DATE: March 14-16, 2015
|
TIME: Saturday at 6 pm ET, 5 CT; Sunday at 4 pm ET, 3 CT; Monday at 1 pm ET, 12 CT
LOCATION: Montgomery, AL
FACILITY: Neal Posey Field
LAST SERIES: PC swept 2015 3-game series
TWITTER: @PiedmontLions
TEXT ALERTS: Sign up Here
STORYLINES
– Both the Lions and the Hawks come into the series with an 11-4 Conference record in a tie for first place.
– The hosting team in the series has swept the opponent in the previous two seasons.
– The Lions are on a four-game win streak.
– Both teams have at least one player in the top five in seven of the eight statistical categories measured by the USA South.
– Huntingdon was first in the Conference heading into last year’s series where the Lions came away with 3 victories in the sweep.
– Outfielder Evan Gresham for the Lions was named to the D3 Baseball Team of the Week this past week.
THE COACHES
D.J. Conville is in his 11th year of coaching the Hawks baseball program after first being a player, then assistant, and finally head coach for the 2005 season. Accumulating a 270-144 record in his tenure, Conville has not recorded a single losing season as head coach. Conville has lead his team to one NCAA Regional appearance and three GSAC regular-season titles accompanied with two GSAC Tournament Championships. While in the GSAC from 2005-2012, Conville himself earned GSAC Coach of the Year twice and added two GSAC Players of the Year with four GSAC Pitchers of the Year.
Now in his 14th year at the helm of the Lions baseball program, Jim Peeples has helped establish one of the most consistent programs in the South Region, if not the country, with 10 of his previous 13 seasons featuring 21 wins or more including a current streak of five straight. Since 2008, Piedmont has made two appearances in the NCAA National Tournament while the 2014 version posted 25 wins and finished in the top four of the USA South Regular Season standings for a second straight year.
SCOUTING HUNTINGDON
The Hawks enter the series with an 11-5 overall record and 11-4 in the USA South. Their last matchup ended in a late inning loss to Oglethorpe University 11-10. The Hawks have swept two of their USA South series against N.C. Wesleyan College and Greensboro College, and lost their only series so far to Maryville College. Led offensively by senior infielder Jordan Freeman who leads the USA South in RBI with 21 and is second in the conference in home runs with three. Junior Jackson Cruce leads the USA South in wins with four and has pitched 33 innings striking out 21 batters and given up 13 runs. Out of the bullpen, Mason Throneberry leads the USA South in saves with four and has pitched 11 innings in six games for the Hawks striking out four and only giving up three hits and holding a 0.00 ERA.
SERIES RECORDS
Lions lead the series 20-16 since the 2005 season. In the last two years, the home team has come away with a sweep. Before both teams entered the USA South and were apart of the GSAC, the teams were an even 3-3 in the conference tournament. Two of the three years the Lions beat the Hawks, Piedmont went on to compete in an NCAA Regional in 2008 and 2011. Also in these two years, the Lions won both regular season series matchups by winning the first and last games.
THE RIVALRY CONTINUES
The last matchup between these teams took place from March 21, 2014 to March 23, 2014 at Loudermilk Field. The Hawks came into the matchup in first place of the USA South, but the Lions came away with the sweep scoring 31 runs in the series on an astonishing 40 hit performance. The Lions won game one 18-11 with a nine run eighth inning to propel the Lions to the late-inning win. Game two was won 9-3 with the finale ending in favor of the Lions 4-2.
LAST TIME OUT: SWEEP OF NC WESLEYAN
Piedmont’s last competition was a 3-game sweep of North Carolina Wesleyan College who visited Loudermilk Field last weekend. PC was supposed to play two midweek games earlier this week, but those contests were postponed due to weather with no makeup date yet announced.
Game 1 against the Battling Bishops was an extra-inning affair with PC winning 8-7 in the 11th on Zach Johnson’s walkoff RBI single that scored Griffin Olson. The win went to Josh Thomas putting him at 3-0 at that point while the loss was recorded by Dillon Moore, his first of the season.
In Game 2, Piedmont rolled 13-5 picking up seven doubles by six different players as the offense was clicking throughout. Drew Coker got the win on the mound, his first of the season, while the loss went to Robert Mondoux.
The finale was a 14-8 win for PC and a victory on the mound for Luke MacDonald as he moved to 2-0 while Josh Thomas picked up his second save of the season coming in with bases loaded and the tying run on deck in the 8th. Tyler Marcinko and Michael Barns were each 3-for-6 at the plate to lead the Lions offensively with Piedmont cranking out 20 hits.
NEXT UP FOR PIEDMONT
After this three-game set at Huntingdon, Piedmont returns to Loudermilk Field for a trio of weekend home games out of conference play beginning with last year’s Division III National Runner-Up and South Region Champion, Emory University on March 20 with first pitch slated for 7:00 pm.
