Softball, laxers at home; baseball travels
Sports Information Department – 112 Dods Hall
Phone (716) 673-3100 / Fax (716) 673-3136
CONTACT: Jerry Reilly,
Sports Information Director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Weekend preview
FREDONIA, N.Y. -- The SUNYAC season opens this weekend the Fredonia State baseball and softball teams -- the men on the road, the women at home.
The baseball team leaves Friday for a trip to the east and two SUNYAC doubleheaders -- Saturday at Oneonta, Sunday at New Paltz. Both twinbills have noon starts.
Off to their best start in the tenure of head coach Matt Palisin, the Blue Devils are 9-1 and coming off a 6-5 home win Tuesday over Penn State Behrend. "We have been playing well in all facets of the game so far," said Palisin, in his seventh season with the Blue Devils. "Oneonta will be a good test. They are 13-3 right now and have the best couple of pitchers in the conference. They cost us a trip to the post-season the past two years, so we will be a motivated group.
Palisin said New Paltz, while always tough at home, has undergone roster turnover since last year. "We are not sure what to expect at this point," he said. (So) we need to focus on doing the routine things, and minimize mistakes."
Off to a similarly good start, the softball team plays a doubleheader vs. Morrisville State starting at 3 p.m., the first two home games of the 2009 season. They will also be the first games this season in northern weather. The Blue Devils went 8-3-1 during one week in sunny Florida.
"We are coming off our best performance ever while in Florida," head coach Lorrie Corsi said. "If we continue to get the pitching and defensive plays as in the past 12 games, I feel that we should prevail in both games against Morrisville."
Not to be taken lightly, the Mustangs are 2-9 this spring but split a doubleheader with the Blue Devils last year. Yet if things go according to plan, Corsi will use several pitchers Friday. He used five while in Florida, with freshman Jennifer Tighe (Hamburg/Frontier) earning three wins and freshmen Michelle Lattner (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) and Ashley LaPorta (Buffalo/Mount St. Mary) two each. Lattner leads the team with a 1.79 earned run average while Tighe is next at 2.21 with a team-high 17 strikeouts.
Offensively, the Blue Devils have been led by freshman Brittany Lis (Lancaster) with a .412 batting average and eight RBI. Meanwhile, freshman Courtney Wight (Bolivar/Bolivar-Richburg) is batting .375 and junior Rebecca Zimmerman (Jamestown) has 11 hits and 12 runs scored.
"This," Corsi said, "is still a very young ball club and now being in conference play, we will have more pressure on us. I hope that the result is what we would like to expect from this team."
The women's lacrosse team, still in non-conference mode, is also at home Friday night against the College of Wooster. The Blue Devils take a 3-0 record into play against one of the top women's lacrosse teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Game time at University Stadium is 6 p.m.