Baseball
March 27, 2008
LE MOYNE SET TO PLAY MANHATTAN SATURDAY THE 29TH AT DICK ROCKWELL FIELD.
SYRACUSE, NY -The 9-12 Le Moyne College Dolphins get ready for a three-game home stand this weekend at Dick Rockwell Field, against the 7-11-1 Manhattan College Jaspers. Owens has announced Eric Beaulac, and Luke Nellis as his projected starters for the double header Saturday March 29th. Cory Nelson will start Sunday's game. The Dolphins have won their last five meetings against the Jaspers.
Senior Stephen Crawford enters the three-game home stand on a fifteen game hitting streak. In this time, Crawford is hitting .490, with one home run and sixteen RBIs. The senior leads the Dolphins hitting .435 (37-85).
The Dolphins are coming off a 10-9 home victory against the Buffalo Bulls. The middle of the order combined 6-13, generating eight RBIs out of the team's ten. It was an early power surge for the Dolphins that put them ahead of the Bulls in the early innings. The Dolphins hit four home runs, two of them off the bat of Chris Edmondson in consecutive innings. Owens's used a combined seven pitchers. It was Brandon Otto picking up the win with his first start of the season. Nellis closed the game out, earning the save.
Kevin Leighton begins his third season at the helm of the Jaspers. Last season, he led the Jaspers to a program and school record 35 wins, advancing to the MAAC Championship Game for the third time in the last four seasons. The team also tallied a program-best 21 MAAC wins, including a 19-0 start to the conference season. Manhattan also compiled 16 game overall and 15 game road win streaks, both of which were tops in the Division I at the time. In 2006, he led the Jaspers to their first MAAC Tournament Championship and to the NCAA Regional Finals, posting a 34-23 record. Leighton was named ABCA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year in 2006 after guiding Manhattan to three wins over nationally ranked opponents, including #6 Nebraska in the NCAA Regional.
The Jaspers are coming off a Fairleigh Dickinson 8-1 victory. Four Jaspers collected multi-hit games in the win. Mark Onorati and Kevin Nieto led the way at the plate. Onorati went 3-5, driving in two RBIs. K. Nieto drove in three RBIs with his 3-6 performance. Mike Tibbett improved to 1-0 after picking up the win in relief. Tibbett went 2.2 innings of shutout work.
Kevin Nieto leads the Jaspers with a .386 batting average. Nieto has caused disturbance on the base paths, successfully stealing six-of-six bases. His brother, Eric Nieto, has swiped six-of-nine bases successfully tying him for the team lead. The power has been generated from Chad Salem, and Austin Sheffield. Salem leads the Jaspers with two home runs and eighteen RBIs. Sheffield is tied for the team lead in home runs with Salem. The Jaspers's pitching staff has a team ERA of 7.15, holding their opponents to a 6.79 ERA. Matt Nevins is leading the staff with a team best 2.81 ERA. Nevins is 1-0 in sixteen innings of work this season.
First pitch of the Saturday, March 29th double header is scheduled for noon. Sunday's time will be the same.
Billy Rizzo - Sports Information
Assistant
