UTICA, NY - Pioneer Baseball finally returns to Utica this weekend following a lengthy offseason and an 11-game road trip to start the 2026 campaign. The orange and blue will travel to nearby Donovan Stadium at Murnane Field for the first Empire 8 Conference series of the year against cross-town rival SUNY Poly. This will be a three-game series against the Wildcats, with Friday being a single game followed by a doubleheader on Sunday. All three games will be nine innings, as the conference has mandated that every Empire 8 contest will go the full nine innings throughout the whole year. Here's what the schedule looks like:

Friday, March 20th - 2:00 PM at SUNY Poly
Sunday, March 22nd - 12:00 PM at SUNY Poly
Sunday, March 22nd - 2:00 PM at SUNY Poly

Sunday's weather includes a 20% chance of rain and snow all day long, so keep an eye on our athletics social media for any scheduling updates!

Streaming Details for this Weekend's Matchup - You can catch the Pioneers on the Empire 8 Network this weekend, with all games airing on either the SUNY Poly page or the Utica page. Streaming details will be finalized this week, so check out the baseball schedule tab for updated links.

Empire 8 Network Link: https://www.empire8network.com/

Live Stats for this Weekend's Matchup - Live stat information will also be finalized later this week. Check out the baseball schedule page to follow along: https://uticapioneers.com/sports/baseball/schedule

RussMatt Recap - The Pioneers headed south for spring break this past week, participating in seven non-conference showdowns during the six-day gauntlet. The orange and blue emerged from this streak of challenging contests with a 3-4 record during their business trip, settling into the season and having some standout individual and team performances to solidify their tactics going forward. 

Mike Rockwell (Liverpool, NY/Cicero), Matthew Paolucci (Toronto, Ontario/Silverthorn Collegiate Institute), and Ty Montrose (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) led the way offensively for the Pioneers down in the Sunshine State. Each member of the trio has over 14 hits and a 1.000 OPS in 11 games played so far this year. Rockwell, who is batting .467 on the season, collected 14 of his 21 hits in Florida, including two home runs, to be a vital cog in the Utica offense. 

Paolucci has started his Pioneer career incredibly hot. He has won both Empire 8 Player and Rookie of the Week awards in the first two weeks of the season. He is batting .371 on the year with 14 hits and a team-leading 20 RBIs.

Montrose has been a staple of consistency to start the 2026 campaign. The junior is batting .372 with 16 hits and 12 RBIs.

On the mound for the Pioneers, it's been a solid combination of returning talent and great rookie play. Kooper Knabe (Cortland, NY/Cortland) has led the way for Utica, throwing 13.2 innings on the season so far, where he has recorded 17 strikeouts. Knabe recently hit 100 career strikeouts in his outing against Concordia College. In that same outing, Knabe dazzled with nine strikeouts over 6.2 innings. The senior is currently sitting at 106 career strikeouts and is four wins away from breaking the program record for pitcher wins. Brady Leichtman (Bay Shore, NY/St. John the Baptist Diocesan) has slotted in as a great number two starter behind Knabe, as the freshman has started his collegiate career with 12 strikeouts in 11.2 innings pitched, alongside a dazzling 1.54 ERA.

Scouting SUNY Poly - The Wildcats have started their 2026 campaign with a record of 3-5, grabbing wins over Lycoming College and Johnson & Wales University down in Charlotte. Poly will return to New York for three home games against Utica shortly after traveling up and down the East Coast. After their games in New York City were postponed, the Wildcats travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina, for three games and are now travelling throughout Pennsylvania during spring break.

Leading the way offensively for the Wildcats has been Johnny Yamin. The junior has started the season hot, batting .522 with 12 hits in 23 at-bats. Maddox Garvey is batting .320 to begin his season with eight hits in 25 at-bats for Poly.

On the mound for the Wildcats, Jack Montanye has been the workhorse to begin the campaign. The senior has recorded 10 strikeouts in a team-leading 18 innings pitched. Austin Stoquert has also thrown the ball well, recording seven strikeouts in 11 innings pitched.

Utica is 25-14 all-time against the Wildcats, also playing well in recent years, going 8-2 in their last 10 matchups, with the only Poly wins coming in 2024.

After the SUNY Poly Series - The Pioneers will host a non-conference doubleheader against SUNY Canton at Murnane Field on Wednesday, March 25th, before hosting their first home Empire 8 action at Pioneer Field against Elmira on Saturday, March 28th.