Bryant baseball heads to Jersey for NEC weekend series with FDU

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University baseball team heads to Teaneck, N.J., for a four-game Northeast Conference weekend series against Fairleigh Dickinson. The series kicks off at 3:00 p.m. on Friday at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.

All four games this weekend between the Bulldogs (17-5, 6-0 NEC) and Knights (13-12, 4-3) will be streamed live and free of charge on NECFrontRow.

Bryant and FDU are meeting for the seventh-straight season and the Bulldogs hold a 23-3 lead in the all-time series. The Black and Gold swept the season series last season but were upset by the Knights on the first day of the NEC Tournament. Bryant rebounded to eliminate FDU two days later but the damage was done as the Bulldogs were unable to come out of the losers bracket.

The Bulldogs enter Friday's series opener with three-straight wins are the only unbeaten team remaining in the NEC. They swept Central Connecticut before taking both games from LIU Brooklyn in a weather-shortened series last weekend. One of the top offensive teams in the NEC, the Black and Gold's pitching has been a big reason for the strong start to league play. Bryant's pitching staff has allowed one run or less in five of the first six games and owns a 1.50 ERA.

Sophomore James Karinchak (Walden, N.Y.) has been very good in his first two league starts, striking out 15 while allowing just one run in 15 innings. He tossed a career-high eight innings of shutout baseball last weekend against LIU Brooklyn. Junior Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.) has also pitched well, tossing his first-ever complete game last Saturday to defeat the Blackbirds. He is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in his first two conference starts. James Davitt (Wallingford, Conn.) and Steve Theetge (Cicero, N.Y.), who both made their first appearance in over two weeks on Wednesday due to last weekend's cancellation, will start the final two games of the series.

Offensively, Bryant is hitting .282 overall and .294 in NEC play this season. Junior Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) and senior Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) continue to be the catalysts and bring hitting streaks of 13 and 11, respectively, into this weekend. Albanese is hitting .421 with three home runs and six RBI in league play, while Rinn is 9-for-24 with four RBI and four runs scored.

Bingel, Rinn and senior Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) have all had success against the Knights in their careers. Bingel is 13-for-33 with two home runs and nine RBI at the plate and is 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA in two starts. Rinn is a career .413 hitter against the Knights after going 12-for-23 with seven doubles and eight RBI in six games last spring. McCarthy, who is trying to break out of a slump, is happy to see the Knights on the schedule as he has hit .435 (10-for-23) with five doubles, a home run and nine RBI in nine career games.

FDU, on the other hand, is off to a strong start as well, going 13-12 overall and 4-3 in league play. The Knights opened with a series victory over Mount St. Mary's before dropping two-of-three against Sacred Heart last weekend. FDU is a veteran team that features 15 upperclassmen. The Knights lead the league with 18 home runs, with John Giakas hitting four while also batting a team-high .350. Giakas and Pat McClure are both tied for the team lead with 18 RBI while Matt McCann leads the NEC with 20 stolen bases.

On the mound, the Knights feature one of the top arms in Sunday starter Logan Frati. The redshirt junior is 4-0 and leads the league in ERA (1.21) and strikeouts (45). Frati posted back-to-back shutouts earlier this season and has walked just 11 in 37 1/3 innings. Joe Flack, a junior righty who beat the Bulldogs in the NEC Tournament, will start the opener Friday. He is 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA in 22 2/3 innings. The freshmen duo of Chris Kachmar and Corey Zeller are scheduled to start Saturday's games. Kachmar is 3-1 with a 2.56 ERA, while Zeller is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA.