Utica, NY – The Utica College baseball team will make a short trip on Tuesday to face the local Continentals from Hamilton College. The single game matchup with Hamilton is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
 
Unexpected Break: Due to multiple postponements/cancellations caused by unplayable weather conditions, the Pioneers have had a small mid-season break since as they have not played since March 31st. Taking down Elmira 2-1 in a three-game series was the last result UC has earned, winning the last two games of the set 14-8 and 15-5. Matchups against Cazenovia, Wells, and SUNY Canton have all been postponed and will be played at a later date.
 
Conference Standings: Despite conference play being slowed up by the weather, Utica is currently in fourth place in the Empire 8 standings with a conference mark of 3-3. Prior to any games being played this week, the standings are as follows: 1. Stevens (9-3 E8), 2. St. John Fisher (5-1 E8), 3. Ithaca (4-4 E8), 4. Utica (3-3 E8), 5. Elmira (2-9 E8), 6. Houghton (2-4 E8), 7. Canton (1-2 E8).
 
Hitting Leaders: 16 games into the 2018 season UC is sporting the highest team batting average in the E8 (.328). Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS), Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame), and Ryan Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS) have all earned top four batting averages within the conference. Tiffin leads the Empire 8 with a batting average of .475 at this point in the year. Fitzgerald is second in batting average (.469) and leads Utica with 14 RBI's, while Palmer owns the fourth best batting average in the conference (.386). Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) is having a strong year at the plate as well, batting .359 to go with his 13 RBI's and is tied with Fitzgerald as the leaders on the team with 23 hits.
 
Top Pitchers: Griffin Baur (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) leads the Utica College pitching staff as the ace of the group with a record of 4-1. Baur is tied for first in the Empire 8 in wins and leads UC with 25 strikeouts in 24.2 innings of work on the mound. Senior Alex Rocci (Utica, NY/Notre Dame) is 2-1 in five starts on the hill so far this season. Justin Shabman (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Kennedy Catholic) is tied for first in the conference with two saves and leads the team with an ERA of 3.38. Fellow reliever Brett Sarnowski (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) owns a 3.95 ERA to go with his 17 strikeouts, ranking second on the team in both categories.
 
Scouting Hamilton: The Continentals are riding a four-game winning streak that has pushed their record to 10-9 overall. The team swept SUNY Poly in a three-game series before defeating SUNY Cobleskill in a one game set. In the 11-4 win over Cobleskill, the left fielder James Nish went 2-for-2 at the plate with a triple and four RBI's. Nate Goodman knocked in one RBI on a 2-for-4 effort and Matt Zaffino batted 2-for-4 while scoring two runs. Gavin Schaefer-Hood (2-3) got the start and received the winning decision after striking out nine batters without surrendering a single run in five innings of action. Zaffino is batting .431 on the year and leads Hamilton with 18 RBI's and three homers.
 
Looking Ahead: The Pioneers are scheduled to return home for a three-game set against Ithaca College over the weekend for some Empire 8 baseball action. A doubleheader will begin on Saturday at 1 p.m. before finishing up on Sunday with a 1 p.m. start time for game three.