We returned to campus last night at 2:00 a.m. from our opening weekend against Canisius in Kannapolis, N.C. All and all it was a disappointing weekend with a 1-3 record. We had a chance to gain at least a split of the series on Sunday but just didn’t close the door. For the weekend we had a few defensive miscues (seven errors), a lack of timely hitting (35 LOB) and too many walks/HBP (nine on Sunday). That combination allows teams to crawl back into a game when they’re down and beat you. We felt like we could have picked up three wins against a very good opponent and just didn’t get the job done. However, we had some encouraging moments as well.

Overall we did an outstanding job of getting guys on base and getting deep into our opponents bullpen. That will bode well for us offensively if we can continue that trend as the season rolls along. Our leadoff hitter Gerard Tingos and two-hole hitter Sam Sciamarelli combined for 12 hits and eight walks on the weekend. Sophomore Drew Walsh hit a grand slam on Sunday with Derek Stupski and Tyler Jones having some key hits for us as well. Freshman Tito Marrero picked up his first collegiate base hit and stolen base along with drawing four walks in his three starts.

From a pitching standpoint, the Blackbirds had a pretty good weekend. We were able to get three quality starts from Kenny Cedel, Adam Sauter and Justin Topa. Topa earned his first collegiate win and Evan Zerff had two stellar outings out of the pen and earned his first career save. The Northeast Conference recognized Topa as its Rookie of the Week. Freshmen Emerson Morillo, Brad Reimer and Luke Hammond all had successful debuts as Blackbirds. Juniors Joe Murphy and Danny Iglesias also threw scoreless innings on Sunday to get us some needed holds. We held a very good offensive club to 14 earned runs and seven extra base hits in the four games with a .268 batting average. We were able to show some of the depth that we have on the mound and get all of our freshmen their first game action.

Now we turn our sites to another tough opponent in the ACC’s Virginia Tech. They have a very talented ballclub and seem to be off on the right foot early in the season. It’s going to be a great weekend of baseball in an awesome atmosphere at Viriginia Tech. The guys are excited about visiting Blacksburg and are looking forward to a great four-game set.

If you want to follow the Blackbirds this season please visit our Web site at: www.liuathletics.com/baseball or you can track us on Twitter at twitter.com/liubaseball.