Misericordia University Athletics

Host Misericordia University, 29-13-1, is seeded fifth in the NCAA D-III Mid-Atlantic Regional and will open the 2014 Tournament against fourth-seeded Baldwin Wallace, 25-18, Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. at PNC Field in Moosic.

Misericordia is making its fourth consecutive NCAA Championships appearance, including a third-place showing in last year’s tourney at PNC Field.

The Cougars of head coach Pete Egbert are on the verge of a fourth straight 30-win season after rallying to win their fourth consecutive Freedom Conference title.

Sophomore Ryan Dorosh, the Freedom Pitcher of the Year, will get the nod in Wednesday’s opener after setting a school record for wins in a season (10-0) and strikeouts (82).

Sophomore second baseman Kyle Lindsay, a first-team All-Freedom selection, leads the Misericordia offense with 62 hits and a .392 average while classmate and All-Freedom outfielder Mike Comerford is hitting .342 with team-highs in homers (7), doubles (18) and RBI (49).

Baldwin Wallace finished second in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament and is one of four OAC teams in the NCAA field.

At the plate, BW is led by senior All-OAC third baseman Brad Gugliotta, sophomore All-OAC second baseman Mark Zimmerman, junior All-OAC first baseman Kyle Chontos and sophomore All-OAC designated hitter Hunter Handel (Akron/ Green).
 
The quartet combined to hit .379 (256-for-676) with 157 runs scored, 51 doubles, eight triples, 155 runs batted-in (RBI) and 23 stolen bases.
 
On the mound, junior Cory Waite (6-2) is the staff ace and owns a team-best 2.63 ERA.

Sophomore Brandon Cichocki  is 2-2 with six saves and a 2.86 ERA.

Top-seeded Moravian, 32-10, will face eight-seed Haverford, 22-18, in Wednesday’s second game at 1:15.

The Greyhounds are making their third NCAA Tournament appearance, including their second straight.

Moravian, the Landmark Conference runner-up, has a won a school-record 32 games and owns a 6-2 record against the rest of the Mid-Atlantic field.

Junior rightfielder Matt Hanson was the Landmark Player of the Year and was joined on the Landmark first-team by relief pitcher Chris Soltys, third baseman Ryan Luke, first baseman Charles Savite and catcher Mike Roethke.

Haverford won four straight elimination games, including a 12-inning walk-off win over Gettysburg to win the Centennial Conference title.

Two-time Centennial Pitcher of the year Tommy Bergjans anchors the pitching staff and has a school record eight wins.

Nick Miranda joined Bergjans as a first-team All-Centennial selection while classmate and fellow captin William Bannard was the Centennial Tournament MVP.

Patrick Falkoff has tied the school record with seven saves. Haverford is 20-1 when leading or tied after six innings, 2-17 when trailing after six innings.

Susquehanna, 28-12, is the third seed and is making its first NCAA appearance since 1995 after winning its first Landmark title.

The Crusaders enter the Tournament with a school record 28 victories and will face sixth-seeded Keystone at 4:30.

Landmark Pitcher of the Year Casey Hood and Rookie of the Year Taylor Luckenbill led eight Crusaders on the All-Landmark team.

Keystone, the Mid-Atlantic Regional runner-up a year ago, won 17 of their last 18 games to win their sixth straight Colonial States Athletics Conference and improve to 27-12.

Senior Lymbel Guerrero was the CSAC Player of the Year and classmate Mike Pembleton was the Pitcher of the Year.

Gaston Rojas (OF), Ricky Riscica (1B) and Dan Denton (DH) joined Guerrero and Pembleton as first-team All-CSAC choices.

Second-seeded Rowan, 32-10, will play seventh-seeded Wesleyan, 27-11, in Wednesday’s nightcap at 7:45.  Rowan is making its 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance, including its fifth straight, after winning its second consecutive NJAC title.

Dylan Johannink was the co-Pitcher of the Year in NJAC and was joined on the first-team All-NJAC squad by outfielders Ryan Pavlik and Eric Perez.
 
Wesleyan is making its second trip to the NCAAs and first since 1994 and are coming off its first-ever NESCAC baseball title.
 
The 27 victories this season are the second-most in program history, behind the 30-8 mark of the 1994 NCAA World Series second-place team.

Robby Harbison leads the team in hitting at .346 while Sam Goodwin-Boyd has team-high four homers and 37 RBI.

Gavin Pittore (6-1) and Jeff Blout (5-1) combined for 11 victories on the mound.