Wilcox (Sandy Hook, Conn.) and Vaughn Hayward (Glendale, R.I.) combined to allow just four runs (two earned) over 24.1 innings last weekend at Fairleigh Dickinson.

Wagner will counter with its own 1-2 punch of Ryan Casey and Matt Morris. The two seniors have dominated the NEC this season as Casey is 4-0 with a 0.91 ERA and Morris is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA. Freshman right-handers Nolan Long (2-3, 3.38) and Danny Marsh (4-3, 4.50) will start the final two games and have had strong rookie campaigns.

Speaking of rookies, this weekend will feature two of the top freshmen in the conference in Bryant's Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) and Wagner's Nick Mascelli. Albanese leads all rookies with a .346 average, 64 hits, 15 doubles, four triples, two home runs, 35 RBI and 47 runs scored. Mascelli is hitting .311 with 57 hits, 13 RBI and 24 runs scored as one of only four Seahawks to play all 48 games.

Bryant brings the league's top offense into the weekend with eight regulars hitting over .300. Sophomore Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) is hitting a team-high .360 with 12 doubles, junior Carl Anderson (Sudbury, Mass.) leads the team with six home runs, 38 RBI and 27 stolen bases and sophomore AJ Zarozny (Shrewsbury, Mass.) is hitting .413 with three doubles and three home runs since his return from injury.

The weekend series was scheduled to begin with a single game on Thursday but due to an unsavory weather forecast for the weekend, the two teams will play a doubleheader. The first game will be nine innings and the second game will be a seven-inning contest. Friday is still scheduled to be one game and the series will finish on Saturday with a single game.