Emory to Face Huntingdon, Capital and Case before Next Week’s UAA Tournament

The Emory University baseball team will look to gain some momentum heading into next week’s University Athletic Association (UAA) Tournament, playing at Huntingdon College on Wednesday, and hosting Capital University on Friday and Case Western Reserve University on Sunday.

Emory’s game at Huntingdon is scheduled for a 5:00 PM EST start in Montgomery, Ala.  The Eagles will host Capital at 2:00 PM on Friday, and Case at 12:00 PM on Sunday.

Coverage
There will be live statistics for Wednesday’s game against Huntingdon, available at http://fs.huntingdon.edu/livestats/xlive.htm.

Both home games against Capital and Case will be webcasted online and have live statistics.  The webcasts, available at http://go.emory.edu/Webcasts/BaseWebcast.html, require the free version of RealPlayer from real.com to view.  Live statistics for the games are available at http://www.go.emory.edu/LiveStats/Base/xlive.htm.

Emory Eagles
The Eagles will be looking to rebound from a tough weekend in Memphis, TN, during which the team lost games to Rhodes College, Maryville College, and 12^th-ranked Marietta College.  Emory is currently 7-4 overall, including a 7-0 mark at home and a 0-4 mark on the road. Emory is batting .279 and averaging 6.3 runs per game as a team this season, while its pitching staff has an ERA of 4.31.  The Eagles are led by head coach Mike Twardoski, whose 344-152-1 career record is good for a .693 winning percentage, the highest mark among active UAA coaches, 15^th-highest among all active NCAA Division III coaches, and 21^st-best mark among Division III coaches all time to start the season.  Assistant Coaches Bobby Perez, Brian Clark, and Greg McMichael will complete Coach Twardoski’s staff for the 2011 season.

Huntingdon Hawks
The Hawks are 10-3 in 2011, with a 3-2 record at home.  This season, Huntingdon is batting .299 as a team, while averaging 7.5 runs per game.  Their pitching staff has recorded an ERA of 3.24 through the first 13 games of the campaign.  Huntingdon is led by head coach D.J. Conville, who had a 171-90 record during his six season with the team.  He is assisted by Joey Holcomb and Scott Mularz.

The Eagles are 20-10 all time against Huntingdon, including a 1-2 record during three games last season.  In the three games last season, Gabe Shivers hit .571 (four-for-seven) with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Andrew Cohn drove in a team-best four runs over the three games, batting .545 (six-for-11).

Capital Crusaders
Capital will begin the week with a 1-2 overall record, with all three games coming against Huntingdon last weekend, and will play at LaGrange College on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Piedmont College on Thursday, before travelling to Chappell Park on Friday.  The Crusaders are batting .216 as a team this season, while averaging 4.3 runs per game, and their pitching staff has an ERA of 8.47.  Capital is led by former LaGrange assistant Ryan Grice, who has a record of 14-26 during his two seasons with the team.  He is assisted by Adam Rosen.

This will be just the second meeting ever between the two teams, and the first since the 1994 season.  Emory suffered an 8-3 defeat to Capital in the last matchup.

Case Spartans
Although both Case and Emory are members of the UAA, Sunday’s meeting will not count as an in-conference game.  The Spartans are 5-3 overall this season, including a split of a doubleheader against Wabash College on Sunday.  Case is batting .346 as a team this season with 9.1 runs scored per game, while its pitching staff has an ERA of 7.63 this season.  The Spartans are led by fifth-year skipper Matt Englander, who has a 66-103-1 record with the team.  He is assisted by Nick Callahan and Sean Karpen.

Emory is 22-5 all time against Case, but has gone just 1-3 in the last four meetings with the Spartans, stretching over the last two seasons.  Last season, the Eagles split a pair of games against the Spartans, winning 5-3 at Chappell Park, and losing 7-5 at the UAA Tournament.  The teams will meet again on March 11^th during the UAA Tournament this season.

Emory Notes
Sunday’s game against Case Western Reserve is currently scheduled to be coach Mike Twardoski’s 500^th game at the Eagles’ helm… Emory is batting .321 with 8.3 runs per game and a 3.43 ERA during their seven wins this season… The Eagles’ team batting average and runs scored per game drop to .203 and 2.75 in their four losses, while the team ERA rises to 6.00… Emory is batting .331 (45-for-136) with runners in scoring position this season… The Eagles pitching staff has held left-handed batters to a .248 batting average this season… Freshman Matt McMahon has allowed lefties to hit just .118 (two-for-17) against him during the campaign… Emory is 5-0 this season when the team scores five or more runs and 6-1 when the pitching staff holds the opponent to five or less runs.