Making their fifth straight NCAA Regional appearance, the Griffin baseball team is looking to finally take that next step and move on to Cary, NC for the Division II World Series. That trip will begin this Thursday at Owls Field in West Lawn, PA when the Griffins take on Mercyhurst at 7 PM. The Griffins earned the third seed in the tournament while the Lakers are the fourth seed. With a victory in game one, the Griffins will take on the winner of the #2 Shepherd/#5 Winston Salem State matchup on Friday at 7 PM. With a loss, the Griffins fall into an elimination game on Friday at 3:30 PM where they will take on the winner of #1 Millersville/#6 Kutztown.
Seton Hill and Mercyhurst split their season series this year. Mercyhurst won the opener at home 1-0 before falling 3-1 in game two. Seton Hill took game one at home 8-3 before falling 12-4 in game two. The only other team the Griffins played this season was Kutztown who defeated the Griffins 2-1 in 12 innings in the first round of the PSAC Tournament. Seton Hill and Millersville last met in last year's NCAA Regional with the Griffins eliminating the Marauders after a 12-2 victory on day three of the regional. The Griffins are very familiar with Shepherd as both teams were members of the WVIAC before the league dispanded after last season. SHU took two of three games from the Rams last season. Seton Hill and Winston Salem State have met once in the regional with SHU winning 3-2 in the opening round of the regional at Owls Field in 2012. Seton Hill is 3-1 in NCAA Regional openers with the only loss being a 6-5 decision to East Stroudsburg in 2011.
Head coach and PSAC West Coach of the Year,
Marc Marizzaldi leads the Griffins into the regional for the fifth straight season. He has won 372 games in his first 11 seasons at the helm of the Griffins. The Griffin offense is led by first team All PSAC West outfielder
Cody Herald. Herald is the second leading hitter on the team with a .345 average. He leads the team with 57 hits, 13 doubles and 39 runs scored. He has hit 4 homers and driven in 28.
Matt Malacane leads the Griffins with a .348 batting average.
Anthony Fanelli has had a solid sophomore season in his first as a starter. He is third in hitting at .342, splitting time between catching and designating hitting. The speed in the lineup comes from second team All PSAC west selection
Brendan Costantino and
Taylor Schmidt. Costantino has stolen 33 bases and is hitting .320 on the season with 32 RBI. Schmidt has stolen 32 bases and is hitting .325 on the season.
Chris Miller has a team leading 36 RBI and
Nick Sell leads the squad with 7 homers. The pitching staff is led by two first team All PSAC West performers.
Mike Bittel leads the Griffins with a 7-2 record and a 1.90 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .203 of Bittel and he has had 47 strikeouts in 61.1 innings. In his last outing, Mike threw 8 shutout innings against Kutztown in the PSAC Baseball Championships.
Jesse Cooper set a new single season record with 14 saves. Cooper finished the season with a 1-2 record and a 1.33 ERA.
Brad Schnelle and
Brett Sullivan each have started 10 games with Sullivan carrying a 7-3 record while Schnelle is 5-2 on the season.
Jordan Fuller has a 4-1 record with a 2.90 ERA.
Mercyhurst is making their third regional appearance under head coach Joe Spano. The Mercyhurst offense is led by two first team All PSAC West performers in catcher/DH Dan Popio and third baseman Brendan Cox. Popio led the Lakers with a .419 average. He also has a team leading 15 doubles and 41 RBI. Cox hit .389 on the season. The pitching staff is led by PSAC Pitcher of the Year Dan Altavilla. Altavilla is 9-0 on the season with a 1.10 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .160 off of him and he has struck out 118 batters in 73.1 innings. Colin McKee leads the Lakers with 5 saves.
The winner of the Atlantic Regional will meet the winner of the Central Regional on Sunday, May 25th at 1 PM at the USA Baseball Training Complex in Cary, NC. The Division II World Series runs from May 24-May 31.
