Mount St. Mary's (11-13, 5-7 NEC) at Central Connecticut State (9-11-1, 6-6 NEC)
CCSU Baseball Field, New Britain, Conn.
Friday, April 8, 2011, 3 pm
Saturday, April 9, 2011, 1 pm (DH)
Sunday, April 10, 2011, 1 pm

MOUNT UPDATE: Mount St. Mary's won three of four games last weekend against Fairleigh Dickinson to improve to 11-13 overall and 5-7 in the Northeast Conference. The Mountaineers walloped FDU, 18-1, in the opener before splitting the Saturday twinbill, losing 5-4 in nine innings and winning 6-2 in the second game. The Mount concluded the four-game set with an 11-2 victory on Sunday. Tommy Flynn hit .500 (8-for-16) in the series with four doubles. Kyle Kane (.500, six RBI) and Andrew Caron (.462, seven RBI) also swung hot bats in the FDU series. On the mound, Max Brittenham tossed his third consecutive complete game, losing his shutout bid on a two-out solo homer in the top of the ninth, in the Mount's 18-1 win over FDU.

ABOUT THE BLUE DEVILS: Central Connecticut State is 10-11-1 overall and 6-6 in the Northeast Conference heading into this weekend's four-game series. The Blue Devils defeated Iona, 7-5, on Wednesday at home. Mitch Wells leads the CCSU offense, hitting .365 with a team-best 23 RBI. Jake Matuszak is hitting .342 with 16 runs scored. On the mound, Todd Savitsky is the top starter with a 3-1 record and 2.16 ERA in 25.0 innings of work. Nick Nuemann is 1-1 with a 2.32 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 31.0 innings. The Blue Devils are the defending NEC champions and were selected to win the title again this year in the Preseason Coaches Poll.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES vs. CCSU...Central Connecticut State holds a 21-19 lead in the all-time series that began in 1998. Last year, the teams split a four-game series at Straw Family Stadium in Emmitsburg. The Mount won the opening game, 12-6, and earned a 14-13 victory in 10 innings in the final game of the set. The Blue Devils swept the Saturday doubleheader, winning 8-4 and 27-7. The Mount is 15-8 against Central Connecticut State since the 2005 season. The Mountaineers have won the past three road series (2005, 2007 and 2009) against the Blue Devils, posting an 8-3 record in those games.

LAST YEAR'S SERIES WITH THE BLUE DEVILS: The teams split a four-game series last year at Straw Family Stadium on campus. The Mount took the opener, 12-6, as the 3-4-5 hitters (Andrew Caron, Kyle Kane and Shane Eyler) combined to go 6-for-13 with two home runs, seven RBI and seven runs scored in the game. The Blue Devils answered by sweeping the Saturday doubleheader, winning 8-4 and 27-7. Sean Allaire went 6-for-7 with four home runs, six runs scored and 10 RBI in the two victories. The Blue Devils hit three grand slams in the twinbill. The Mount captured the final game, 14-13, in 10 innings to earn the split. A seven-run sixth lifted the Mount to a 13-8 lead, but the Blue Devils scored five times in the final three innings to force the extra frame. Mike Matta's RBI single in the bottom of the 10^th drove home the winning run. Eyler was 5-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored in the game that featured 27 runs and 44 hits.

CAREER NUMBERS vs. the BLUE DEVILS: Senior Kyle Kane is hitting .447 (21-for-47) with six doubles, 11 runs scored and six RBI in 13 career games against CCSU...Shane Eyler is hitting .426 (20-for-47) with six doubles, three home runs, 15 RBI's and 14 runs scored in 12 career games vs. CCSU.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NAVY GAME?: The Mount's game against Navy on March 30^th was called in the top of the eighth inning due to the weather. The game will be picked up with the score tied at 5-5 with a runner on second and no outs in the top half of the inning. The stats from the Navy game will not count until it is completed. The make-up date has yet to be determined.

LEAGUE LEADERS: The Mount has several players listed among the league leaders in the Northeast Conference. Zach Helman is second in the circuit in batting average (.403) while leading the conference in slugging percentage (.583)...Tommy Flynn in third in hitting (.381), tied for first in runs scored (23), tied for third in doubles (8), tied for second in triples (2), first in stolen bases (11), fifth in on-base percentage (.459) and third in slugging percentage (.560)...Andrew Caron is ninth in average (.363), tied for first in RBIs (23), second in on-base percentage (.475) and seventh in slugging percentage (.525)...On the mound, Max Brittenham is eighth in ERA (2.36), first in innings pitched (42.0), tied for fifth in strikeouts (23) and first in complete games (3).

TRENDING UP: Andrew Caron is riding a seven-game hit streak...Caron is 13-for-24 (.524) during the streak with nine RBI, a .792 slugging percentage and a .633 on-base percentage...Kyle Kane (9-for-18) and Tommy Flynn (10-for-20) are each hitting .500 over the past five games...Max Brittenham has tossed three consecutive complete games, going 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA in 25.0 innings of work over that span...Zach Helman is hitting .480 (24-for-50) over the past 15 games with two home runs and 16 RBI over that span.

FLYNN ON THE BASEPATHS: Leadoff hitter Tommy Flynn leads the Mount and the Northeast Conference with 11 steals this week. Flynn, who is fourth all-time at the Mount with 32 career steals, is seven steals shy of matching the school's single-season record of 18 set by Matt Rueckert in both 1991 and 1992. Wayne Crowley (1997-00) holds the career record with 39 steals.

CAREER NUMBERS: Mark Quaranta is currently eighth all-time at the Mount with a career .328 batting average....Kyle Kane (12^th, .321) and Andrew Caron (13^th, .321) are also in the top 15 in batting average...Caron is 7^th all-time with a .528 career slugging percentage and third with a .430 career on-base percentage...Shane Eyler is tied for fifth with 109 career runs scored while Kane is tied for eighth with 98 runs...Eyler is fourth on the all-time hit list with 186 with Kane right behind in fifth with 174...Eyler is fourth all-time in both home runs (23) and RBI (105) and is third with 284 total bases...Tommy Flynn has moved into fourth with 32 career stolen bases...Max Brittenham is fourth with 221.1 career innings pitched and fifth with 154 strikeouts.

HELMAN NAMED NEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zach Helman was named the Northeast Conference's Player of the Week on March 21. Helman hit .632 in helping the Mount to a 4-2 record last week. The senior third baseman was 8-for-12 (.667) at the plate in the Mount's four-game series at Wagner. He was 4-for-4 in the Mount's 11-4 win in the third game against the Seahawks. Helman was 4-for-7 in the Mount's doubleheader sweep of UMES earlier in the week.

PRESEASON PICKS: The Mount was tabbed to finish in sixth place in the annual Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. Central Connecticut State was picked to finish first, followed by Monmouth, Bryant, Wagner, Sacred Heart and the Mount.

UP NEXT: Mount St. Mary's plays at Penn State on Tuesday, April 12 before hosting Maryland-Eastern Shore for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 13. The Mount heads to Bryant next weekend (April 15-17) for a four-game series.