SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.V. – With snow covering the diamonds in the north, the Mansfield University baseball team will now travel to Shepherdstown, W.V. to play all three of their opening Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East games at Shepherd University, beginning Friday, March 11.
 
The Rams will host the Mountaineers for a noon doubleheader on Friday at Fairfax Field. Additionally, the two teams will play a single game on Monday, March 14 at 2 p.m. at Fairfax Field. Live stats for the games can be found here.
 
EARLY LEADERS
Senior Assaf Lowengart has been on a tear to start the season, hitting .432 (19-of-44), with three doubles, a triple, a home run, nine runs and eight RBI. Senior Ben Osborne is right behind him with an average of .364 (16-of-44) and leads the club with 10 RBI.
 
Senior Cole Shomper rounds out the sluggers batting north of .300 and is currently hitting a career-best .364 (4-of-11) with two doubles and two RBI.
 
Sophomore Dylan Mercedes and senior Samuel Freedman lead the club with two homers.
 
Senior Hunter DePrimo has picked up right where he left off after his All-Region season in 2021, entering the weekend with a 1-1 record, 17 innings pitched and a team-high 22 strikeouts. Sophomore Ryan King has had a solid start to the season, coming in behind DePrimo with 15 Ks after picking up his first victory last weekend. Freshman Austin Lewis and Jacob Houtz are leading the club in innings out of the pen, while Houtz earned his first collegiate victory of his career last weekend in his first start of 2022.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Mountaineers are coming off their best weekend of the young season after wrapping up a clean four-game sweep of the Trojans of Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va.
 
Although the Mountaineers didn't necessarily explode offensively, it was the timely hitting that proved the difference in the weekend sweep. The Mountaineers scored an abundance of their runs through sacrifice flies after taking extra bases with aggressive baserunning. The Mounties finished the weekend with 24 hits, one home run, two triples and three doubles.
 
Lowengart led the group with multiple hits and an RBI in every in every game, while sophomore Zachary Shertzer and Osborne combined to drive in seven runs and junior Brittain Shander scored six runs.
 
The Mountaineer pitching staff received quality starts from their pitching staff in all four games, with sophomore Eric Gustofson, freshman Scott Poulson, Deprimo and sophomore Ryan King all earning victories, while juniors Todd Erney and Josh Colon also earned their first saves of the season. The Mountaineer hurlers allowed two or fewer runs during the first three outings.
 
The Mountaineer defense also turned things around after a slow start to the season by their standard. The Mounties did not have a mishap through the first two games, while starting to make game-changing plays to help the pitching staff. In the final game of the series, sophomore Shay Gustafson threw out the potential tying run out at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning to allow the Mountaineers to take the lead in the seventh and hold on for victory.
 
THE RAMS
Record: 4-6
Last Time Out: L, 7-1 at Francis Marion
Last Five: 2-3
Head Coach: Matt McCarty (11^th season, Shepherd '10)
Top Slugger: Ryan Haddaway (.405, 15-of-37, eight runs, two 2B)
Top Hurler: Nick Trabacchi (17.1 IP, 1-1, 13 Ks)
 
ON THIS DAY
3/10/2016: Mounties Top Rockhurst 12-11 in 11-Inning Thriller
 
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Never-Say-Die Mounties used a go-ahead RBI single from Scott Rockwell and a gutsy 10-strikeout effort on the mound by Alec Covel to outlast Rockhurst (Ks.) 12-11 in an 11-inning thriller
at Jack Russell Stadium.
 
Rockwell and Taylor Hillson each went 4-7 at the plate while Covel allowed just four hits over the final 4.2 innings to lead Mansfield (8-4) to its third win in the Sunshine State.
 
NEXT UP
The Mounties begin a three-game series with West Chester University with a single nine-inning contest on the road at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 18.