GAMEDAY: BASEBALL FACES ST. THOMAS AQUINAS LOOKING TO BEGIN PUSH TOWARDS PLAYOFFS

4/28/2023 6:30:00 AM

Sparkill, NY - The College of Staten Island Baseball Team begins a four-game series against the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College today looking to begin a push towards the East Coast Conference playoffs. The Dolphins enter today's games 14-21 on the season and 6-10 against the East Coast Conference. The Spartans come into today's games 18-22 overall and 11-5 against conference opponents. The Spartans lead the all time series six games to four with one tie coming the first time the two teams met in 1980.

The Dolphins were most recently in action last weekend when they faced the Lions of Lincoln University in a four-game series. After the Dolphins won each of the first three games, they took a three-run lead into the final half-inning of game four. However, lightning in the area forced the umpires to stop the game, which was ultimately suspended. With the suspension coming in the middle of an inning, the score reverted back to the score at the conclusion of the last full inning. This resulted in a 3-2 Dolphins loss. As for the Spartans, they last played against Dominican on Wednesday and lost by a final score of 7-4.

The Dolphins are led into their matchup with the Spartans by reigning East Coast Conference Player of the Week AJ Vigliotti and Pitcher of the Week Ryan Kehoe. Vigliotti leads the Dolphins in hitting and was 7-10 at the plate last week with three extra-base hits. Kehoe struck out ten in his third complete game shutout of the season against the Lions last weekend, and he will certainly get another start against the Spartans this weekend. John Esposito will also get a key start against STAC this weekend, and he comes in leading the Dolphins in ERA. At the plate, Vigliotti is joined by Michael Kehoe, Shendi Ulaj, and Vincent Weigele in hitting above the .300 mark. Behind their leading hitters, the CSI offense scored 28 times in the series against the Lions and will look to deliver a similar results against the Spartans.

The Spartans are led in batting among qualifying hitters by Andrew Jemison with a .316 batting average, and STAC comes in hitting .270 as a unit this season. The team has pitched to a 5.68 ERA in 2023 and are led in several pitching categories by Aaron Dona. Dona, who is second on the team in ERA among qualifiers, is tied for the team lead in wins and leads the team in innings pitched, strikeouts, and complete games. Both pitching staffs will look to reverse the trend of high-scoring games between the two teams as the two sides have combined for ten runs or more in five of six meetings since the start of the 2021 season. The teams have also combined to score 15 runs or more in four of those games.

Gametime - 11:30 AM
Location - Sparkill, NY
All-Time Series - STAC leads 6-4-1
Last Meeting - 3/26/22: STAC won 6-4

GAME VIDEO

Print Friendly Version