PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Due to rain in the forecast this weekend, the University of Pikeville baseball team will push up the start of its Mid-South Conference Tournament Opening Round series with St. Catharine to 3 p.m. ET on Thursday at Johnnie LeMaster Field.
The No. 3-seed Bears and sixth-seeded Patriots will play a best-of-three series in Pikeville with action continuing at Noon on Friday. An if-necessary third game would start approximately 30 minutes after the completion of game one. Â
Admission to all three contests is free, while live stats are available through the NAIA DakStats site and free, live video will be streaming online through Pike TV.
UPIKE, at 24-21 overall and 11-10 in the MSC, is having its best season in 15 years, but will be up against a St. Catharine (32-19, 10-11 MSC) team that won two out of three against the Bears during the regular season.
On April 9, St. Catharine topped UPIKE 8-1, followed by losing game two 5-3, then finally capturing the series win with a 9-1 decision in the finale.
St. Catharine is led at the plate by Alfredo Bohorquez, hitting .341 with two home runs and an NAIA second-best 11 triples. Nicco Lollio is the Patriots power guy, coming into the tournament with eight home runs and a .304 batting average. Hector Quinones is another player to watch at the plate, batting .339 with four home runs, 17 doubles and a team-best 51 RBIs.
On the mound, Daniel Lerma leads the Patriots, allowing opposing batters to hit just .203 against him. Lerma holds a 1.53 ERA and has 52 strikeouts as he enters postseason play with a 5-4 record. Marvin Galarza enters play with the best record at 7-2, but has a 3.41 ERA and has batters hitting over .300 against him.
UPIKE has made its turnaround from no MSC wins last season, to a No. 3 seed in 2016 with the help of leading hitters Erik Manning (.346), Josh Bailey (.346) and Justin Beatty (.338). Manning leads the trio with 12 doubles and two triples, while Beatty is the team's RBI leader with 36.
As for home runs, Mike Peluffo leads the way with three, followed by Bailey and Beatty with two each.
Bryce Carden is UPIKE's ace, coming into the postseason with an 8-2 record and 2.09 ERA with 37 strikeouts and a .218 batting average against him.
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