QU Baseball Hosts Hartford Tuesday and Massachusetts Wednesday at 3 PM in Non-Conference Action

Tuesday, April 26

Hamden, CT

3:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

Hartford

QU Baseball Hosts Hartford Tuesday and Massachusetts Wednesday at 3 PM in Non-Conference Action

4/25/2016 1:51:00 PM | Baseball

By: QU Sports Information

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (16-22, 6-6 MAAC) vs.
University of Hartford Hawks (25-12, 8-7 America East)
Date: Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2016
Time: 3 PM
Location: QU Baseball Field - Hamden, Conn.
All-Time Series vs. Hartford: 8-10
Last Meeting: W, 7-5 (Apr. 14, 2016 - Hartford, Conn.)
Probable Starters: RHP Andrew Workman (0-2, 11.66 ERA) vs. RHP Justin Cashman (1-0, 5.06 ERA)

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (16-22, 6-6 MAAC) vs.
University of Massachusetts Minutemen (11-18, 4-8 A-10)
Date: Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2016
Time: 3 PM
Location: QU Baseball Field - Hamden, Conn.
All-Time Series vs. Massachusetts: 4-8
Last Meeting: W, 3-0 (Apr. 29, 2015 - Hamden, Conn.)
Probable Starters: Brandon Shileikis (2-0, 2.75 ERA) vs. TBD

Follow the Bobcats:
Live Stats (Apr. 26): QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Live Video (Apr. 26): QU All-Access
Live Stats (Apr. 27): QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Live Video (Apr. 27): QU All-Access
Twitter - @TheQBaseball

Home, Home on the Range
The Quinnipiac baseball team continues its nine-game homestand this week with a pair of mid-week contests against the Hartford Hawks and Massachusetts Minutemen. The Bobcats will host the Hawks on Tuesday, April 26 at 3 PM followed by their showdown with the Minutemen on Wednesday, April 27 at 3 PM with both games at the QU Baseball Field.

All-Time Against Hartford
Quinnipiac is 8-10 all-time against Hartford in the programs' Division I histories dating back to their first meeting in the 1998-99 season, which the Bobcats won. The two teams have split their last two season series with the road team winning each matchup, but the Bobcats took their first matchup of the season on April 14, 7-5. Matthew Batten went 2 for 4 with a home run while Matthew Oestreicher had three hits. Wyatt Hamilton won his first game of the season with two innings of scoreless relief.

Scouting the Hawks
Hartford comes into the mid-week slate with a 25-12 record and 8-7 mark in America East play. In games against common opponents to the Bobcats, Hartford is 12-1 including a three-game series sweep of North Florida to open up their season. Hartford has won four straight games, including a weekend sweep of the Maine Black Bears, after losing four consecutive games. Seven players on the team have batting averages of .297 or higher, led by Erik Ostberg at .366. David MacKinnon has a .361 batting average while leading the team with nine doubles and 52 hits. Ashton Bardzell is batting .309 with four home runs to lead the team while Ben Gengston has 14 extra base hits and 29 RBIs. Projected starting pitcher Justin Cashman will make his seventh start of the season, coming in with a 1-0 record and 5.06 ERA in 21 1/3 innings pitched.

All-Time Against UMass
Quinnipiac is 4-8 all-time against UMass since their first Division I meeting during the 1999-2000 season. The Bobcats won their last game between the two teams on April 29, 2015, 3-0, for their first win in the last five games. Charlie Murray and Robert Hitt combined for a three-hit shutout in the win, with Murray tossing six innings with three hits, one walk and four strikeouts before Hitt threw three perfect innings with three strikeouts.

Scouting the Minutemen
UMass is 11-18 this season with a 4-8 record in A-10 play. The Minutemen have played better as of late, winning four of their last five games, including a 9-5 victory over UConn on April 19. John Jennings leads UMass this season with a .348 batting average, seven home runs, 24 RBIs, 39 hits, and two triples while hits 20 runs scored are second on the team and his five doubles are second. Mike Hart and Jon Avallone are also batting above .300 for the Minutemen this season. As a team, UMass has a 4.45 ERA and opponents are batting .278 against them.

Last Time Out
Quinnipiac won its second consecutive MAAC series of the season, taking two of three from the Manhattan Jaspers. The Bobcats have won seven of their last nine games since defeating Hartford on April 14. The Bobcats scored 26 runs in the series with the Jaspers. Quinnipiac won the first game of the series, 5-3, and fell in the second game, 17-11. In the final game of the series, the Bobcats' bats stayed alive to win, 10-4.

Offense Heating Up
The Bobcats have scored 42 runs over its last five games, good for an average of 8.4 runs per game. As a team, the Bobcats are batting .302 and have pounded out 52 hits. Seven Bobcats have batting averages of .300 or higher over that span.

Home Sweet Home
Quinnipiac has enjoyed its time at the QU Baseball Field this season, posting a 5-2 record with 41 runs scored and a .284 batting average. Brian Moskey has absolutely raked at home, batting .481 with 13 hits, nine runs scored, four doubles and six RBIs to lead the team. Batten is right behind him with a .387 batting average, 12 hits, six RBIs and four stolen bases. Rob Pescitelli has scored eight runs with seven hits and has a home run with five RBIs and eight walks.

Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award Watch
Matthew Batten was named one of 54 players named to the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award Watch List this past week, an award annually given to the nations' top shortstop. Last season, Vanderbilt's Dansby Swanson won the award and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. Batten is the only player from the MAAC named to the watch list.

Zoned In
Moskey had an electric weekend for the Bobcats as he batted .727 against the Manhattan Jaspers with a team-high eight hits, six runs, one triple, six RBIs, .769 on base percentage, two walks and 1.000 slugging percentage. Moskey recorded three multiple-hit games, including two three-hit games over the weekend. Moskey extended his hitting streak to nine games and on base streak to 12 games. Moskey hit a bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning to break open the final game of the series for the Bobcats. Moskey raised his batting average to .279 with his dynamic weekend, and leads the team with 10 doubles.

Batten the Hatches
Batten was equally impressive for the Bobcats this weekend with a .462 batting average on six hits, including a double, four RBIs and two stolen bases. Batten stole second and third in one trip around the bases in the first game of the series. Batten recorded three hits each in the final two games of the series for the Bobcats to give him a team-high nine three-hit games and 16 multiple hit games. Batten leads the Bobcats with a .352 batting average and 56 hits already through 38 games.

Orange Julius
Julius Saporito has been seeing the ball well as of late, putting up a five-hit weekend for the Bobcats to bat .455 with two doubles, four runs scored and three RBIs. He was one of the top offensive weapons for the Bobcats as he posted the second highest slugging percentage at .636 for the weekend. He now has six multiple-hit games this season.

Eye of the Tiger
Lou Iannotti had a solid week for the Bobcats as he roped his first home run of the season against the Jaspers. Iannotti also drove in four RBIs for his team-leading 29^th of the season. Iannotti's home run now gives the Bobcats 10 players with a home run this season and 20 as a team. Iannotti is second on the team with a .313 batting average, nine doubles, and 45 hits.

Crushin' It
Rob Pescitelli hit his fifth home run of the season, and third of the week, to tie Ben Gibson for the most home runs on the team. Pescitelli also tallied four RBIs, four runs scored and two walks. Pescitelli is third on the team with a .309 batting average and 42 hits while his 34 runs scored, 32 walks, five home runs, 16 stolen bases, and .455 on base percentage lead the team.

Double Trouble
Joseph Burns tallied three hits for the Bobcats, including a pair of doubles, against the Jaspers this weekend, giving him eight doubles on the season, the third most on the team. Burns also drove in two RBIs for his 15^th of the season and came around to score two runs for the Bobcats.

Ace of Spades
Thomas Jankins picked up his team-leading fourth win of the season against the Jaspers as the Bobcats' ace pitched 7 2/3 innings for his eighth start this season that lasted six or more innings. Jankins allowed just three runs (two earned) on one walk and four strikeouts. Jankins has issued one or fewer walks in four starts this season. With four strikeouts, Jankins now has 55 this season to set a new single-season career-high. Chris Gloor '09 owns the Division I program record for strikeouts in a season with 81. With 156 strikeouts in his career, Jankins is 13 strikeouts away from tying Turk Wendell for the 10^th most strikeouts in program history.

Viva Las Vargas
Alex Vargas picked up his first career win as a Bobcat on Sunday afternoon after tossing five innings for the Bobcats. He did not allow a single earned run and just three hits on the day with two walks. Vargas continues to lead the team in ERA at 2.55 while his .228 opponent batting average is second on the team to fellow reliever Matthew Osieja.

Record Saves
Hitt went 3 for 3 in save opportunities for the Bobcats this week, and 2 for 2 against Manhattan, including a four-inning save on Sunday for his seventh of the season to tie Gary Binkiewicz's single-season program record. Hitt pitched 5 1/3 innings of relief, the second most inning's pitched on the team, and struck out five batters to lead the team. He allowed just one run on four hits in the weekend.

Return of the MAAC
Following the mid-week games, Quinnipiac will return to the field on Saturday, April 30 for a doubleheader with the third-place Monmouth Hawks at 12 PM followed by the final game of the weekend series on Sunday, May 1 at 12 PM.