Saturday, March 30
Worcester, Mass.
1 p.m.
Lehigh University
at
Holy Cross
Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Lehigh continues league play with three-game set at Holy Cross
3/29/2019 11:20:00 AM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Patriot League play continues this weekend when Lehigh baseball visits Worcester, Mass. to take on Holy Cross in a three-game series starting Saturday at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field.
The Mountain Hawks (10-13, 1-3 PL) are coming off a victory that brought focus back after struggling in the last week or so to get a win. Lehigh bested Saint Peter's, 13-5 at J. David Walker Field on Wednesday behind three home runs off the bats of Gerard Sweeney, Jeff Shanfeldt and Matt Hand. This was coming after a tight 12-11 loss to Delaware in the first round of the Liberty Bell Classic.
Lehigh, however, is hoping that this weekend brings better luck than last weekend did to start off the 2019 Patriot League season, where it dropped three of four games to Lafayette at home.
The Mountain Hawks' offense definitely hasn't been the problem this season, currently leading the Patriot League in home runs with 18 so far and by a considerable margin. Navy currently is in second place with 12 so far. Lehigh also paces the league in runs batted in with 145. Individually, it's Ryan Malloy who leads the team in homers with six through the first 23 games of the season. After that, Shanfeldt, Sweeney, Tony Gallo, Mike Maguire and Quinn McKenna have each hit two this season.
Jeff Shanfeldt has really taken off near the mid-way point of the season, currently on a 19-game on-base streak, including getting himself a base hit in six straight games. He's also hit a home run in back-to-back games and leads the team in walks with 17. It didn't take long for Shanfeldt to get his batting average back over the .300 threshold, currently slashing .312/.481/.448 with an OPS of .929, second on the team. The senior is also responsible for his 1.000 fielding percentage, committing no errors on 144 chances at catcher this season. Shanfeldt is just one of six players left in the Patriot League with a perfect fielding percentage.
The Mountain Hawks have also been fortunate to have the recent success of junior shortstop Matt Hand on offense, who has picked up at least one hit in 12 of his last 14 games. Hand had himself the clutch hit in Tuesday's game against Delaware where he singled in the run that tied the game at 11 in the top of the eighth inning. On Wednesday, Hand's one-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning put Lehigh up by eight runs. Hand is hitting .269 with a .412 on-base percentage and is only watching it climb more and more as the games progress.
Lehigh's pitching has struggled overall with a team ERA of 6.50, but help out of the bullpen from Ethan Frohman, Matt Hand and Matt Stamford have really been a big help in ensuring runs don't come across in later innings.
Holy Cross is coming off one of its biggest wins of the season, splitting a doubleheader with Navy on Monday at Fitton Field. The Crusaders (5-21, 2-2 PL) dropped the first game to the Midshipmen, 6-1 in seven innings, but rebounded for a 4-0 shutout in Game 2 behind Liam Dvorak's spectacular outing that earned him Patriot League Pitcher of the Week. He pitched eight strong innings without allowing a run and gave up seven hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.
The Crusaders are led offensively by Ben Malgeri, currently hitting .310 (26-for-84) with two home runs, four doubles, a triple and nine RBIs. Evan Blum is hitting .274 (17-for-62) with five doubles and nine RBIs so far. Peter Dudunakis leads the team in homers with three through his first 26 games.
Holy Cross leads the all-time series, 65-56, though the Mountain Hawks are victorious in the last two matchups, last beating the Crusaders by a score of 8-5 back on May 6, 2018 to close out the season.
The first two games on Saturday are set to begin at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. with Sunday's game set for a first pitch of 1 p.m. Sunday's single game will be broadcast live on the Patriot League Network.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
The Mountain Hawks (10-13, 1-3 PL) are coming off a victory that brought focus back after struggling in the last week or so to get a win. Lehigh bested Saint Peter's, 13-5 at J. David Walker Field on Wednesday behind three home runs off the bats of Gerard Sweeney, Jeff Shanfeldt and Matt Hand. This was coming after a tight 12-11 loss to Delaware in the first round of the Liberty Bell Classic.
Lehigh, however, is hoping that this weekend brings better luck than last weekend did to start off the 2019 Patriot League season, where it dropped three of four games to Lafayette at home.
The Mountain Hawks' offense definitely hasn't been the problem this season, currently leading the Patriot League in home runs with 18 so far and by a considerable margin. Navy currently is in second place with 12 so far. Lehigh also paces the league in runs batted in with 145. Individually, it's Ryan Malloy who leads the team in homers with six through the first 23 games of the season. After that, Shanfeldt, Sweeney, Tony Gallo, Mike Maguire and Quinn McKenna have each hit two this season.
Jeff Shanfeldt has really taken off near the mid-way point of the season, currently on a 19-game on-base streak, including getting himself a base hit in six straight games. He's also hit a home run in back-to-back games and leads the team in walks with 17. It didn't take long for Shanfeldt to get his batting average back over the .300 threshold, currently slashing .312/.481/.448 with an OPS of .929, second on the team. The senior is also responsible for his 1.000 fielding percentage, committing no errors on 144 chances at catcher this season. Shanfeldt is just one of six players left in the Patriot League with a perfect fielding percentage.
The Mountain Hawks have also been fortunate to have the recent success of junior shortstop Matt Hand on offense, who has picked up at least one hit in 12 of his last 14 games. Hand had himself the clutch hit in Tuesday's game against Delaware where he singled in the run that tied the game at 11 in the top of the eighth inning. On Wednesday, Hand's one-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning put Lehigh up by eight runs. Hand is hitting .269 with a .412 on-base percentage and is only watching it climb more and more as the games progress.
Lehigh's pitching has struggled overall with a team ERA of 6.50, but help out of the bullpen from Ethan Frohman, Matt Hand and Matt Stamford have really been a big help in ensuring runs don't come across in later innings.
Holy Cross is coming off one of its biggest wins of the season, splitting a doubleheader with Navy on Monday at Fitton Field. The Crusaders (5-21, 2-2 PL) dropped the first game to the Midshipmen, 6-1 in seven innings, but rebounded for a 4-0 shutout in Game 2 behind Liam Dvorak's spectacular outing that earned him Patriot League Pitcher of the Week. He pitched eight strong innings without allowing a run and gave up seven hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.
The Crusaders are led offensively by Ben Malgeri, currently hitting .310 (26-for-84) with two home runs, four doubles, a triple and nine RBIs. Evan Blum is hitting .274 (17-for-62) with five doubles and nine RBIs so far. Peter Dudunakis leads the team in homers with three through his first 26 games.
Holy Cross leads the all-time series, 65-56, though the Mountain Hawks are victorious in the last two matchups, last beating the Crusaders by a score of 8-5 back on May 6, 2018 to close out the season.
The first two games on Saturday are set to begin at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. with Sunday's game set for a first pitch of 1 p.m. Sunday's single game will be broadcast live on the Patriot League Network.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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