THE DETAILS
Bloomsburg (7-5, 0-0 PSAC East) at Brevard (7-14, 2-4 SAC)
Saturday, March 11 - 1:00 PM (DH) at Brevard, N.C.
Sunday, March 12 - 3:00 PM at Brevard, N.C.

GAME COVERAGE
Live Stats (Saturday) - http://www.thesac.com/sports/bsb/2016-17/boxscores/20170311_np8i.xml
Live Stats (Sunday) - LINK COMING

RELATED LINKS
Bloomsburg - Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Brevard - Roster | Schedule | Statistics

STORYLINE
The Bloomsburg University baseball team heads south as it will play at Brevard College on Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12. The Huskies enter with a 7-5 record and are receiving votes in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Region poll.

ALL-TIME SERIES
The games against Brevard will be the first between the two schools.

SCOUTING BLOOMSBURG
Bloomsburg is off to a 7-5 start this season with four of its seven wins against teams ranked higher in the regional poll. The Huskies started the season with back-to-back splits against Charleston (seventh) and Pitt-Johnstown (tenth), knocked off Kutztown on February 25, and then handled Seton Hill (tied for fourth), 9-2, on Sunday afternoon in Thomasville, North Carolina.

Redshirt senior Ryuta Amaike (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall), who spent his first three seasons as a member of the pitching staff, was shifted to designated hitter/infielder this season and currently leads the Huskies in batting. He has 21 hits in 48 at bats (.438) while tying for the team lead in runs batted in with 14. Eight of his 21 hits (six doubles, two home runs) have gone for extra bases. Amaike has also made one start on the mound this season and is 1-0 with a 1.50 earned run average after allowing one run on five hits while striking out seven in six innings against The Apprentice School on February 23. Junior Tyler Benson (Montville, N.J./Montville Township) is also off to a blistering start at the plate this season as he is batting .400 (19-of-47) with 19 runs scored, nine doubles, three home runs, and five stolen bases. He currently leads, or is tied for the lead, in runs, doubles, home runs, slugging percentage (.787), on-base percentage (.508), and stolen bases. He came into the season with five career home runs and eight career stolen bases in 257 at bats.

As a team, the Huskies are batting .281 with 11 home runs and 21 stolen bases. On the mound, Bloomsburg has a team earned run average of 6.09 and is allowing opponents to hit .285 on the year. The staff, however, has struck out 92 batters in 99 innings.

Junior Mike Warren (Garnerville, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional) and sophomore Ashton Raines (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) have pitched extremely well in two of their three outings. Warren is 1-1 with a 5.30 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. Raines, who moved to the rotation this season after a strong rookie campaign out of the bullpen, is 2-0 with a 6.43 ERA and a team-leading 23 strikeouts in 21 innings. The sophomore struck out a career-high 10 batters in the Huskies' win over Seton Hill last Sunday afternoon. Out of the pen, freshman Brett Alaimo (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) has been sensational early. In three appearances, the rookie has posted a 1.04 ERA with two saves and has allowed only one run on four hits in 8.2 innings of work. He has ten strikeouts and has limited opponents to a .133 batting average.

SCOUTING BREVARD
The Tornados enter the weekend series with a 7-14 overall record and a 2-4 mark in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC). Brevard in batting .284 as a team and is averaging just over five runs per game. Blaine Durham leads the team in hitting as he has 28 hits in 77 at bats for a .364 average. Durham also leads the team in doubles (6) and runs batted in (17) while tying for the team lead in home runs with two. Schuyler Martire is second in batting with a .358 average. He leads the team with 19 runs scored and is second in both on-base percentage (.430) and stolen bases (6). On the mound, the Tornados have a team earned run average of 7.52. Drake Black and Kristofer Yarbrough have seen lots of action out of the bullpen early in the season. Black has pitched in 10 games and is 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA while Yarbrough has appeared in 11 contests and is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA. Tyler Konzen has been the team's best starter as he is 1-3 with a 6.83 ERA and has 24 strikeouts in 27.2 innings.

UP NEXT
Bloomsburg will continue its southern swing as it will travel to Harrogate, Tennessee to battle Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 15.