WIDE OPEN FIELD FOR MAAC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
MAAC Sports
EDISON, NJ -- Fresh off of winning its first-ever Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season championship, the Rider University baseball team enters this week’s MAAC Championship as the top seed when it faces No. 4 seed Siena in the second game of the opening-round doubleheader on Thursday, May 23 at 7 p.m. The Tournament gets underway at 3 p.m. when No. 2 seed Marist takes on No. 3 seed Canisius.
The winner of the MAAC Championship will receive the league’s coveted automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The MAAC Baseball Championship will be played at ARM & HAMMER Park (formerly Waterfront Park), home of the Eastern League’s Trenton Thunder, on May 23-26, returning to Trenton for the fourth time in its history.
The entirety of the Championship as well as Wednesday night’s award show will be available live on MAAC.TV.
Rider (34-20 overall, 18-6 MAAC) is seeking its third-ever Conference Tournament Championship and first since 2010. The Broncs have been led by sophomore righty Kurt Sowa, who set a school record for wins in a single season (11-1) this year. The 6-4, 193-pound Sowa leads Rider and is fourth in the MAAC with a 2.97 ERA, with opposing batters hitting just .176 against him. The Broncs’ pitching staff leads the league with a 3.51 ERA.
Pacing the Broncs’ attack has been junior DH Jerry Mulderig, who leads Rider with a .337 average (No. 7 in the MAAC). Senior third baseman Adam Wayman has a team-best 61 hits and has compiled a .302 average. Junior outfielder Nick Crescenzo leads Rider with 34 RBI while hitting .289. Crescenzo has also swiped a team leading 18 bases in 20 attempts.
Second-seeded Marist (27-22-1, 17-7) features a potent 1-2 punch with a pair of seniors, shortstop Zach Shank and first baseman Mike Orefice. Shank was the MAAC’s regular season batting champ with a.384 average, and runner-up in the conference with a .537 slugging percentage. Orefice led the MAAC with 17 doubles and 40 walks, and was second with a .461 on base percentage.
Rich Vrana, a sophomore lefty, paces the Marist pitching staff with a 5-1 record and a 2.95 ERA, good for No. 3 in the MAAC. Senior right Brett Houseal has been a workhorse for the Red Foxes, posting a 7-6 record with a staff high five complete games.
Canisius, which has been the tournament runner-up in three of the last four years (including 2012), will look to a strong mound corps. Strapping junior righty Garrett Cortright, who stands 6-5, is the league leader with a 2.78 ERA, and has posted a 10-3 mark. Freshman lefty Alex Godzak is 8-3 and is second in the MAAC with a 2.78 ERA. Last year’s MAAC Rookie of the Year, Devon Stewart, has come on strong of late and was the Conference’s final “Pitcher of the Week” during the regular season. Stewart is 4-5 with a 5.08 ERA.
The Griffs’ Jimmy Luppens is second in the MAAC in hitting with a .378 average and paces a Canisius (39-15, 15-9) attack that leads the MAAC in eight offensive categories (batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage runs scored, hits, RBI, triples and total bases). Canisius leads all MAAC teams with 39 overall victories.
Siena will look to its red-hot pitching- hitting duo of sophomore lefthander Matt Gage and senior outfielder Mike Fish. Gage, who is 6-5 with a 3.23 ERA, was the recipient of MAAC Pitcher of the Week honors in two of the last three weeks of the regular season. Gage scattered three hits and struck out 16 in the Saints’ 8-2 win over Canisius on May 12, which clinched a berth in the tournament for Siena.
Fish enters the Championship as one of the league’s hottest players, riding a 14-game hitting streak, and hitting safely in 26 of his last 27 games. Fish slugged a league leading 12 homers and hit .374 with 49 RBI. The senior outfielder led the MAAC in slugging percentage (.626), runs (54), hits (80) and total bases (134).
Tickets to the MAAC Baseball Championship Tournament can be purchased in advance on the Trenton Thunder website. All-session passes are available for $30 for adults and $15 for students. Single-day tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students. All seating is general admission.
The winner will receive the MAAC's automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The selection show will be at noon on Monday, May 27 live on ESPNU.
In addition to MAACSports.com, updates will be available via Twitter on @MAACSports and the hashtag #MAACBaseball and on facebook.com/MAACSports.