By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – After a rough week of rain delays and weather cancelations, the Juniata College baseball team is finally getting back in action on Langdon-Goodale field with a Landmark Conference series against Moravian College. The Eagles are currently 0-3 in league play having only faced Susquehanna University while Moravian stands at 4-1 in Landmark play after a series sweep of Catholic University of America and a split in the first two games against Drew University.
Since the foundation of the Landmark, the Eagles are 5-15 against the Greyhounds. Moravian took two of three from Juniata last season with the Eagles one win coming in a 7-6 11-inning thriller to open the series. Moravian holds the 6-3 lead when the two teams meet in Huntingdon. While recent history has the Greyhounds on top by a large margin, the series between the two teams began well before the Landmark Conference, in 1935, and only has Moravian ahead 24-23.
Offensively senior Joe Sforza (Pittstown, N.J./Immaculata) is leading the way with 19 hits, 10 runs batted in and 10 runs scored from a .365 batting average. His runs scored is second only to senior Brad Medellin (Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land) who has crossed the plate 12 times and has drawn a team-leading five walks on the year. The offensive threats don't stop there as junior Cody Krepps (Tyrone, Pa./Bellwood-Antis) has his safely in nine of the 12 games he has appeared in and boasts a team-leading .447 batting average. The Juniata roster has seven players hitting over .250 on the year and all have appeared in more than 10 games and have double-digit at bats.
On the other side of the diamond, the Greyhounds have been on a hot streak with four players in double-digit at bats batting over .400 and four more batting over .300. Moravian's leading contributor at the plate, junior third baseman Ryan Luke, is on base better than 1-for-2 (.530) and has scored 19 runs while driving in an additional 17. In 61 at bats he has safely reached 41 bases with a .672 slugging percentage.
Looking to shut down Luke and the Moravian offense will be the Juniata pitching staff led by the five starters, senior Chris Fulton (West Chester, Pa./Unionville), Sforza, freshman Eric Grace (Hopewell, Pa./Northern Bedford), senior Mario DeYulis (Ebensburg, Pa./Central Cambria), and Medellin. As a complete staff the Eagles hold a 7.43 earned run average on the season.
The series will open with a single nine inning game at noon on Saturday, March 29, followed by two seven inning games starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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