Bulldogs head to Staten Island for four-game set with Wagner

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University baseball team returns to Northeast Conference play this weekend as it heads to Staten Island, N.Y., for a four-game series against Wagner College. The series begins on Friday with a first pitch scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

LINKS

Friday – Live Stats

Saturday – Live Stats Gm 1 | Live Stats Gm 2

Sunday – Live Stats

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Friday – Chris Wright (0-3, 11.93) vs. Austin Goeke (1-1, 2.23)

Saturday – James Karinchak (1-1, 2.89) vs. Danny Marsh (3-0, 0.28)

Saturday – Steve Theetge (2-5, 6.23) vs. Chris Mormile (1-2, 2.16)

Sunday – Ross Weiner (1-0, 3.33) vs. Neil Abbatiello (0-2, 12.71)

Wright (Cumberland, R.I.) becomes the first freshman to start on Friday since Kevin McAvoy on Mar. 16, 2012 at Mount St. Mary's. He's struck out 13 in his last 8 2/3 innings and has an 11.30 K/9 rate. The Bulldogs will then rattle off their normal rotation of Karinchak (Walden, N.Y.), Theetge (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Weiner (Woodbridge, Conn.) for the final three games of the series. Karinchak will be starting for the third-straight weekend after missing two starts earlier in the year. He is 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA in three starts against the Seahawks.

Wagner's top three starters are also 1-2-3 in the NEC in ERA this year. Goeke leads the NEC with 41 strikeouts and held the Bulldogs to three runs on six hits in six innings last year. Marsh has faced the Bulldogs once in his career, limiting them to three runs on five hits over four innings as a freshman in 2014.

SERIES HISTORY

Bryant and Wagner have met 30 times since the start of the 2009 season, and the Bulldogs hold a commanding 23-7 lead in the series. The Black and Gold swept the Seahawks in Smithfield last season, but the teams split their regular season meetings in 2014 and 2015. It's always been tight between the two teams as 26 of the 30 games have been decided by four runs or less.

NOTES AND NOTABLES FOR WAGNER

The Bulldogs enter their second weekend of conference play on a four-game winning streak thanks to Wednesday's 3-2 victory over Rhode Island. It is their longest winning streak of the season.

Bryant was 0-5 in one-run games before Wednesday's win over the Rams. The Bulldogs are now 39-40 all-time under head coach Steve Owens in one-run games.

Freshman Gaby Cruz (Miami, Fla.) posted his first-career multi-hit game and hit his first-career home run on Wednesday against the Rams. He started the year 2-for-32 but is 6-for-16 over his last five games.

Sophomore Nick Angelini (Bedford, N.H.) extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 2-for-4 performance on Wednesday. He hit his first home run since the opening weekend of the season and now leads the Bulldogs with 12 extra-base hits this year.

Classmate Nathan Wrighter (Windsor, N.Y.) has appeared in each of the last six games the Bulldogs have played, the first time that a pitcher has done that in DI program history. He has thrown 16 pitches or less in five of those six appearances.

Junior Logan Lessard (Cromwell, Conn.) picked up his third save on Wednesday. He is now 9-for-9 in save opportunities during his career.

SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS

Wagner enters the weekend with a 5-14 overall record and a 1-2 mark in the NEC. The Seahawks are hitting .256 and average 4.7 runs per game on offense, and have posted a 5.36 team ERA. Phil Capra leads the team with a .329 average, while Kyle Cala is hitting .324 with three home runs, 12 RBI and 14 runs scored.

The Seahawks opened NEC play two weeks ago with a three-game series against Fairleigh Dickinson. Wagner lost game one 7-5 in 12 innings and was edged in game two, 4-2. The Seahawks won game three, 3-0.