ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – March continues to be a busy month for Triton athletics with seven teams competing. Men's basketball continues postseason play in the Sweet 16. Baseball, softball, tennis, and beach volleyball will all be at home during the week while women's golf and sailing are also competing.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Monday/Tuesday: Eagle Invitational | LPGA International | Daytona Beach, Fla.
- Coming off its best performance of the season last weekend at the Peggy Kirk Invitational, Eckerd looks to continue its strong play at the Eagle Invitational in Daytona Beach Monday and Tuesday.
BASEBALL
Monday: Southern New Hampshire | 6:00 PM | Turley Athletic Complex | Live Stats | Live Video
Friday: at No. 3 Florida Southern | 6:00 PM | Henley Field | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday: at No. 3 Florida Southern | 1:00 PM (DH) | Henley Field | Live Stats | Live Video
- Eckerd (9-10, 3-6 SSC) is coming off a 2-2 week with a win over Cedarville and Lynn and will host Southern New Hampshire on Monday before traveling to Florida Southern for a three-game series Friday and Saturday.
- Eckerd displayed plenty of long-ball power this weekend with five Tritons each hitting a homerun in the series with Lynn. Shane LeMaster, Jamaal Chaney, Garrett Hiott, Mitch Calandra, and Keith Leavitt, Jr. all sent a ball over the fence at the Turley Athletic Complex. LeMaster led the Tritons' run production with six RBIs last week while Hiott, Leavitt, Jr., and Calandra combined for a .449 average and 11 RBIs. Calandra led the way with a 9-for-18 performance.
- Dillon McCollough, Robin Allen, and Nick Alonzo lead the weekend rotation. Alonzo leads the three with a 2.97 ERA over 30 innings while holding opponents to a .192 batting average while McCollough leads the team with 38 strikeouts
- Southern New Hampshire (9-3) coming off a loss to New Haven yesterday. Four Penmen are hitting over .300 including a familiar face to Eckerd baseball, Tom Buonopane, while Ryan Sullivan leads the team with 15 RBIs. Mitchell Powers leads the team with 20 strikeouts over 14 innings pitched.
- Florida Southern (17-2-1, 2-1 SSC) is coming off a 1-1-1 week beating and tying Mount Olive and will play Flagler before hosting Eckerd. Six Mocs are hitting over .300 while Logan Browning leads the team with a .429 batting average and Jacob Teter has 26 RBIs. Browning also leads the team on the hill with a 2.55 ERA and 43 punchouts.
- Last month Eckerd and FSC met in a non-conference matchup with the Mocs winning 14-2. Eckerd trailed 3-2 after six innings but the FSC offense exploded over the final three innings.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Tuesday: vs Stetson | 4:00 PM | University of Tampa Beach Volleyball Complex
Tuesday: at Tampa | 6:00 PM | University of Tampa Beach Volleyball Complex
Wednesday: vs Florida Gulf Coast | 3:00 PM | Northshore Courts
- Eckerd (5-4) is coming off a 1-1 weekend with a win over Texas A&M-Kingsville and will travel to Tampa on Tuesday for a tri-match with Stevenson and Tampa. Eckerd will also play Wednesday hosting Florida Gulf Coast in downtown St. Pete. The tandem of Kaitlyn Sibson and Paula Hoffmann have led Eckerd in the No. 1 spot with an 8-1 record. The duo put together a 13-set win streak but it was snapped on Saturday.
TENNIS
Men's
Tuesday: vs Saint Thomas Aquinas | 2:00 PM | Bullard Courts
Thursday: vs Daemen (N.Y.) | 3:00 PM | Bullard Courts
Friday: vs Post | 3:00 PM | Bullard Courts
Women's
Tuesday: vs Saint Thomas Aquinas | 2:00 PM | Bullard Courts
Sunday: vs Nova Southeastern | 11:00 AM | Bullard Courts
- Eckerd has another busy week full of home action as they host three teams that are playing in Florida over their spring breaks. Both the men and women will host Saint Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday while the men also host Daemen and Post on Thursday and Friday while the women continue conference action with Nova Southeastern on Sunday. The Tritons are coming off strong play on Saturday with both the men and women beating West Chester (PA.) on senior day.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Tuesday: vs Barry | 7:00 PM | Atlanta, GA | Live Stats | Live Video
- Eckerd (26-6) is heading to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta where the Tritons will play Barry on Tuesday. Eckerd defeated Valdosta State (Ga.) in the opening round of the NCAA South Regional on Saturday before beating Florida Southern in the round of 32 last night. This is Eckerd's first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2007.
- In the South Regional Tournament Drushaun McLaurn, Trevon Young, and Marco Behori are leading the team. McLaurn is averaging 32 points over the two games including a career-high 37-point performance last night. Young is averaging 16.5 points over the two contests while Behori is averaging 12.5 points in the tournament. The trio also has a combined 12 steals in the tournament.
- Following a dominant game on the boards against Florida Sothern, Eckerd now ranks fourth in the country in rebound margin with a plus-9.7 average. The trio of Young, McLaurn, and Behori lead the team with 9.5, 7.1, and 5.9 rebounds per game respectively. Both McLaurn and Behori posted double digits in the tournament in rebounds.
- Barry (22-8) is coming off wins over West Florida and Claflin (S.C.) in the South Region tournament to get to the Sweet 16. Four Buccaneers are averaging double-digits with Elvar Fridriksson leading the team with 19.5 points per game while Sunday Dech leads the team on the boards averaging 7.0 rebounds per game.
- The two teams are meeting for the fourth time this season. Eckerd won in the latest matchup, 96-71, to win the SSC Tournament Championship. Eckerd used an early 23-0 run to open up the game while continuing to add to the lead throughout the game. Barry won the two regular season games by scores of 75-73 and 93-89.
SOFTBALL
Wednesday: at Flagler | 5:00 PM (DH) | Flagler Field | Live Stats | Live Video
Friday: vs No. 10 Saint Leo | 7:00 PM | Turley Athletic Complex | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday: vs No. 10 Saint Leo | 1:00 PM (DH) | Turley Athletic Complex | Live Stats | Live Video
- Eckerd (10-14, 1-8 SSC) enters the week off a 3-3 record last week with wins over Southwest Minnesota State and Lander. The Tritons will travel for a doubleheader at Flagler on Wednesday and return home for a three-game series with Saint Leo on Friday and Saturday.
- The Tritons have five players hitting over .300: Crystal Garcia (.355), Nikole Van Gennep (.355), Kaleigh Floyd (.354), Chelsea Armstrong (.309), and Dana Paul (.304). The five combined for a .365 batting average over the six games last week with Floyd leading the team with an 8-for-16 performance and Armstrong with four RBIs. Garcia has also recorded a hit in 13 of the last 15 games.
- Van Gennep also leads the team in the circle with a 2.27 ERA and 54 strikeouts over 86 innings. Over the six games last week, Van Gennep threw 19 innings allowing just five runs and 12 hits. Grace Willeck threw a combined six innings last week allowing just one run (unearned) to lower her ERA to 1.91.
- Flagler (13-14) is entering off a 3-3 week also. The Saints have three hitting over .300 led by twins Natalie and Morgan Murphy with Natalie hitting .386 and Morgan hitting six homeruns. Katlyn McCue leads the team in the circle with a 3.63 ERA over 102 innings.
- Saint Leo (20-7, 6-6 SSC) enters the week off a series win over Nova Southeastern and will play Caldwell before coming to St. Petersburg. The Lions have two players hitting over .400: Kacie Kelly (.414) and Ashley Morris (.402) who also have 16 and 18 RBIs respectively. Alison Mitts and Auria Mounts split time on the rubber while Mitts has a 1.67 ERA and 73 strikeouts.
SAILING
Women's
Saturday/Sunday: Saint Mary's Women's | St. Mary's, MD
Coed
Saturday/Sunday: South Points #4 | Gainesville, Fla.
- The Tritons finished another strong weekend of three Regattas with a second place finish at the South Points #3. Eckerd looks to continue the strong performance sailing in two regattas this weekend with the women's team traveling to Saint Mary's and the coed team traveling to Gainesville.
