After trying to make the 484 mile trip to Cary for the past seven seasons, the Griffin baseball team has a new destination in mind as they prepare for their eighth straight regional appearance. This season's NCAA Division II National Championships will be played in The Ball Park at Grand Prairie in Grand Prairie, TX. SHU will be looking to make the long trip to the Lone Star state. The road to Grand Prairie will begin on Thursday morning at Russell Diethrick Park in Jamestown, NY when the Griffins take on the Shepherd Rams. With a win in the first round game, the Griffins will take on the winner of West Chester and Winston Salem State on Friday at 7 pm. If the Griffins should drop their opening round contest, SHU would play an elimination game against the loser of WCU/WSSU on Friday at 11 am.
This will be the first meeting between the Rams and the Griffins this season. Seton Hill and Shepherd have met twice in an NCAA Regional and it was a memorable one each time. The Rams and Griffins played a late night contest in 2014. Because of the weather, the game started at 11:57 PM with the Griffins earning a 4-1 win in West Lawn to improve to 2-0 in the tournament. Last season, Perry Dellavalle threw a one hitter and faced one over the minimum as he shut down the Rams in a 3-0 win. Seton Hill is 5-2 in regional openers with losses to East Stroudsburg in 2011 and a 5-2 loss to Winston Salem in 2015. Overall, SHU is 12-12 in their seven year history of NCAA regional play.
Seton Hill did not meet Millersville during the season. SHU is 3-3 all time in regionals against Millersville. The Griffins were 1-0 against West Chester in the PSAC Tournament. SHU is 0-2 all time against WCU in regionals. Seton Hill dropped three of four from Mercyhurst during PSAC West play this season. The Griffins are 3-0 all time in regionals against the Lakers. Seton Hill won both contests against Shippensburg this season, once in the regular season and a 12 inning win that eliminated the Raiders from the PSAC Tourney. SHU is 1-2 vs the Raiders in regional play, all in 2013. The Griffins took two of three from Winston Salem to open the season and is 1-1 against the Rams all time in regionals.
Seton Hill is led by 14th year head coach
Marc Marizzaldi. The offense is led by three All PSAC selections in
Mark Colella,
Tom McCarthy and
Craig Lewis. Colella is hitting .301 so far on the season. He led the Griffins and is fourth in the PSAC with 55 RBI. Mark was also second on the team with 19 doubles and 8 home runs. He has scored 37 runs, added two triples and is 16-20 in stolen bases. McCarthy finished as the team's leading hitter with a .388 batting average. It is the 10th best average in the league. Tom leads the team with 71 hits, the second most in the league. He has scored 46 runs while adding 12 doubles, a triple, 7 homers and 40 RBI. McCarthy also leads the PSAC with 37 stolen bases. Lewis is the second leading hitter on the Griffin squad with a .376 average. Craig leads the team with 58 runs scored and 20 doubles. He is second in the league in runs scored and fourth in doubles. Lewis has added 2 triples, 4 homers and 33 RBI. He also leads the team with a .493 on base percentage. Craig has stolen 28 of 33 bases.
Ryan Grieco is hitting .384 in 38 appearances and 23 starts this season.
Sam Vilk (.352),
Tyler Sullivan (.329),
MP Buckley (.327) and
Adam Ferita (.316) are also hitting over three hundred on the season. Buckley also leads the team in homers with 10.
The Griffins will rely on starters
Joe Shaffer,
Perry DellaValle,
Zack Martinelli,
Tyler Morder and
Don McWreath in the tournament along with relievers
Bryce Spak,
Kenny Wells,
Josh Keefe and
Brian Dabney. Dellavalle has been great in his starts but injuries have cut the number of starts down. Martinelli leads the starters with 5 wins. Wells leads the team with 7 wins and 3 saves and is coming off a MVP performance in the PSAC Championships.
Tyler Morder is 4-1 on the season.
Shepherd enters the regional with a 32-22 record as the Mountain East Champions. The Rams went 4-1 last weekend in Beckley to earn the MEC title. The Rams are led by Ryan Pansch who earned the league's Pitcher of the Year Award. Pansch was a perfect 9-0 with a 2.55 ERA. He tossed three complete games and opponents batted just .222 against him. Pansch struck out 69 and allowed just 13 walks in 67.0 innings of work. Senior outfielder
JJ Sarty, senior first baseman
Jacob Carney, junior third baseman
Chase Hoffman, and junior
pitcher Pansch were first team selections. Sarty has a .362 batting average with a team-best 75 hits in 207 at-bats. He also leads the team in runs scored (52), stolen bases (24), doubles (17), triples (2), home runs (15). He also tops the team with a .681 slugging percentage, while his 44 runs batted in are second on the team. Carney has a .338 batting average with 68 hits in 201 at-bats. He has scored 48 runs and driven in 29. He had seven doubles and three homers on the year. Carney is 9 of 13 in stolen bases. Hoffman has a .294 batting average with 57 hits in 194 at-bats. He has a team-best 46 runs batted in and has scored 47 runs. He adds 11 doubles and 11 home runs. Hoffman has drawn a team-high 31 walks.
You can stay up to date on the tournament by following the Seton Hill baseball twitter account (@SHGriffBaseball) or the Seton Hill athletics twitter (@GriffinsSports). Live stats will be available for all games
here. Live audio of all Seton Hill games will be broadcast on the
Westmoreland Sports Network. Mercyhurst has set up an
NCAA Atlantic Regional Homepage with information about the tournament. Ticket prices for the event are: $30 for an adult tournament pass, $20 for a student/senior tournament pass, $10 for an adult daily ticket and $5 for a student/senior daily ticket.
