Baseball Opens Home Slate With Fordham Tuesday

ALBANY, N.Y. – After a number of schedule rearrangements due to stubborn winter weather in the Capital Region, the University at Albany baseball team is finally set to play its first home game of the 2013 season. The Great Danes will square off against Fordham University Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Varsity Field. SCOUTING THE RAMS (11-14, 1-5 Atlantic 10) Fordham enters the midweek clash coming off a 4-3 victory over Saint Joseph’s. The win snapped a seven-game losing skid, as they dropped one to Hofstra (5-1), three to LaSalle, one game to Marist (7-1), and two games to Saint Joseph’s. The Rams own a collective .286 batting average led by Tim Swatek (.286), Charles Galiano (.276), and Matthew Cianci (.274), and also rank first in the A-10 with 14 triples as a team. Defensively, Fordam is fielding .959, while the pitching staff has accumulated a 4.24 earned run average. The Great Danes are expected to face junior right-handed pitcher J.C. Porter (1-2, 2.96 ERA) on the hill. THE RAMS COACH: Kevin Leighton (Seton Hall ‘01), 2nd season After six years at Manhattan College, Leighton was named head baseball coach at Fordham University in July 2011. In Leighton's first season at Fordham, the Rams finished with a 22-34 overall record and 12-12 mark in the A-10. As a player, Leighton had a standout four-year career at Seton Hall University, helping the Pirates to back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances in 2000 and 2001. He was also drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997. SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES (8-13, 4-5 America East) UAlbany comes off a 1-2 series at Maine. After falling, 4-1 and 7-4, the Great Danes rallied to capture a 7-6 victory in game three. On the season, UAlbany is batting .259 collectively led by Matt Hinchy (.394), Jeff Welsh (.322), Evan Harasta (.304), and Nolan Gaige (.291). Defensively, the squad owns a .963 fielding percentage, while the pitching staff has a combined 5.36 ERA and league-best 8.01 strikeouts per game. THE GREAT DANE COACH: Jon Mueller (14th season, Eckerd College, ‘92) Jon Mueller is in his 14th season as the head coach of the University at Albany baseball program. The Stillwater, N.Y. native has had proven success as both a player and coach throughout his career. Mueller ranks first among UAlbany’s career leaders with 287 coaching victories, and was named the America East Coach of the Year in 2004. He also led the Danes to the program’s first America East Conference tournament championship title and NCAA appearance in 2007. Mueller has produced dozens of all-conference standouts and has had six players selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft under his direction, including one in each of the past two seasons. LAST TIME OUT… Trailing 6-3 in the seventh, UAlbany rallied for four unanswered runs en route to a 7-6 Easter Sunday victory over Maine at Mahaney Diamond. UAlbany out-slugged Maine, 12-4, in the series finale, as Nolan Gaige (2-for-4), D.J. Hoagboon (2-for-4), Gordon Madej (2-for-5), Matt Hinchy (2-for-4), and Greg Muller (2-for-4) all had multi-hit games. On the mound, UAlbany’s pitching staff held the Black Bears to four scattered hits. Coming out of the pen for the final three and a third frames, Derek Zielinski (2-3) earned the win, limiting Maine to one hit and one run, while striking out one. Starter Ryan Stinar threw the first five innings, allowing four runs (three earned), three hits, and recorded four strikeouts in the no-decision. LAST TIME VS. FORDHAM On March 7, 2012, UAlbany captured its first win of the season against Fordham, winning, 7-6, in 10 innings in the Bronx. Gordon Madej went 4-for-5 with two RBI, including the game-winning RBI, while Nolan Gaige hit his first home run of the season. MADEJ LEADS THE WAY Sophomore Gordon Madej led UAlbany with a .444 batting average last week, including three multi-hit games. Madej also drove in four runs, while scoring three, helping UAlbany to wins over Cornell and Maine. Against Cornell, Madej went 1-for-4 in the Danes’ 4-1 win over the reigning Ivy League champions and went 3-for-4, as well as had one RBI in the team’s tough-luck nightcap. Against conference foe Maine, Madej closed the series with back-to-back multi-hit performances, including going 2-for-5 with an RBI in UAlbany’s 7-6 victory. CHASING DOWN A WIN Redshirt senior Austin Chase (1-3) tossed all seven innings, earning the win, in UAlbany’s 4-1 victory over Cornell. Chase held the Big Red hitless until the fourth inning, and allowed just one run and three hits total, while striking out five. The win marked Chase’s first in his senior campaign. HINCHY HEATS UP Freshman Matt Hinchy recorded a .429 batting average in UAlbany’s conference series at Maine, while totaling a .308 average on the week. In the Great Danes’ 7-6 win over the Black Bears, Hinchy went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and also lined a double in game one versus Maine. Hinchy also helped UAlbany split a doubleheader with the reigning Ivy League champion, Cornell, starting at third base. CATCHERS RULE AT CORNELL Freshman catcher Evan Harasta had his best game yet in a Great Dane uniform, going 3-for-3 with three runs batted in and his first career home run in UAlbany’s 4-1 win over Cornell last Tuesday. The rookie accounted for half of his team’s hits in the victory. Fellow catcher, sophomore Craig Lepre, finished a triple shy of the cycle in the nightcap, as he went 3-for-3 with two runs batted in and three runs scored. With two outs in the sixth, Lepre belted a two-run home run, marking the first in his collegiate career, while also giving UAlbany a temporary lead. ON DECK UAlbany hosts conference rival Stony Brook Saturday and Sunday for a three-game series at Varsity Field. The squads will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon, and a single game Sunday, also at noon.