Cleveland, Ohio (May 16, 2024) - Alvernia University Baseball will begin its 15th NCAA appearance on Friday morning as the Golden Wolves take on Case Western Reserve at the host Spartans' Nobby's Ballpark in Cleveland, Ohio.

Alvernia is making its 15th NCAA regional appearance, and its first appearance since 2019. The Golden Wolves received an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament following a 2-1 series win over Messiah University in the MAC Commonwealth Championship last weekend. The Golden Wolves defeated the Falcons, 7-2, in the decisive game three.

TEAM STATISTICS
KEY OFFENSIVE STATISTICS

	GP	Ba. Avg.	Hits	Runs	RBIs	2B	3B	HR	BB
Alvernia	44	0.303	424	336	295	88	17	23	201
CWRU	40	0.328	461	360	318	96	11	41	191
Ithaca	40	0.296	4221	335	279	87	11	27	213
Lynchburg	45	0.306	478	381	340	91	14	42	264

KEY PITCHING STATISTICS

	GP	IP	ERA	CG	SHO	Saves	Hits	HR	KO	BB	Opp. Ba. Avg.
Alvernia	44	360.2	4.84	1	5	9	396	22	300	166	0.278
CWRU	40	344	5.08	1	2	16	366	12	409	164	0.267
Ithaca	40	354	4.37	1	2	7	364	13	311	139	0.264
Lynchburg	45	393.2	5.46	1	2	10	438	28	356	191	0.281

PREVIEWING THE FIELD
Alvernia University
Record: 28-16
How They Got Here: Automatic Bid - MAC Commonwealth Champions
Offensive Leaders:
Mike Ramundo is leading the Alvernia offensive charge heading into the regional weekend. The First Team All-MAC Commonwealth honoree is batting .458 with an 1.19 OPS and a .511 on-base percentage. He has a team-leading 77 hits - including 29 extra base hits - heading into the weekend. He also has 51 runs scored and 36 RBIs. His 77 hits rank him fourth in DIII, and his 22 doubles rank him third in the nation.

Jason Kelly heads into Friday with a .387 batting average and a .492 on-base percentage. The senior has a team-high 42 RBIs and 25 walks. Kelly has 11 doubles and two homers on the year and a total of 53 hits.

Matt Edwards and Ben Houghton are Alvernia's long-ball threat. The duo combined for 12 home runs so far this season, and each had multi-run homers in Alvernia's championship series against Messiah. Both are batting over .300 and combine for 77 hits.

Defensive Leaders: 
Alvernia's middle infield is primarily covered by Ramundo at second and Bobby Hansen at shortstop. Hansen has 66 assists and 41 putouts at short for Alvernia with a .907 fielding percentage. Ramundo has 69 assists and 1012 putouts with a .961 fielding percentage. The duo have combined for 18 double plays turned. Alvernia's corners are primarily covered by Houghton at third and Edwards at first. Houghton has 47 assists and 24 putouts on the year with nine errors, and Edwards has 29 assists and 264 putouts with just five errors.

Alvernia's outfield is generally young. Logan Nelson, Quincy Essanson, Jake Chapman, and Evan Thomas have all seen consistent time in the outfield for the Golden Wolves. All four combined have just three errors on the season with 229 putouts and six assists.

Alvernia Pitching:
Jason Kelly, Nick Ferraioli, and Chris Sasso have been the primary starters for Alvernia since conference play began back in March. Kelly leads the trio with a 2.84 ERA, and Ferraioli is right behind with a 2.86 ERA. Ferraioli leads Alvernia with a 7-0 record and 57 strikeouts. Sasso holds his opponents to a 2.19 batting average and has allowed just 50 hits over 61 and two thirds innings pitched. Kelly has Alvernia's lone complete game of the season, which came on Sunday in the decisive game three against the Falcons. 

In relief, Brad Coley leads Alvernia with seven saves and 24 strikeouts over 18 innings pitched. Matt Mays and Michael Andrew each have 16 relief appearances, and Ronald Kopcho has allowed just one earned run in 11 appearances and nine innings of work.

Alvernia Against the Field:
Alvernia has played Case Western Reserve just once before - back in 1995. Alvernia has never played Ithaca, and only faced Lynchburg for one series back in 2008. 

The Golden Wolves and CWRU have a common opponent this season in Arcadia. Both teams lost to the Knights. Alvernia fell 17-8 to Arcadia back in April, and CWRU fell to the Knights by a 9-1 decision in early March. Ithaca also took on Arcadia and defeated the Knights twice.

Lynchburg and the Golden Wolves also each played a three-game series against York. The Golden Wolves went 1-2 against the Spartans to close out the regular season, and Lynchburg also went 1-2 against York back in the first week of March.

#6/7 Case Western Reserve
Record: 31-9
How They Got Here: At-Large Bid - United Athletic Association
Offensive Leaders
The Spartans have seven players batting over .300 and are led by Jack Anderson with a .405 batting average on the season. Anderson has 62 hits with 16 doubles, two triples, and three homers, and leads the Spartans with 58 runs scored. Dane Camphausen leads the Spartans with 12 home runs and a .724 slug percentage. He also has a team high 55 RBIs. Nick Harms is an on-base threat for the Spartans with 15 stolen bases on 15 attempts this season. 

Defensive Leaders
Nate Arterburn, a first-year shortstop for the Spartans, has 66 assists and 50 putouts with a .943 fielding percentage. He has also been a part of 12 double-plays turned. James Powers, grad utility player who spends quite a bit of time playing this, also has 66 assists on the season with 74 putouts. However, Powers leads the Spartans with ten errors. Camphausen plays first base for the Spartans and has 249 putouts on the year with 12 assists and just one error.

CWRU Pitching
Quinn Saunders, a first-year lefty, has a team-low 3.57 ERA over 40 pitched and eight games started. Saunders leads the team with 74 strikeouts and leads the nation in strikeouts per nine innings with 74 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched. 

Archer Stankowski and Reece Marley join Saunders as the likely starters for the weekend. Stankowsi and Marley each have ERA over 5.00, but each also have over 50 strikeouts on the year.

CWRU Against the Field:
The Spartans faced Ithaca twice this season. Case Western took the first matchup, 9-8, while the Bombers took the second matchup a few weeks later, 9-4.

#23/RV Ithaca College
Record: 31-9
How They Got Here: Automatic Bid - Liberty League
Offensive Leaders:
Camden Laney, a first year, leads the Bomber offensive with a .351 batting average in 30 games played. He has 33 hits - over a third of which are for extra bases. He leads the Bombers with a .488 on-base percentage and has also been walked 22 times. Louis Fabbo is the only Bomber to start in all 40 of Ithaca's games. He leads the Bombers with 48 hits. He also has 30 runs scored and 31 RBIs. Matt Curtis is batting .295 for Ithaca and leads the team with 41 RBIs.

Defensive Leaders
Riley Brawdy, a junior shortstop, leads the Bombers with 98 assists and 45 putouts with a .923 fielding percentage. He has also been a part of 15 double plays turned. Ethan Rothstein has played shortstop, second, and third base for the Bombers. He has 87 assists with 38 putouts and a .947 fielding percentage.  Laney and Ryan Laubscher split first base duties for Ithaca. Laney has 173 putouts and 13 assists with four errors, and Laubscher has 144 putouts and 15 assists with six errors on the season. 

Ithaca Pitching
Colin Leyner owns the most wins at 7-2 with a 3.94 ERA and team-high 67 strikeouts for the Bombers. He has allowed 74 hits and given-up a team-high seven homers. Jack Picozzi is 4-1 on the year with a 4.07 ERA, and Danny Drotos is 2-0 with a 3.47 ERA to round out the probable starters for the Bombers. John Griffin is 5-0 in relief for the Bombers with two saves, and Conor Burns leads the Bombers with five saves, but also has three losses on the year.

Of Note
The Bombers are riding the longest win-streak of the four teams in this weekend's regional. Ithaca has won 12 straight games dating back to April 20th. However, the Bombers needed two bottom of the ninth comebacks and a 13th inning walk-off in their final three games of the Liberty League championship tournament to secure the title. 

#26/RV Lynchburg University (Defending NCAA DIII National Champions)
Records: 30-15
How They Got Here: Automatic Bid - ODAC
Offensive Leaders
Joe Munitz leads the defending national champs with a .389 batting average; however, Munitz has only played in 35 of Lynchburg's 45 games played. Quinn Madden leads Lynchburg with 65 hits and has a team-high 13 doubles and 11 home runs. Madden is batting .357 with 64 RBIs and a .643 slug percentage.  His 64 RBIs ranks him sixth in the nation. As a team, Lynchburg 264 walks on the year, which is the fourth most in the nation. Benton Jones and Brandon Garcia combine for 84 of those walks and are each also batting over .315. 

Defensive Leaders
Garcia and Jones also take care of middle infield duties for the Hornets. Garcia has 131 assists and 55 putouts, and Jones has 113 assists and 70 putouts. However, they each have ten or more errors on the year. Eric Hiett takes care of first base for the Hornets and has 203 putouts, 23 assists and just one error. 

Hornet Pitching
Lynchburg does not have a primary starter with an ERA under 4.00 Nick Mattfield and Colin McGuire each have a 4.20 ERA, and Wesley Arrington rounds out the starters with a 4.72. Arington is coming off a nine-inning no-hitter against Randolph Macon in the ODAC semifinal. Arrington also leads the Hornets with 81 strikeouts. McGuire has team-low 15 walks amongst the starters.

Regional Details
Full ticket and parking information is available at the link above. Live options are available at auwolves.com.live, and additional coverage during the regional is available on Alvernia Athletics social media.