TOWSON, Md. - The Tigers will be trying to improve their seeding for next week's Colonial Athletic Association Tournament when they host Northeastern University in a three-game CAA series.
The teams are scheduled to play three single games this week. On Thursday and Friday, the teams will play at 3:30 p.m. On Saturday, May 18, Northeastern and Towson will play the regular season finale at 1:00 p.m.
Saturday's game will be the Tigers' Senior Day as pitcher Sean Bertrand, pitcher Mike Bronakoski, catcher Andrew Parker (below), outfielder Cody Reeves, pitcher Michael Trionfo, pitcher Mike Volpe and first baseman Kurtis Voytell will be honored in pre-game ceremonies.
The Tigers, who are 23-27 overall and 12-12 in the CAA, clinched a berth in the CAA playoffs for the second consecutive season over the weekend. Towson earned a playoff berth when Hofstra lost to Georgia State on Sunday.
Northeastern, which won two of three from Delaware last weekend, has a 27-22 record and an 11-13 CAA mark.
Northeastern and Towson are studies in contrast. Northeastern has the best pitching staff in the CAA with a 3.36 E.R.A. Senior Kevin Ferguson leads the Huskies with a 6-4 record and a 2.44 E.R.A. In 88.2 innings, he has 78 strikeouts. Sophomore Nick Berger has a 6-5 record and a 2.80 E.R.A. He has pitched two shutouts. Senior righthander Dylan Maki is tied for the CAA lead with seven saves.
Offensively, the Tigers have a .283 team batting average and have scored 335 runs in 50 games. The Huskies are batting .265 as a team with 239 runs scored in 49 games.
The Tigers have three of the top run producers in the CAA, junior Kurt Wertz, junior Dominic Fratantuono and sophomore Peter Bowles.
Wertz, who is batting .335, is fifth in the CAA with 49 runs batted in. Fratantuono, a .325 hitter, has 44 RBI's, seventh in the league. Bowles, who leads the Tigers with a .368 batting average, is ninth in the CAA with 42 RBI's. Bowles had a big weekend at James Madison as he batted .462 with seven RBI's.
Towson continues to lead the CAA in fielding percentage with a .972 mark. The Tigers are also the NCAA Division I leaders with 68 double plays. Southern Mississippi is second (66) and Texas Tech (64) is third in the nation.
