Baseball 5/16/2019 6:41:00 PM By Marisa Lombardo (Assistant SID)

Alvernia Baseball Set For NCAA Regionals

Cortland, NY (May 16, 2019) - Alvernia University enters tomorrow's 2019 NCAA Division III Baseball Regional as the fourth seed, and will face top-seed SUNY Cortland in the opening game of the regional, which is being hosted by SUNY Cortland.

Alvernia kicks off the tournament with a 11:00 AM game on Friday against Cortland. #3 Tufts University will then play #2 Penn State Harrisburg at approximately 1:30 PM in the second game of the regional.

#4 Alvernia University
2019 is the 14th time, and is the third straight year, that Alvernia has made the NCAA tournament. The Golden Wolves earned a berth this year after winning the MAC Commonwealth Championship with a 6-5 win over Widener University in 11 innings. Alvernia is ranked ninth in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Ranking. The Golden Wolves are led by MAC Commonwealth Player of the Year, Nathan Sides. Sides is tied for most hits in all of NCAA DIII with 83. He has a team high 49 RBIs and 15 doubles. In the field, Sides has a .966 fielding percentage with 84 putouts and 114 assists. On the mound, Tim Carfrey, Zack Landy, and Nicholas Marotta lead the Golden Wolves. The trio combine for 14 wins and seven losses, and all made starting appearances for Alvernia in the MAC Commonwealth Championship.

The Golden Wolves start off the regional facing #1 SUNY Cortland. The two teams have met just once, back in 2005, with Alvernia earning a 9-1 win.

#1 SUNY Cortland.
The Red Dragons are making a record-tying 27th straight NCAA appearance, and earned an at-large bid into the regional. SUNY Cortland finished first in the regular season in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) after going undefeated in conference play, but fell to SUNY Oswego in the tournament championship, giving the Lakers the SUNYAC's automatic berth. The Red Dragons are ranked second in the NCAA New York Regional Ranking, finishing only behind Ithaca. Cortland has advanced beyond the NCAA Regional round on 14 occasions, most recently in 2016. The Red Dragons won the Division III National Championship in 2015. Offensively, Cortland is led by Dan Schweitzer, who has a .386 batting average with a team-high 55 hits. On the mound, Cortland is led by Matt Valin who has a 1.74 ERA over 57 innings of work and 11 starts. He is 8-0 on the year with two complete games, and has allowed just 24 hits and 11 earned runs. Zack Durant also has 11 starts for the Red Dragons and has 2.95 ERA over 58 innings pitched.

#2 Penn State Harrisburg
Penn State Harrisburg are making just their second appearance in the NCAA tournament in the program's history. The Lions earned an at-large bid as well after falling to Christopher Newport University in the CAC Championship. Penn State is ranked fifth in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Ranking, four spots ahead of the Golden Wolves. The Lions have two of the top three hitters in the nation on the roster. Bret Williams is tied with Alvernia's Nathan Sides atop the list with 83 hits, and Miguel Torres sits in third in the country with 76 hits. Travis Van Houten leads Penn State's pitching staff with a 4.91 ERA over 73.1 innings pitched. The Golden Wolves and Lions have met 23 times over the past 33 years, with Alvernia holding a 19-4 series record. But, the Lions most recently earned a 7-4 win over Alvernia earlier this season. Torres hit a two-run home run in the contest. Mason Vogwill was one of four pitches Alvernia saw in the game, and he struck out five and allowed four hits in five innings pitched. Vogwill has a 5.80 ERA on the season in nine starts.

#3 Tufts University
Tufts University won the NESCAC title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Jumbos are making the tournament for the fourth time in the last six years, with their most recent appearance coming in 2017. The Jumbos are ranked seventh in the NCAA New England Regional Ranking. Tufts is led by Elias Varinos who has 52 hits on the year with 25 RBIs and 29 runs scored. On the mound, the Jumbos are led by RJ Hall who has a 1.31 ERA over 55 innings. Hall is 7-0 on the year with four complete games and has allowed just eight earned runs. The Golden Wolves and Jumbos have never met before.

2019 is the first year of a new tournament format for NCAA Division III baseball. This year, the winner of regionals, which feature smaller pods hosted on campuses, will advance to a super regional. The winner of the Cortland-hosted regional will advance to face the winner of the Trinity (Connecticut)-hosted regional. The two teams will face in a best-of-three super regional May 24-25, with the winner of the super regional advancing to the NCAA Division III World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from May 31-June 5. The World Series is in Cedar Rapids for the first time after a 19-year run in Appleton, Wisconsin came to an end.

Tournament Bracket
Friday, May 17
GAME 1: (#1 seed) Cortland vs. (#4 seed) Alvernia, 11 a.m. (TIME CHANGE)
GAME 2: (#2 seed) Penn State Harrisburg vs. (#3 seed) Tufts, 2:30 p.m. (TIME CHANGE)
Saturday, May 18
GAME 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 8:30 a.m.
GAME 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 12 p.m.
GAME 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 19
GAME 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 11 a.m.
GAME 7: Same teams as Game 6, if necessary

Important Information
Live options of the SUNY Cortland NCAA regional are available here.

Tickets are $4 per day for all fans. No dogs are permitted on site, except for service dogs.

Due to graduation at SUNY Cortland on Saturday, parking on Saturday will be on the Route 281 Lot, which is approximately ⅓ mile from the field. Visitors can walk or take a shuttle located at the red bus stop shelter. The shuttle will clearly be marked with for NCAA Baseball. Visitors

All visitor parking for NCAA Baseball on Saturday will be in our Route 281 Lot. This lot is only ¼ to ½ mile from the field. Visitors can walk to the field or take one of our shuttles located at the red bus stop shelter. The shuttles will be clearly marked for NCAA Baseball. Visitors should enter the campus via Route 281 to gain access to this lot. SUNY Cortland University Police will be present to assist drivers.

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Players Mentioned

#23 Tim Carfrey: P; 5' 10"; Senior; R/R

#6 Zack Landy: P; 6' 1"; Senior; L/R

#31 Nicholas Marotta: P; 6' 3"; Senior; R/R

#9 Nathan Sides: SS; 5' 9"; Senior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#23 Tim Carfrey
: 5' 10"; Senior; R/R
: P

#6 Zack Landy
: 6' 1"; Senior; L/R
: P

#31 Nicholas Marotta
: 6' 3"; Senior; R/R
: P

#9 Nathan Sides
: 5' 9"; Senior; R/R
: SS