UTICA, NY - The Utica University baseball team will continue Empire 8 Conference play this weekend with a four-game set against the Keuka College Wolves. The Pioneers will travel to Keuka Park, NY on Friday for games at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. before hosting Keuka on Saturday with game times also at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Follow Along: On Friday, fans can watch live through
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/keukaathletics/ or keep up with live stats through
https://keukaathletics.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/boxscores/20220415_esxh.xml. For Saturday's pair, live video and stats will be provided through
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/.
Last Time Out: In game one, Fisher scored each of its 20 runs in the first four innings of the game. After a three-run top of the 1st inning, Utica responded with one run in the home half on a
Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) RBI single which extended his hitting streak to nine games. The Cardinals followed with six runs in the 2nd, eight in the 3rd, and three in the 4th to go ahead 20-1.
Nathan Yantz (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) scored for Utica in the bottom of the 4th as he came home from third on a 6-4-3 double play. The Pioneers added two more in the 7th inning as
Dylan Sicilia (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell ) scored on a wild pitch before
Jack Bono (Frankfort, NY/Frankfort-Fort Schuyler) singled home a run. Crossley led the team with a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. On the mound,
Nicholas Greene (Ilion, NY/Central Valley Academy ) tossed 3.2 scoreless innings of relief in which he allowed two hits and sat down four batters via strikeout. In game two, the Cardinals opened the game with two runs in the 1st inning while
Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park) tied the game in the home half with a two-out, two-RBI single to left field. The Cardinals bats took off in the 3rd inning, however. Five more Cardinals runs in the 3rd, one in the 4th and 5th inning each and six in the 6th inning put Utica in a 15-2 deficit it could not get out of. The game ended after seven innings via the 10-run rule. Crossley led the team with a pair of hits again, going 2-for-4 which extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Muentener and
Shamariah McCullough (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) also had hits in the game.
Top-Tier: Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) was pinned as the Empire 8 Player of the Week for the week of Apr. 4-10. The junior hit .500 (11-for-22) with three runs driven in over five games last week for the Pioneers. The two-hole hitter started the week with a 5-for-five performance in the team's 6-3 win over Sage where he also scored twice and drove in one run. Crossley also had multi-hit games in Utica's win over Cazenovia where he went 2-for-4 with a run scored as well as going 2-for-5 with a run scored in the team's 11-4 win over Fisher. Crossley now owns a ten-game hitting streak after recording at least one hit in each game last week as well as in both Monday games against St. John Fisher. On the season, Crossley is third on the team and is fourth in the conference hitting .400 while having the second-best on-base percentage on the team and in the E8 at .514.
Slugging Away: The likes of
Ryan Cardone (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) (.500/.515/.750),
Joe Battista (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) (.338/.424/.662),
Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park) (.320/.500/.420),
Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro ) (.360/.590/.640),
Shamariah McCullough (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) (.409/.460/.500) and
Nathan Yantz (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) (.400/.438/.533) have all been swinging exceptional bats through the first half of the season. Cardone's average still tops the E8 entering the weekend as McCullough's average ranks third followed by Battista and Muentener who are both within the top-20. Cardone and Battista are also first and third in the Empire 8 in slugging percentage as Cardone's slugging .750 while Battista is at .622 along with ranking fifth in the league with 20 RBI.
Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) has also been productive with runners on base as he is eighth in the E8 with 17 runs driven in.
About Keuka: The Wolves (9-10-1, 3-4-1 Empire 8) are currently in fourth place in the E8 with seven points, one behind Utica's eight. The team owns the second-highest batting average in the conference at .301 while posting the third-best team ERA at 6.75. Ryan Seales is second in the Empire 8 hitting .419 as well as with a 1.184 on-base plus slugging percentage. Teammates Brady Booher (.364) and Nick Brown (.350) are also within the top-10 in the league in batting average. On the mound, Spencer Brown (2-1, 3.32 ERA) and Jared Beckley (2-1, 3.68 ERA) are fourth and fifth in the conference in ERA.
Up Next: Utica will host Ithaca College in non-conference action at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19.
