QU Baseball Hits Road Friday to Protect First-Place Standing in MAAC vs. Second-Place Marist

Friday, May 11

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. / McCann Baseball Field

3:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

Marist

QU Baseball Hits Road Friday to Protect First-Place Standing in MAAC vs. Second-Place Marist

5/10/2018 1:35:00 PM | Baseball

By: QU Athletic Communications

Quinnipiac (22-25, 13-5 MAAC)
at Marist (24-17, 12-6 MAAC)

Day + Time
Friday — 3:30 p.m.
Saturday: doubleheader — 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Location
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Live Stats — GoRedFoxes.com
Quinnipiac Baseball on Twitter — @TheQBaseball

HAMDEN, Conn. — Fresh off a nine-game home stand, the Quinnipiac Bobcats will hit the road this weekend to face the Marist Red Foxes in a pivotal three-game MAAC series that will significantly impact who wins the regular season conference crown.

The series opens with a single game Friday at 3:30 p.m., and a Saturday doubleheader is slated for noon and 3 p.m. (Originally, the single game was scheduled for Sunday, but the weekend weather forecast caused a change in plans.)

Quinnipiac (13-5 MAAC) is in first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Marist, Canisius and Monmouth are tied for second (at 12-6). Siena (11-7) is third and Manhattan (10-8) is fourth. The other five MAAC teams are below .500.

Quinnipiac has been in first place since the first weekend of the conference season.

Only the top six teams in the 11-team MAAC make the conference playoffs, officially known as the MAAC Baseball Championship. Marist is the defending champion.

The 2018 MAAC Championship will be held from May 23-26 (Wednesday-Saturday) in Staten Island at Richmond County Bank Ballpark, the home of the Staten Island Yankees, a Class A minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees. The MAAC Championship is a double-elimination format, and the winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Quinnipiac has won five of six MAAC regular season series this year, including four straight to start the season. Counting this weekend's series, the Bobcats have six games left in the regular season, all in the conference and all on the road.

LAST TIME OUT: MAAC SERIES WIN
SATURDAY, GAME 1 — Quinnipiac 6, Niagara 3
SATURDAY, GAME 2 — Niagara 10, Quinnipiac 6
SUNDAY — Quinnipiac 8, Niagara 1

Quinnipiac won two of three games against Niagara in MAAC action this past weekend. On Sunday, junior starter Tyler Poulin led the way for QU, throwing seven strong innings, allowing one run, and scattering six hits and five walks. The 6-foot-4 right-hander struck out five and benefited from two double plays.

Bobcats junior slugger Liam Scafariello hit three home runs in the weekend series, one in each game. His 12 homers are second on the team and in the MAAC overall to teammate Ben Gibson (13 HRs). Gibson hit No. 13 in game one on Saturday. In game one, Bobcats senior starter Taylor Luciani upped his record to 8-2 overall and 6-0 in six MAAC starts. Both marks are best in the conference. A 6-foot-1 right-hander, Luciani enjoyed an efficient outing: eight innings, three hits, one earned run, two strikeouts and one walk. He has a 1.91 ERA in the MAAC (3.21 overall).

With their win in game one Saturday, the Bobcats stopped a four-game losing streak, which was their second-longest of the season after an eight-game skid in March. Their longest winning streak this season is three games — they've done that four times.

On Senior Day this past Saturday, the Bobcats honored their seven seniors (in alphabetical order): Anthony Cruz, Mike Davis, Mike DellaMedaglia, Chris Enns, Ben Gibson, Taylor Luciani and Julius Saporito.

MILESTONES FOR SCAFARIELLO, LUCIANI
• After hitting three home runs this past weekend against Niagara, junior Liam Scafariello has 28 in his Bobcats career — which ties Quinnipiac's Division I career record. Scafariello and Randy Gress '07 are tied with 28 career homers since QU became a D-I program. The overall program record, including when Quinnipiac was a Division II program, is held by Joe Zangari '00 (39 HRs).

• Besides being 6-0 in six MAAC starts and 8-2 overall, senior starter Taylor Luciani recorded his 18th career win this past Saturday, moving him into third place on QU's career list. In second place? Former QU standout Pat Egan, who is currently the Bobcats' pitching coach.

GIBSON GARNERS MAAC WEEKLY AWARDS
Senior Ben Gibson received the MAAC Player of the Week honor, the league announced Tuesday.

In five games last week, Gibson went 6-for-15 (.400 average) with two home runs, a double, five RBI and eight runs scored. He also stole two bases and walked six times. His on-base percentage for the week was .591 and his slugging percentage was .867.

Gibson is the third Bobcats player to garner the MAAC Player of the Week honor this year. He joins sophomore Evan Vulgamore (named on April 3) and junior Brian Moskey (March 6). Meanwhile, freshman Ian Ostberg was named the MAAC Rookie of the Week on April 3.

Gibson's 13 homers lead the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (in both league and nonleague games) and two of his teammates are in second and third: junior Liam Scafariello (12) and sophomore Evan Vulgamore (9, tied for third-most).

Gibson was also named the MAAC Student-Athlete of the Week. The student-athlete honor is given to a player who excels academically and who made significant contributions the previous week. Gibson has over a 3.5 GPA as a mechanical engineering major.

MAAC STATS UPDATE: GIBSON REMAINS ATOP HR LIST
Note: The following individual stats are for all games, not just conference games. Source: MAAC website.

Hitters
In home runs, Quinnipiac senior Ben Gibson (13) leads the MAAC and junior Liam Scafariello (12) is second. They're the only two MAAC hitters with double-digit homers. QU sophomore Evan Vulgamore (9) is tied for third-most.

(In conference games only: Scafariello leads the way with 8 homers, Vulgamore is second with 7, and Gibson is tied for third with Niagara's Peter Battaglia, with 6 apiece.)

In slugging percentage, Gibson (.579) is fourth in the MAAC. In RBI, Gibson and Scafariello (39 apiece) are tied for fifth-most. In doubles, sophomore Andre Marrero (14) is tied for third-most in the MAAC while Scafariello (12) is tied for fifth-most.

In stolen bases, junior Brian Moskey and Marrero (10 apiece) are tied for fifth-most in the MAAC. Scafariello, Vulgamore and senior Anthony Cruz are tied for seventh-most (8 apiece).

In hits, Moskey (54) is seventh in the conference. In walks, Scafariello (28) is tied for fifth-most and Marrero (26) has the seventh-most.

On the Bobcats' roster, sophomore Dylan Lutz has the best batting average (.317) and Moskey is second (.305).

Pitchers
In wins, Quinnipiac senior pitcher Taylor Luciani (8-2) is tied for first in the MAAC and graduate student Brandon Shileikis (5-5) is tied for fourth-most. (In conference games only: Luciani is a league-best 6-0 in six MAAC starts.)

In strikeouts, junior Tyler Poulin (71) is tied for third-most in the league while Shileikis (60) is tied for sixth-most and Luciani (52) has the ninth-most.

In ERA, sophomore reliever Colin Donnelly (1.72) is fifth in the league among pitchers with at least 15 innings.

(In conference games only: Senior closer Mike Davis has 5 saves and a 0.84 ERA — both marks are fourth-best in the MAAC.)

Team
In conference games only, Quinnipiac hitters lead the MAAC in home runs and slugging percentage, are second in stolen bases, and are third in batting average.

Quinnipiac pitchers are second-best in the MAAC in runs allowed, hits allowed, shutouts and batting average against. QU pitchers are third in ERA and strikeouts.

QU is in first place in the MAAC standings with a 13-5 record.

Against MAAC foe 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.

BOBCATS NO. 5 IN NEIBA POLL
Quinnipiac was No. 5 in last week's New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association Coaches Poll. Last week's rankings:

1 – UConn
2 – Northeastern
3 – Bryant
4 – Yale
5 – Quinnipiac

Last week's NEIBA poll was the sixth of the season. QU was No. 4 the previous three weeks. 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 NEIBA polls for Divisions II and III.

HEAD COACH JOHN DELANEY
Head Coach John Delaney is in his fourth season at the helm with Quinnipiac baseball. He has amassed 90 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.

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.

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.

NEXT UP
After the Bobcats' three-game weekend MAAC series versus Marist, they will travel to Rider for another three-game conference series — their last series of the regular season — on Thursday, May 17 (2 p.m.) and Friday, May 18 (doubleheader, 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.) in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Quinnipiac's 2018 undergraduate commencement ceremonies take place Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20 — which explains why the usual Saturday-Sunday baseball games are scheduled for earlier in the week.