Baseball Hosts St. John's For Mid-Week Matchup
LIVE STATS
ALBANY, N.Y.— Coming off a series-winning weekend over UMBC, the University at Albany baseball team will play St. John's in a non-conference single game on Tuesday, starting at 3 p.m. on Varsity Field.
SCOUTING UALBANY (10-18, 3-6 America East)
HEAD COACH: Jon Mueller (Eckerd College (Fla.) '92), 17th season
THE COACH: Jon Mueller enters his 17th season as head coach of the University at Albany baseball team in 2016. The Stillwater, N.Y. native has had proven success as both a player and coach throughout his career. Mueller is first among UAlbany's career leaders with 328 coaching victories, and was named the America East Coach of the Year in 2004. He also led the Danes to the program's first America East Conference tournament championship title and NCAA appearance in 2007. Mueller has produced dozens of all-conference standouts and has had six players selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft under his direction.
OVERVIEW: UAlbany won its first America East Conference series over UMBC, winning the first two games, 10-4 and 6-1 before dropping the weekend finale, 5-1. The Great Danes broke open for 12 hits in game one as starter Brendan Ryan (2-1) went a strong 7.1 innings allowing four earned runs on five hits. UAlbany put together a three and four run innings in the game to get the win in the series opener. Ryan Sinar (3-0) preformed well in his first game back in over a month, as he pitched 5.0 innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and struck out six batters. In Sunday's loss, starter Marcus Failing was given a no-decision after pitching 4.2 innings and allowed no earned runs on only two hits. Karson Canaday and Matt Hinchy led the Danes offensively this past week with .571 and .462 batting averages. Connor Powers added another home run to push his season total to four on the year. Evan Harasta and Kevin Donati both had a team high three RBI's this week, with Donati also scoring three times. Brian Paulino (1-2, 3.31 ERA) will take the mound for UAlbany against St. John's.
LAST WEEK'S TOP PERFORMERS
(Player) Matt Hinchy/RJr./1B/Miller Place, N.Y.
· Batted a .462 this week, including a perfect 3-for-3 in the Danes 6-1 win over UMBC.
· Hit in two runs and scored a run as well.
(Pitcher) Ryan Stinar/RJr./RHP/Forrest Hill, Md.
· Pitched 5.0 innings in the 6-1 win over UMBC.
· Allowed just one run on four hits and struck out six batters.
(Rookie) Dominic Savino/Fr./RHP/Smithtown, N.Y.
· Pitched 6.0 innings in two appearances this past week.
· Allowed no earned runs on a combined five hits.
SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S (16-11-1, 2-1 Big East)
HEAD COACH: Ed Blankmeyer (Seton Hall '76), 20th season
THE COACH: Ed Blankmeyer is the winningest head coach in St. John's baseball history with a 647-405-3 (.615) record. He has led teams to three BIG EAST Tournament championships, including four BIG EAST regular season titles. He has been to the NCAA eight times with St. John's as well as one Super Regional appearance. Blankmeyer has coached 80 players that have been drafted and/or signed to professional contracts, including Mo Vaughn, Craig Biggio and Matt Morris. He played one season in the Orioles farm system following his graduation from Seton Hall.
OVERVIEW: St. John's opened BIG EAST conference play, going 2-1 against Georgetown this past weekend, after losing the opener 10-3, they took the final two, 13-10 and 5-4. The Red Storm are led offensively by freshman Josh Shaw (.311 BA, 19 RBI's, 22 runs scored) and sophomore Jamie Galazin (.337 BA, 16 RBI's, 25 runs scored). As a team, St. John's is batting .284, with 13 home runs and 181 RBI's. The Red Storm has a combined team ERA of 4.89, and junior RHP Ryan McAuliffe (3-0) leads the team with a 3.86 ERA in eight starts and has 28 strikeouts. Senior RHP Thomas Hackimer (4-0) has a team low 0.32 ERA in 13 appearances and has a team high of 37 strikeouts. Freshman RHP Michael LoPresti (0-0, 5.59 ERA) will get the start for St. John's.
NEXT UP: The Great Danes will remain home when non-conference team St. Peter's visits for a weekend series. The first game of the doubleheader will begin on Saturday at noon, with the series finale beginning on noon on Sunday.
