ST. PETERSBURG, Fla- The Eckerd baseball team continues its 11-game home stand hosting NAIA No 12. St. Thomas (Fla.) University on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Game 14-15: St. Thomas University (11-5) at Eckerd College (3-10, 0-3 SSC)
Tuesday 6 PM | Wednesday 4 PM
Coverage:
Stats |
Video
LAST TIME OUT
- Eckerd dropped this weekend's series to No. 1 Nova Southeastern in the first conference series of the season by scores of 9-3, 14-4, and 8-2. Friday night's game started with the hopes of an upset as the Tritons led the defending national champions, 3-0, through four innings. In the first inning,
Mitch Calandra and
Garrett Hiott drew bases-loaded walks to bring in the first two runs.
Chase Achuff then drove in
Nick Conti on a sacrifice fly. Eckerd was unable to produce another run as NSU then tallied nine runs for the win. Calandra went 5-for-10 in the series with a double in the finale.
Jamaal Chaney smashed his first collegiate home run in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION
- Five of the Tritons' starters are hitting above .300. Conti (.396) and
Sam Cochrane (.393) lead the offense for Eckerd. Conti and Cochrane both began the season with 10-game hitting streaks. Conti's streak was snapped Friday but he has reached base safely in all 13 games this season while driving in nine runs. Conti is also perfect 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts. Cochrane extended his hitting streak to 13 games over the weekend. Cochrane has five doubles and two triples while driving in seven runs and swiping four bags this season.
- Behind Conti and Cochrane, Calandra (.348),
Tom Buonopane (.327), and Achuff (.308) are also hitting above .300. Calandra also has a nine-game hit streak alive with five multi-hit games. Buonopane extended his hit streak to seven games with a hit in each game this weekend.
ON THE HILL
- Starting pitchers Dillon McCullough (0-2) and
Alex Moore (0-2) both took losses this weekend but had strong outings. McCullough and Moore both had seven strikeouts in just 4.2 and 5.2 innings respectively. McCullough brought his season total to 32 strikeouts, second in the conference.
ABOUT ST.THOMAS
- The Bobcats come into tonight's game at 11-5 with four of their five losses coming against nationally ranked opponents in close games. Yesterday, the Bobcats traveled to take on Ave Maria University and racked up 15 hits in a 13-4 win.
- Michael Centeno leads the production for St. Thomas, hitting .396 while driving in 15 runs and smashing five home runs. Four other Bobcats are hitting above .300 as well: Jack Diaz (.385), Orlando Rivera (.381), James Spatafora (.345), and Randy Oliva (.328). Rivera and Oliva provide power for the Bobcats with four and six doubles respectively.
- Starting pitchers Erne Valdes, Kenney Roder, and Orlando Rodriguez lead the Bobcats on the mound. In four starts and 21.1 innings of work, Valdes (4-0) has a 2.11 ERA while striking out 35. Roder (2-1) and Rodriguez (2-1) have 25 and 24 punchouts respectively. Reliever Dennis Andrew has not allowed an earned run in 14 innings of work while striking out 13.
LAST TIME THEY MET
- The teams last played each other April 3, 2016, with St. Thomas coming away with a 5-3 win in St. Petersburg.
