MOUNT ST. MARY'S (8-11) at MARYLAND
Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 6 p.m.
Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium, College Park, Md.
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MOUNT UPDATE: Mount St. Mary's opened Northeast Conference play with a split of its four-game series at Central Connecticut State this past weekend. The Mount lost the first two games (6-0, 3-1) before capturing the final two games (5-2, 6-5) of the series. Nick Riley appeared in all four games of the series, picking up a pair of saves while not allowing a run in 5.2 innings of work. Brandon Scott went 7-for-16 (.438) in the CCSU series while Tommy Quealy was 4-for-12 (.333) with a pair of runs scored.
ABOUT MARYLAND: Maryland has a 19-10 record and will play George Mason on Tuesday night before hosting the Mount on Wednesday. Maryland lost two of three games over the weekend at Wake Forest, taking the final game of the series, 11-3. Blake Schmitt and Jose Cuas are each hitting a team-high .295 on the year. Cuas has a team-best three home runs while he is tied with Charlie White for the team lead with 19 RBI. On the mound, Bobby Ruse is 4-0 with a 2.56 ERA in 13 appearances while Mike Shawaryn (5-2, 2.70) and Jake Stinnett (3-4, 2.84) each have eight starts on the year.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: Maryland holds a 10-2 lead in the all-time series with the Mount. The Mountaineers are 2-6 all-time at Maryland, with the Mount recording wins in 2013 (2-1) and 2001 (9-2). Mount head coach Scott Thomson owns a 2-5 record against Maryland.
LAST YEAR'S MEETING: Andrew Clow singled home Tom Healy with the go-ahead run to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 2-1 win at Maryland last season. With the score tied at 1-1 in the top of the ninth, Healy singled with one out to start the winning rally. Nick Walker sacrificed Healy to second, and Clow then came through with a clutch single to left to plate Healy with the go-ahead run. Scott Nickerson came on in relief in the bottom of the ninth, and walked the leadoff hitter. Charlie White sacrificed the runner to second base, and Nickerson intentionally walked Hagel to put runners on first and second with one out. Chad Diehl was summoned in relief, but walked the only batter he faced to load the bases. Mount head coach Scott Thomson then turned to Buddy Fields, who got out of the bases loaded jam with a strikeout and a groundout to send the Mount to the 2-1 victory. The Mount used 11 pitchers in the game, including starter Thomas Williams and reliever Chris Del Vecchio, who each had two strikeouts in a scoreless inning of work.
BUSY IN THE BULLPEN: Senior right-hander Nick Riley has been a workhorse out of the Mount bullpen this year, appearing in 12 of the team's 19 games. Riley is 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA and two saves in 15.2 innings on the season. He has recorded 12 strikeouts while not walking a batter this year.
CLOW LEADING THE LEAGUE: Mount St. Mary's catcher Andrew Clow is tied for the Northeast Conference lead with a .369 average this season. Clow is hitting .391 over the past 12 games, and he leads the Mount with a .427 on-base percentage this year.
NEC Top Hitters
- Andrew Clow (MSM), .369
- Pete Leonello (LIU), .369
- Josh Ingham (CCSU), .361
- John Ziznewski (LIU), .359
LEADING OFF: Mount leadoff hitter Brandon Scott went 7-for-16 (.438) at CCSU over the weekend, and has raised his average to .264. The senior leads the Mount in runs scored (14), RBI (15) and stolen bases (7) this season, and he is hitting .341 over the past 12 games.
BIG WEEKEND: Mount St. Mary's swept its four-game series with NYIT on March 15-16. It was the Mount's first four-game sweep of a series since April 2009 against Fairleigh Dickinson. It was the Mount's first four-game win streak since March of 2012. The last time the Mount won five in a row was to close out the regular season in 2007.
LAMONT FLIRTS WITH NO-HITTER: Left-hander Karl Lamont flirted with a no-hitter in his last start for the Mountaineers. Lamont tossed 6.2 innings of no-hit ball before Lehigh's Tyler Brong singled up the middle to break up the no-hit bid. The Mountain Hawks then scored four times off Lamont in the eighth to rally for the 5-1 victory. Lamont is 1-2 with a 4.36 ERA in six starts this season for the Mount. He has struck out 27 batters and walked just six in 33.0 innings of work.
UP NEXT: The Mountaineers host LIU Brooklyn for a four-game NEC series this weekend. The series starts with a nine-inning game on Friday, April 11, at 3:00 p.m. at the Mount's E.T. Straw Family Stadium.
