Utica, NY – The Utica College baseball team is scheduled to take on Elmira College at Hamilton College at 3 p.m. Friday for the first of a three-game, Empire 8 Conference weekend series. The final two games of the set are to be played on Saturday at Hamilton College starting at 12 p.m.

Neutral Site: Hamilton's Loop Road Baseball Complex is located on the campus of Hamilton College (198 College Hill Road, Clinton, N.Y., 13323). Hamilton's all-turf baseball facility is roughly ten miles, or 20 minutes, from the campus of Utica College.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers finished 1-2 in a three-game series against Houghton College during their last set of action. The team took game one by a score of 4-3, but then lost both game two and three by four runs each (10-6, 13-9). Sophomore pitcher Griffin Baur (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) tossed a complete seven innings in game one on his way to tallying eight strikeouts. Baur improved to 4-0 on the season as a starting pitcher. Matthew Leviton (South River, NJ/South River) finished the series 5-for-11 at the plate with a double, three stolen bases and four RBI's. Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) brought in five RBI's on two hits, which included a three-run triple in the third contest. The shortstop, Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS), batted 5-for-9 in the series and scored five runs all together.

Hit Leaders: Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) currently leads the team and the Empire 8 Conference with a batting average of .459 so far this season. He has connected for 17 hits which have resulted in nine RBI's for UC. Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck) leads the Pioneers with 11 RBI's and three home runs. Quinlan and teammate Tom Carrigan (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) both have rattled off five doubles at this point in the year. Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS) ranks eighth in the E8 with a batting average of .379.

On the Mound: Starting in all four appearances on the mound, Griffin Baur (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) is tied for first in the conference with four winning decisions. Baur is seventh in the E8 with a total of 23 strikeouts. Teammate Brett Sarnowski (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) is second on the team with 17 strikeouts in less than 12 innings of work. In four appearances at the helm, Justin Shabman (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Kennedy Catholic) has earned the team's best ERA of 2.61 in over 10 innings pitched. Shabman and Sarnowski both have recorded one save on the year so far.

Top of the Lineup: The first two players in the batting order for UC, Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) and Ryan Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS), have found consistent success 13 games in. Palmer is batting .341 while Ryan hits .320 and both have stolen two bases. The duo has combined for 20 RBI's (10 apiece) and have reached home plate to score a total of 25 runs for the team. Jake also leads the team with two triples.

Scouting Elmira: The Soaring Eagles have had a tough start to the 2018 season with a 0-13 record overall and 0-4 in conference play. The team recently fell to Stevens on the road, 9-4, earlier in the week. Tommy Fogarty was the only Elmira hitter to make contact for more than one hit, going 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI's. The starting pitcher Nick Sampogna allowed just one earned run to score in four innings of action. Reliever Noah Gulino received the loss after giving up six runs in less than one inning on the mound. Dennis Rudolph leads the team with a batting average of .386 and is second on the team with four RBI's. Pitchers Nick Cottone and Conor Bawiec are the top two on the pitching staff, combining for 36 strikeouts in just over 36 innings of work altogether. Cottone is also sporting a solid ERA of 2.75 after starting three of his four appearances.

Looking Ahead: UC will take a quick break from conference play next week, as the team travels to take on Cazenovia College and Wells College. Tuesday's meeting with Cazenovia begins at 4 p.m., while the Pioneers match up with Wells at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.