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NIAGARA UNIV. — The Purple Eagles open their home slate this weekend, hosting Saint Peter’s for a three-game series April 1-2.
The Purple Eagles opened conference play with a three-game series against Manhattan March 25-26.
Niagara picked up a 10-2 win over Manhattan in the first game of the series. Tanner Kirwer, Joel Brophy, and Greg Cullen led NU with one RBI each and Peter Battaglia had a team-high three hits. On the mound, Cody Eckerson (2-1) struck out four batters, walked one and allowed only five hits in his 6.0 innings pitched. The Purple Eagles were swept by the Jaspers in Sunday’s doubleheader. Manhattan won game one, 4-2, and game two, 6-5. Geoff Seto had NU’s lone RBI of game one and Kirwer led the Purple Eagles with three hits, one double and two stolen bases. Owen Dziados had a team-high three hits in game two and five players, including Dziados, had one RBI each.
Freshman infielder Battaglia and sophomore shortstop Cullen are both batting a team-best .329. Cullen leads the Purple Eagles with 16 RBI and 25 hits. Battaglia is second on the team in RBI with 15 and Battaglie and junior outfielder Kirwer are second in hits with 24 each. Kirwer leads the team in runs scored (17), doubles (13), stolen bases (12), on-base percentage (.426) and slugging percentage (.519). Freshman Matthew Brash (3-0) leads the Purple Eagles pitching staff with 30.0 innings pitched. He has struck out 27 batters and has an ERA of 3.00. Senior Daniel Procopio (2-2) has a team-high 29 strikeouts and he has walked only five batters in 24.0 innings pitched.
The Purple Eagles lead the MAAC in doubles (40), are second in on-base percentage (.359), third in runs scored (104), RBI (88), triples (five) and stolen bases (27) and are fourth in team batting average (.257) and slugging percentage (.353). The Niagara pitching staff has held opposing batters to a MAAC-best .224 average. The Purple Eagles are tied for second in doubles allowed (25) and triples allowed (two) and are third in batters struck out looking (43). Kirwer leads the MAAC in doubles with 13 and in stolen bases with 12. He is tied for third-most runs scored with 17 and has the fifth-best slugging percentage (.519). Cullen is tied for fourth-most RBI with 16 and junior outfielder Julian Gallup is second in stolen bases with seven. On the mound, Procopio leads the conference in batters struck out looking (15) and has held opponents to the second-lowest batting average (.165).
Senior Saint Peter’s Peacocks pitcher Jake Regina leads the Peacocks in RBI with five. Junior catcher Mike Ionta and Jose Martinez, a senior catcher, lead the team in hits with six each. Ionta also has a team-high two double and five runs scored. On the mound, Kevin Soriano (0-2) has thrown a team-best six strikeouts. Matt Clementoni and also leads the Peacocks with 8.1 innings pitched.
The Saint Peter’s pitching staff has allowed the fewest hits (68), runs (44), earned runs (39), walks (12), doubles (17) and homeruns (three). Clementoni and Anthony Assante are tied for fewest hits allowed with 10 each. Clementoni and Soriano rank first in the MAAC in walk allowed; they have each walked only one batter. Michael Ammerman has allowed the fewest runs (four) and Clementoni has allowed the second-fewest runs (five).
The Purple Eagles head to St. Bonaventure for a single game with the Bonnies on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
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