QU Baseball Preps for Bryant on Wednesday in Non-League Action

Wednesday, April 18

Smithfield, R.I. / Conaty Park

3:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Bryant

QU Baseball Preps for Bryant on Wednesday in Non-League Action

4/16/2018 7:05:00 PM | Baseball

By: QU Athletic Communications

Quinnipiac Bobcats (16-18, 8-1 MAAC)
at Bryant Bulldogs (18-14-1)

LOCATION
Smithfield, R.I.

DATE
Wednesday, April 18 — 3 p.m.

LIVE STATS — BryantBulldogs.com

HAMDEN, Conn. — After winning a weekend conference series to stay in first place in the MAAC, the Quinnipiac Bobcats baseball team will travel to face the Bryant Bulldogs on Wednesday in a nonconference game at 3 p.m. in Smithfield, R.I.

The Bobcats won two of three games in their home MAAC series against the Siena Saints on Friday and Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT: GAME ONE WIN
Quinnipiac split a doubleheader with Siena on Saturday, winning game one 5-2 while Siena cruised 12-4 in game two — reversing the score of Friday's game, when QU defeated Siena 12-4 in the first game of the three-game weekend series. The series had been scheduled for Saturday-Sunday but was moved a day earlier due to the weather forecast.

The Bobcats' loss on Sunday was their first in MAAC play this season, but they remain alone in first place in the league at 8-1. Manhattan (7-2) is in second.

In their game one win, the Bobcats featured great defense, timely hitting and resilient pitching. The great D was on display in the fourth inning with Siena ahead 1-0. With runners at first and second and no outs, the Bobcats turned a double play that might be as rare as the pygmy three-toed sloth.

Siena senior Jordan Bishop drove a ball over the head of Bobcats sophomore left fielder Andre Marrero, but Siena's baserunner at second got a slow jump and was thrown out at the plate by a perfect relay from Marrero to freshman shortstop Ian Ostberg to freshman catcher Colton Bender. Quinnipiac's defense didn't stop there, though — Bender caught Siena's other baserunner in no man's land between second and third. The QU catcher threw from home to junior second baseman Kevin Huscher, who threw to sophomore third baseman Evan Vulgamore, who tagged Kelly for the atypical double play.

Quinnipiac's tremendous defensive play prevented a big inning, so Siena led only 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth — and the Bobcats quickly capitalized on their defensive work.

Marrero was hit by a pitch and junior Brian Moskey singled to left field, and a double steal placed runners at second and third with no outs. Vulgamore followed with a classic at-bat: He fouled off some tough pitches with two strikes before sending a two-RBI single up the middle. Quinnipiac was ahead 2-1 after four innings and on the way to a 5-2 win.

Quinnipiac starter Brandon Shileikis, a graduate student, threw a complete (seven-inning) game to nab the win, allowing only two runs on nine hits in a textbook bend-don't-break performance. A 6-foot-1 right-hander, Shileikis (4-3) had five strikeouts and no walks.

Moskey, who leads the team with a .344 batting average, went 3-for-3 and scored two runs. Vulgamore was 1-for-3 with two RBI, and junior Liam Scafariello (team-leading 31 RBI) was 1-for-3 with the game-winning RBI plus a run scored.

LAST TIME OUT: GAME TWO LOSS
In game one Saturday, the pitchers for both teams allowed one combined walk. In game two, pitchers didn't exactly enjoy the same type of control.

Within the span of an inning, Siena and Quinnipiac pitchers combined to allow three runs on no hits, seven walks and two sacrifice flies — yes, you read that right ... three runs on no hits. It was a strange day of baseball, and after the Saints poured on the hits and runs later in the game, they emerged with a 12-4 win.

MAAC STATS UPDATE
Note: The following individual stats are for all games through this past Sunday, not just conference games. Source: MAAC website.

Hitters
Senior Ben Gibson (8 HRs) leads the MAAC in homers, while junior Liam Scafariello and sophomore Evan Vulgamore are tied for third (6 apiece). Scafariello is second in the league in RBI (31) and Gibson is fifth (28), while Vulgamore is 11th (24). In stolen bases, junior Brian is tied for the league lead (9) and sophomore Andre Marrero is tied for second (8). Moskey (.344 BA) is 10th in the league in batting and is tied for fourth in runs scored (26). Scafariello is tied for fifth in runs scored (25).

Pitchers
Senior pitcher Taylor Luciani is tied for second in the MAAC in wins (5) and Brandon Shileikis, a graduate student, is tied for third (4). Junior Tyler Poulin is second in the league in strikeouts (55) while Shileikis is fifth (45) and Luciani is tied for eighth (37). Freshman Arthur Correira is sixth in the league in ERA among pitchers with at least 25 innings (1.93).

Team
In conference games only, the first-place Bobcats are leading the MAAC in batting average (.327) and in stolen bases (18) and in homers and RBI per game. On the mound, Quinnipiac is third in ERA (2.69) and third in batting average against (.228).

Against Saint Peter's on Saturday, March 31, Quinnipiac set a new Division I program record for most runs scored in a single game (28). The team's old record of 24 runs was set against Wagner College during the 2003 season. The last time the Bobcats scored at least 20 runs in a game was in 2007, when they scored exactly 20 against LIU Brooklyn.

HOME SWEET HOME
After playing 26 straight road games over two months to start the season, Quinnipiac finally hosted a visitor at the QU Baseball Field in the weekend series against Monmouth on April 7-8. The Bobcats' three-game series sweep was the first time they swept the Hawks. The long road exodus had sent the Bobcats to such destinations as Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Long Island and New Jersey.

In the doubleheader with Monmouth on April 8, Quinnipiac was propelled to victory by the clutch hitting of junior Liam Scafariello and senior Ben Gibson, who tag-teamed for some walk-off magic. Each player had the game-winning hit in Quinnipiac's last at-bat, and the final score of each game was 4-3.

BOBCATS MOVE UP TO NO. 4 IN NEIBA POLL
Quinnipiac was ranked fourth in last week's New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association Coaches Poll.

This is the third NEIBA poll of the season. Quinnipiac was ranked fifth in the season's first poll, announced on Monday, March 26. It was the first time the Bobcats had cracked the poll since 2015 and only the second time in the last decade. In the second NEIBA poll on April 2, the Bobcats dropped from the top five but received votes.

The poll is conducted by New England college baseball coaches in Division I; the top five teams are ranked. There are also polls for Divisions II and III.

MAAC PRESEASON POLL
Quinnipiac was picked to finish eighth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Bobcats were placed between Siena and Rider. Marist was slated to finish first, garnering seven first-place votes, with Canisius, Fairfield and Niagara rounding out the top four.

HEAD COACH JOHN DELANEY
Head Coach John Delaney is in his fourth season at the helm with Quinnipiac baseball. He has amassed 82 wins in his three-plus years as head coach, including 29 wins in 2015, which tied the program record for most victories in a single season. The Bobcats went 29-27 (15-9 MAAC) overall that year, finishing third in the conference — their highest regular season conference finish since winning the regular season Northeast Conference title in 2007, when Delaney played for the team.

NEXT UP
After the Bobcats travel to Bryant for Wednesday's 3 p.m. nonconference game, they will travel to face Canisius for a three-game weekend MAAC series on Saturday (doubleheader, 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.) and Sunday (12 p.m.) in Buffalo. N.Y.

In case you're wondering, the one tie noted in Bryant's record (18-14-1) is accurate. Last week, the Bulldogs tied UConn 9-9 on Wednesday in a game that was stopped after 10 innings due to darkness.