NIAGARA UNIV, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles are back in action this weekend with doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday against the Bucknell Bison in the Petersberg Sports Complex in Petersberg, Va.
 
The Purple Eagles (3-4) dominated on both offense and defense last weekend against N.C. Central. Four players hit over .350 and eight players hit over .250. Taylor Hackett collected seven of his team-high eight RBIs in the series. Hayden Coll had one at-bat and made it count with a grand slam in the fourth and final game against the Eagles.
 
Jordan Schwartz won MAAC Player of the Week after leading the team at the plate and on the mound. He went 4-for-9 for a .444 average with three RBIs and a walk and threw 6.2 innings in the series opener. He collected 12 strikeouts and gave up one run in the start.
 
Schwartz will start the first game on Saturday with Liam Stroud making his third start of the season in game two. Cody Eckerson, the rotations only lefty, will get things started on Sunday while Drew Fittry, who was named MAAC Player of the Week by College Sports Madness after the redshirt-junior threw seven strikeouts over seven innings last weekend, will start the fourth and final game.
 
Fittry currently leads NU starters with a 2.92 ERA. Jacob Lysiak  has thrown the most innings in relief and has a 1.50 ERA through six innings of work.
 
Bucknell (1-4) have split their last two games against non-nationally ranked opponents. They dropped three games against South Carolina but responded with a close, 1-0, loss in 10 innings to Delaware State and a 9-5 win over Iona last Sunday. Both Joe Ogren and Alex O'Neil both have a .400 batting average this season and Cory Furman leads the Bison with five RBIs. Bucknell is expected to start Bryson Hough, Dan Weigel, Andrew Andrychick, and Xavier Hammond.
 
Both doubleheaders this weekend will start with a seven-inning game followed by a nine-inning contest. First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and Sunday is set to begin at noon.