UTICA, NY - The Utica University baseball team will play its final six Empire 8 games of the season this week. The team will host Keuka College on April 27 in a makeup doubleheader from April 16 before playing a pair at Houghton College on April 28 and then twice more against Houghton at home on April 30 which will also be the team's senior day. Game one on Wednesday and Saturday will be at 1 p.m. while game one on Thursday will be at 3 p.m. 
 
Follow Along: Live video and stats for each home game can be found through https://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/ while Houghton will provide live video and stats on Thursday through https://athletics.houghton.edu/sports/baseball/schedule. 
 
Last Time Out: The Pioneers erupted for 34 runs in its doubleheader sweep of Elmira on April 24, taking game one 17-1 before winning game two 17-7 in eight innings. Ryan Cardone (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) was in control from start to finish, fighting off a leadoff single to retire 12 of the next 13 Soaring Eagle hitters through the 4th inning. Utica added three more runs in the 2nd and 3rd before tacking on four in the 4th to lead 12-0 leading into the 5th. Cardone's lone blemish came in the bottom of the 5th on a two-out single to extend the game into the 6th frame at 12-1. In the 7th inning still 12-1 in favor of Utica, Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw), Shamariah McCullough (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) and Zac Cronk (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Central Catholic) drove in runs en route to a five-run inning to go into the 7th and final frame up 17-1. In his complete game win, Cardone surrendered six hits and struck out two while facing just three batters over the minimum. At the plate, Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) went a perfect 3-for-3 with two walks, three RBI and three runs scored. McCullough also had a three-hit game with four runs scored and a RBI while Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park), Bono and Cronk had two hit games, each driving in two runs. Dom Faslo went on to hit a two-run home run in the 4th inning as well. The Pioneers fell into an early 5-0 deficit in game two after two innings before a failed pickoff attempt in the top of the 3rd inning allowed Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park) to score from third base to make it 5-1. Elmira answered back with one in the home half while neither team scored in the 4th inning as the game remained 5-1. Utica's bats came alive in the 5th and 6th innings as the team put up 15 runs between the two frames. Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) started the offensive onslaught when he cleared the bases with a double in the 5th inning before Joe Battista (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) tied the game with a two-run home run to right. The team took the lead on a fielder's choice that scored Jack Bono (Frankfort, NY/Frankfort-Fort Schuyler) from second base. With the score 8-6 Utica in the 6th, Bono and Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) drove in the first three runs of the inning while Zac Cronk (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Central Catholic) and Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro ) combined to drive in five more runs in the inning to lead 16-7 entering the home half. Meanwhile, Ben Hladun (Ballston Lake, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake ), Brian Dinnen (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) and Jake Mangino (Sayville, NY/Sayville) combined to throw six innings of relief with two runs on six hits and three walks given up. Dinnen threw 1.2 scoreless frames while Mangino threw two full scoreless. Crossley capped the game off with an 8th inning home run, allowing Mangino to finish the bottom half unharmed to end the game via 10-run rule. Crossley ended 3-for-4 with two walks, four RBI and four runs scored after his 8th inning blast. Muentener, Fasolo, Bono, Cronk and Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) all had multi-hit games as well, Fasolo and Cronk doing so with three RBI and Bono with two.
 
Senior Day: The Utica baseball program will honor Zac Cronk (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Central Catholic), Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park), Trey Szatko (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame), Travis Grogan (Middletown, NY/Middletown), Colton Weatherwax (Schuylerville, NY/Schuylerville Central), Josh Brickman (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool), Robert Bibisi (Bristol, CT/Bristol), Brian Dinnen (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas), Noah Barber (Cortland, NY/Cortland) and Shamariah McCullough (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) prior to Saturday's game. 
 
Bo-Knows: Jack Bono (Frankfort, NY/Frankfort-Fort Schuyler) had himself a weekend, going 8-for-15 at the plate with six RBI over four games as the Pioneers went 3-1 against Elmira. Bono entered game one on Saturday as a substitute and went 1-for-2 with a run scored in his only two trips to the plate. Over the next three games, Bono recorded at least two hits and drove in two runs in each outing to go 7-for-13 with six RBI over the team's three wins. Bono's biggest performance came in game two on Saturday, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and runs scored while his first RBI broke a scoreless tie in the 6th and his second run gave Utica a 3-1 lead in the 7th inning. 
 
Our Cat is a Dog: Tyler Catalfamo (Albany, NY/Colonie) earned his third win of the season in the team's 8-1 win over Elmira on Saturday. In game two of the doubleheader, Catalfamo threw seven innings allowing one run on four hits and no walks while striking out nine Soaring Eagles. Catalfamo didn't allow his first hit until one out in the top of the 4th inning while through four innings he had already totaled seven strikeouts. On the season, the southpaw is 3-1 with a 5.87 ERA over six appearances and four starts.
 
Sharp Cheddar: Ryan Cardone (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) has yet to take a step back on the mound this season. Over 39.2 innings on the bump, the sophomore leads the Empire 8 and is within the top-30 nationally with a 1.59 ERA. Opponents have hit .230 off of Cardone, the second-lowest mark in the E8, while the righty also has a near 4/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Relief pitchers Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) and Brian Dinnen (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) have been tough to hit as well. May owns a 1.13 ERA with three saves over six appearances and eight innings thrown. He has also struck out 12 batters over that span while issuing just one walk. For Dinnen, he has hurled 13.1 innings and has a 2.70 ERA to his credit with a minimal .235 opponent batting average. 
 
Round and Round: Over the last 18 innings, the Utica offense has scored a combined 42 runs (2.3 per inning). While the likes of Bono and Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro ) have come on the scene as of late to help the recent offensive surge, sluggers Shamariah McCullough (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional), Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro), Joe Battista (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) and Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park) have gotten the job done all season. McCullough still leads the conference with a .444 batting average while Crossley is second batting .405 with hits in 14 of his last 15 outings. Battista (.358) and Muentener (.352) are seventh and eighth in the E8 in batting average while Battista, Crossley and McCullough are all top-10 in slugging percentage. Muentener also remains one of the toughest to strikeout in the country, ranking 41st in strikeout percentage as he has gone down justfour times in 71 at-bats. With that, his .520 on-base percentage leads the E8 and is near the top-50 in Division III. 
 
Scouting Keuka: The Wolves are currently 12-14-1 overall and are in fourth place in the E8 at 6-7-1. The team is third in the league batting .296 as well as with a .384 OBP. The pitching staff also ranks third in the conference with a 6.63 ERA and also with an opponent batting average of .303. Ryan Seales leads the team and is fourth in the conference batting .386 and is fifth slugging .580. On the hill, Spencer Brown (3-1, 3.38 ERA) and Jared Beckley (4-1, 4.39 ERA) have served as the primary starting pitchers. Utica and Keuka split its first series on April 15 as the Wolves won game one 10-6 before the Pioneers took game two 6-5. 
 
A Look at Houghton: The Highlanders will enter Thursday 12-22 overall as well as last in the Empire 8 at 5-11. The team owns a .279 batting average while the pitching staff has a 7.84 ERA, both of which ranked fourth in the E8. Houghton has struggled to get on base however, ranking last in the league with a .368 OBP while in the field the team is fifth with a .948 fielding percentage. Zach Parr, who was just named Empire 8 Co-Player of the week, is third in the E8 batting .394 to go with a conference-best .670 slugging percentage. Ethan Cetton and Hunter Kendall lead the pitching unit, both of whom are 2-4 with a 5.3 ERA. 
 
We Meet Again: Utica and Houghton last met in the 2021 Empire 8 semifinals when the Highlanders took game one before the Pioneers took games two and three to win the series and advance to the championship. In game one, Houghton overcame a 7-4 deficit in the 8th and 9th innings as the team tied the game with a three-run 8th before walking-off in the 9th. Utica exploded for 18 runs in the second game to win 18-5, setting up a decisive winner-take-all game three. Utica led 2-0 through its half of the 4th inning before Houghton went on a 5-1 run through the 7th to lead 5-3 entering the 8th. Utica scored twice in the 8th and three times in the 9th as the team held on for the series win, 8-7. 

Up Next: The Pioneers will travel to Hamilton College on Monday, May 2 for the Jackie Robinson game. Game time is set for 4 p.m.