BB: Hofstra Hosts CAA-Leading Charleston This Weekend

4/19/2018 12:40:00 PM

By: By Len Skoros

Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra University Baseball team welcomes the Colonial Athletic Association leader, College of Charleston, to University Field for a three-game series beginning Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The series continues Saturday and Sunday with 1 p.m. games.

The Cougars enter the weekend with a 9-3 CAA record and a 27-11 mark overall, sitting atop the conference standings at the midway point of the season. Charleston is also the top hitting and top pitching team, statistically in the CAA. The Cougars lead the CAA in nearly every offensive category, batting .287 as a team with 65 doubles, 39 home runs, 211 runs scored and 55 stolen bases. Charleston also leads the CAA with a 2.79 team ERA and has walked the fewest batters (83). Charleston is also the top fielding team in the CAA with a .978 fielding percentage.

Hofstra is 4-8 in the CAA and 14-15 overall, the first time the team has been under .500 since the opening the season 0-2. The Pride is currently in eighth place in the CAA standings. Offensively, Hofstra is eighth in batting at .241 and fifth in pitching with a 3.62 ERA. The Pride ranks second in the CAA in fielding at .976 and has the fewest errors with 25. Vito Friscia continues to lead the Pride offense with a .312 average, five home runs and 22 RBIs. The junior catcher blasted his fifth home run of the season in Wednesday's loss to St. John's, a three-run shot to center that put Hofstra on the scoreboard.

Both teams enter the series on losing streaks with the Pride having dropped six consecutive games, while Charleston has lost two in a row. Charleston holds a 9-4 lead in the all-time series after taking two-of-three games at home last season. Hofstra did sweep Charleston in Hempstead in 2016.

Probable pitching matchups for the series are as follows:

Friday: LHP John Rooney (5-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. LHP Evan Sisk (7-2, 2.34 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Matt Weissheier (2-4, 3.59 ERA) vs. RHP Griffin McLarty (5-1, 2.96 ERA)
Sunday: TBA vs. RHP Jakob Frishmuth (4-2, 3.26 ERA)

Rooney has been one of the top pitchers in the nation, ranking sixth in the country in ERA (1.29), fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (4.34), seventh in WHIP (0.77) and 28th in strikeouts (71). His Friday counterpart, Evan Sisk, has seven wins and ranks second in the CAA and tied for sixth in the nation.

There will be live statistics for all three games as well as Pride Productions live audio courtesy of WRHU-FM. Links for both can be found above or on the baseball schedule page of GoHofstra.com.

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