Baseball 2/13/2020 11:37:00 AM

Baseball Heads To Florida State For Season Opener

PURPLE EAGLES BASEBALL
GAMES 1-3	Niagara Purple Eagles (0-0) at Florida State Seminoles (0-0)
DATES \| TIMES	Friday, February 14 – 6:00 PM \| Saturday, February 15 – 2:00 PM \| Saturday, February 16 – 12:00 PM
LOCATION	Dick Howser Stadium \| Tallahassee, Florida
ROTATION	RHP Tommy Bednarski, LHP Chaz DeLuca, RHP Steven Hospital
BROADCAST	ACC Network Extra
LIVE STATS	StatBroadcast
TWITTER	@NiagaraBASE
INSTAGRAM	@Niagarabaseball

The Purple Eagles open the 2020 season taking on the ACC's Florida State Seminoles in a three-game series Feb. 14-16.

2019 in Review

The Purple Eagles went 15-33 overall in 2019 and 9-15 in conference play.
Matthew Brash was named the MAAC Pitcher of the Year and shortstop Max Giordano was selected to the MAAC All-Rookie Team.
Brash was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB Draft with the 113^th overall pick.

Scouting the Purple Eagles

Niagara returns 23 players from last year's squad and welcomes 15 newcomers.
Senior first baseman Peter Battaglia was selected to the Preseason All-MAAC Team, announced on Feb. 11. In 2019, he played in and started 47 games and led the team in runs scored with 30, triples with three, homeruns with 10 and RBI with 32. Battaglia also had a team-best .528 slugging percentage. He finished the 2019 season with 42 hits and a .261 batting average.
Infielder Michael Gabriele also returns for the Purple Eagles. He led the team at the plate in 2019 with a .318 batting average. He had 50 hits, which was tied with outfielder Dawson Bailey for most on the team.
Niagara also returns pitchers Alex MacKinnon, Kyle Smyth, Tommy Bednarski and Jacob Bruning, who all saw significant time on the mound in 2019.
Smyth compiled a 3-1 record with 4.24 ERA. He fanned 23 in 23.1 innings pitched. MacKinnon went 2-1 with a 4.33 ERA. Bednarski struck out 27 in 46.1 innings pitched and Bruning fanned 22 in 22.1 innings pitched.

Last Meeting with Florida State

Niagara and the Seminoles last met for a three-game series Feb. 14-16, 2014. Florida State swept the Series.

Scouting the Seminoles

The Seminoles went 43-23 in 2019 with a 17-13 conference record and made it to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Right-handed pitcher CJ Van Eyck returns to the mound for the Seminoles. He compiled a 10-4 record in 2019 and struck out 129 batters in 99.1 innings pitched. He had an ERA of 3.81.
Outfielder Robby Martin had the team's second-best batting average (.315) in 2019. He had 68 hits, 34 runs scored and 54 RBI.

Up Next

The Purple Eagles head to Durham, North Carolina to face North Carolina Central on Feb. 21 at 4:00 p.m. and Feb. 23 at 1:00 p.m. and LIU on Feb. 22 at 12:00 p.m.

Stay connected with Niagara Baseball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow Niagara Athletics all year long on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and purpleeagles.com

Players Mentioned