UTICA, NY – The Utica College Baseball team travels to Houghton College for an Empire 8 Conference game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. Friday's game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. while Saturday's two games are set to start at 12 p.m.
 
Last Time Out: The Pioneers are returning from the Matt Russell Invitational held in Florida … The team had a rough week going 0-8 to start the season … On Monday UC lost to Calvin College 9-1 and 8-2, on Tuesday Utica fell to Bowdoin College 5-3 and 8-1, on Wednesday the team dropped a 14-2 contest against the University of Minnesota Morris, on Thursday the team fell 4-0 and 7-6 against McDaniel College, and on Friday the team lost 6-4 to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
 
Hot Bats:  Junior JT Ross (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) leads the team with a .393 batting average while Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) is second on the team with a batting average of .364 … Vincent Burillo (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central ) (.360) and Matthew DeMartino (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) (.348) are the only other players on the team with a batting average over .300 … Ross had 11 hits, three doubles, four runs, four RBI's, and an on base percentage of .438 while Ryan had eight hits, one double, four runs, and an on base percentage of .462.
 
On The Mound: Utica used 12 pitchers over eight games so far this season … Joshua Webb (Verona, NY/VVS) was the only pitcher to get the starting nod twice over the week … Ed Zakrzewski (Rome, NY/Rome Catholic), Alex Rocci (Utica, NY/Notre Dame), William Winsman (Palatine Bridge, NY/Canajoharie), Josh Luczak (Ava, NY/RFA), Vincent Burillo (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central ), and Ethan Bliss (Cooperstown, NY /Cooperstown) all started games as well … Dom Caccioppoli (Circleville, NY/Pine Bush ) and Gavin McCann (Highland, NY/Highland) both appeared in three games in relief … James Corcoran (Mechanicville, NY/Mechanicville) and Jarred Luczak (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) appeared in two games as relievers while Justin Shabman (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Kennedy Catholic) appeared in one game … Winsman, Webb, and Rocci led the team with seven strikeouts apiece.
 
Against Houghton: UC is 4-8 against the Highlanders all-time … Last year Utica won 5-4 and 7-6 before dropping the third regular season game 16-14 … Houghton also beat Utica in the conference tournament 13-3 … Utica is 2-6 against the Highlanders at home and 2-2 against them on the road.
 
Scouting The Highlanders: Houghton is 9-9 so far this season … Last time out the Highlanders split a double header with Pitt-Bradford winning the first game 5-2 and losing the second game 6-5 … Michael Knapp (.351 batting average, 20 hits, 19 runs scored, four doubles, one triple, seven RBI's and a .486 on base percentage) and Tage Johnson (.328 batting average, 19 hits, 15 RBI's, 10 doubles, seven runs scored, and a .406 on base percentage) lead Houghton in offense for players who have played in more than 10 games … Garrett Alread leads the Highlanders with a 3-0 record on 20.2 innings pitched … Alread has a 4.35 ERA, 19 strikeouts, and an opponent batting average of .186.
 
Looking Ahead: The Pioneers travel to take on conference opponent Stevens on Wednesday in a doubleheader … The first game is set to start at 12 p.m.