Baseball begins trip at Radford

BULLDOGS BEGIN EIGHT-GAME TRIP WITH SERIES AGAINST RADFORD

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Heading south for the final time this season, the Bryant University baseball team begins an eight-game southern trip Friday, March 9 against Radford University with a first pitch scheduled 4:00 p.m. at the RU Baseball Stadium.

The Bulldogs (3-6) and Highlanders (6-7) will play three games over the weekend before the Bulldogs finish their trip with a single game against Liberty on Tuesday (Mar. 13) and a four-game series with Mount St. Mary's next weekend (Mar. 16-18) to begin Northeast Conference play.

Bryant heads into Virginia to face a team that is playing its best baseball of the young season. The Highlanders have won three-straight games, including a mid-week sweep of La Salle. Radford started 1-5 but has gone 5-2 over its last seven games.

The key for the Highlanders has been a consistent offense and a strong defense. They are hitting. 292 as a team and have made just nine errors in 13 games, good enough for a .982 fielding percentage. Leading the way on offense is senior and 2011 First Team All-Big South outfielder Matt Hillsinger. He's leads the team in hitting (.400), runs (13) and RBI (12) and also stolen four bases. Jeff Kemp is the only other Highlander that hits over .300, entering the weekend at .305, but he has a team-high seven doubles and is tied with Hillsinger for the team lead in RBI.

On the mound, Radford features one of the top prospects in the Big South Conference, Eddie Butler. He's 1-0 in three starts this season, striking out 19 over 18 innings of work. Last season, he tied a school record with nine victories and finished in the top 10 in the conference in innings, strikeouts, opponents batting average and starts. Beyond Butler, the Highlanders have faced some struggles on the bump and have a 5.84 team ERA. Saturday's starter Mark Peterson is 0-1 with a 9.64 ERA in 9.1 innings and Sunday starter Tyler Costello is 1-0 with a 4.35 ERA in 10.1 innings.

For the Bulldogs, offensive and defensive inconsistency has plagued them early on. Bryant scored just 14 runs over its first seven games before exploding for 18 against George Mason last Saturday. They couldn't duplicate the feat the following day, scoring just three runs in the series finale. On the season, the Bulldogs are hitting just .207 as a team and their 18-run outburst accounts for more than half the runs they have scored this season. Defensively, Bryant has made 17 errors in its first 9 games, including six last weekend against Mason.

Junior Dan Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) and senior Jamie Skagerlind (Holden, Mass.) are the only two hitting over .300, with both sitting right on the .300 mark. Muscatello has started strong at the plate in 2012, leading the team in runs ( 7), RBI (7) and on-base percentage (.417). Skagerlind erupted last weekend, going 6-for-12 over the three-game series with two runs and two RBI. Classmate David Soltis (Plainville, Conn.) has come around of late as well, hitting safely in six-straight games heading into this weekend. He had three hits and two RBI in the series finale with Mason on Sunday.

One area where the Bulldogs have done well early in the season is on the mound. Bryant sports a 4.36 team ERA after nine games and is led by junior Peter Kelich (Jackson, N.J.). The right-hander has made three starts on the season and is 1-1 with a 1.42 ERA over 19.0 innings. In his last start he pitched a two-hitter but lost a 1-0 pitcher's duel on a solo home run in the sixth inning. Another arm that has come around for the Bulldogs is freshman Kevin McAvoy (Syracuse, N.Y.). After allowing seven runs over 2.2 innings his first start, McAvoy has allowed just two runs on eight hits over 9.1 innings of relief in his last two appearances.

Bryant will go with the same weekend rotation as last weekend, with Kelich going on Friday and sophomores Joseph Michaud (Milford, Conn.) and Craig Schlitter (Guilford, Conn.) following on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Michaud is 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA in three starts and Schlitter is 0-2 with a 4.35 ERA in 10.1 innings. He's allowed 10 runs on the season but just five of them have been earned.

Following Friday's 4:00 p.m. first pitch, the Bulldogs and Highlanders will square off at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday to finish the series.