DURHAM, N.C. – The Eagles will have a chance to extend their current three-game home win streak when North Carolina Central University hosts MEAC Northern Division foe University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday, March 18 with the doubleheader at Durham Athletic Park (DAP) starting at 4 p.m. Admission is free.
Wednesday, March 18 at 4:00/7:00 PMUMES at N.C. Central
Durham, N.C. (Durham Athletic Park)
LIVE AUDIO:
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/nccu/To keep up with Wednesday's action, listen to the game broadcast at NCCUEaglePride.com or the NCCU Sports Network mobile app, or follow @NCCUAthletics on Twitter.
North Carolina Central University BaseballThe Eagles are coming off a rollercoaster week winning two dramatic mid-week contests over Gardner-Webb University and Charleston Southern University in extra innings before being held to just one total run in three weekend losses at Savannah State University.
NCCU has a 6-11 overall record but is 4-2 at home.
The Eagles boast the second best pitching staff ERA in the MEAC at 3.96 (only trailing Savannah State) and will be expected to start two of their new arms against UMES in freshman
Jonathan Figueroa and junior transfer
Cameron Scalzo. Both hurlers have a 0-0 records with matching 2.70 ERA's in 10 innings of work apiece. Junior
Andrew Vernon paces the Eagles bullpen with two wins, one save and 2.40 ERA in eight relief appearances.
NCCU is averaging 3.3 runs per game and has five regulars in its lineup batting over .250 in senior
Cory Williamson (.286), sophomore
Conrad Kovalcik (.268), senior
Ronald Thompson (.266), junior
James Dey (.265) and senior
Eric Kimber (.255).
Other category leaders for the Eagles include Thompson (8 RBI, 3 SB), senior
Troy Marrow (9 R) and junior
Kory Wood (2 HR).
NCCU head coach
Jim Koerner is 2-2 against UMES with three of those meetings coming in the MEAC Baseball Tournament. The Eagles eliminated the Hawks each of the last two seasons by scores of 10-5 and 10-4 but UMES did take the first two encounters against Coach Koerner in 2012 winning 7-1 in the regular season and 13-5 in the opening round of the MEAC Tourney.
UMES BaseballThe Hawks, who enter the week 5-10 overall, will play at Charlotte on Tuesday before heading over to Durham for Wednesday's showdown at the DAP.
UMES has the lowest batting average in the MEAC at .173 despite coming off a three-game series sweep of Coppin State University this past weekend. Junior switch-hitting shortstop Mike Escanilla, who did not play for most of February, has had a hot bat for the Hawks since rejoining the lineup batting .346 while already taking over the team lead with seven runs scored and six stolen bases.
Junior outfielder Greg Turlik has both of UMES's home runs on the season and has a team-high eight RBI while sophomore catcher Justin Dattilo provides another strong presence in the Eagles lineup batting .277 with a team-high five doubles and a .375 on-base percentage drawing eight walks.
A pair of right-hander pitchers are expected to start on the bump for against NCCU in senior Chipper Smith (1-1, 5.73 ERA, 11 IP) and freshman Scott Bean (1-0, 4.05 ERA, 6.2 ERA). Junior Devin Repine, who has nine strikeouts in six innings of work, is the Hawks closer and has two saves and a 1.50 ERA in five relief appearances.
