SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant baseball team wraps up the regular season with a three-game series at UMBC starting on Thursday night.

**Weather has altered the series schedule. The series will open Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. and will conclude with a doubleheader starting at 2:00 p.m. on Friday.**

Bryant enters the final conference series having already wrapped up the America East Regular Season title and will be the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament. UMBC currently sits in second place and has a magic number of three to clinch the second bye.     

The Particulars
Opponent: UMBC
Location: Alumni Field (Baltimore, Md.)
Date and Time: Thursday, May 16 - 6:00 PM | Friday, May 17 - 2:00 PM (7 inn) | Friday, May 17 - 5:00 PM (9 inn)
Live Stats: Sidearm
Video: AmericaEast.tv
Game Notes: Bryant
Social Media: Facebook | X | Instagram | #AEBASE  

Probable Starting Pitchers 

Thursday - Austin Wainer vs. Luke Johnson
Friday - Luke Delongchamp vs. Jayden Shertel
Saturday - TBD vs. Eddie Sargent

• Austin Wainer will make his final regular season start on Thursday night and enters with a 6-1 record and a 3.22 ERA in 13 starts this year. He's been even better in league play, going 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA in seven starts. 
• Wainer has pitched at least 6.0 innings in all seven league starts, including 6.0 innings in his first start vs UMBC. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits, walked two and struck out two.
• Luke Delongchamp has also shined in league play, going 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA in seven starts. He has walked 10 and struck out 38 in 37.0 innings. Overall, Delongchamp is second in the AE with a 2.75 ERA.
• In his first start vs UMBC, Delongchamp allowed five hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out six over 6.0 shutout innings.
• Luke Johnson is the reigning America East Pitcher of the Year and enters the series with a 4-4 record, a 2.99 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 69.1 innings. In league play, he is 4-1 with a 1.76 ERA and a .199 opponent batting average.
• Johnson allowed three runs on six hits, walked three and struck out six over 6.0 innings vs Bryant earlier this year.
• Jayden Shertel is 2-5 but owns a 3.75 ERA in 60.0 innings. He has walked 17 and struck out 20 in 37.2 innings of league play. Against Bryant, he allowed five runs on five hits over 6.0 innings.
• Eddie Sargent will make his third-straight weekend start for UMBC, having allowed three runs on nine hits over 11.0 innings in his last two starts.

Bryant vs. UMBC

• Bryant owns a 5-1 lead in the all-time series with UMBC. All six games have been played at Conaty Park in Smithfield.
• Earlier this year, Bryant swept a two-day series, winning 4-3, 9-8 and 6-2. 
• A throwing error allowed Justin Hackett to score the winning run in the bottom of the eighth in game one, while Bryant held off a late UMBC rally in game two. The Bulldogs hit four home runs in the contest.
• In the series finale, Gavin Greger, Matt Smith and Zac Zyons all hit two-run home runs as Bryant won 6-2.

America East Playoff Picture

• Bryant has secured the No. 1 seed in next week's America East Baseball Championships in Vestal, N.Y. (hosted by Binghamton).
• UMBC and UMass Lowell have both qualified for the playoffs but are not locked in as a seed.
• The bottom four teams in the standings are all separated by just one loss. 

Bulldog Notes and Notables

• Bryant enters the weekend 32-17 overall and 16-5 in the America East following series win at Maine and a midweek win over Stonehill. The Black and Gold are 31-10 since starting the year 1-7.
• The Bulldogs have won six of their seven America East series this season. They are 10-2 at home and 6-3 on the road.
• Carmine Petosa has reached safely in all 49 games this season and a program-record 52-straight dating back to last year. 
• Petosa opened the year hitting just .158 (6-38) in his first 14 games but posted a .476 OBP thanks to 19 walks. Over the last 35 games, Petosa is hitting .356 with a .475 OBP. He has 15 doubles and 10 homers in that stretch.
• Gavin Noriega continues to pace the America East with 53 RBI and 50 runs scored. He has clubbed a program record 16 home runs and 1.152 OPS.
• Zac Zyons brings a 29-game on-base streak into the weekend. He is hitting .435 with six home runs, 20 RBI and 28 runs scored in America East play. Zyons leads the league with a .381 average on the year. 
• As a team, Bryant leads the league in every offensive category, hitting .278 with 112 doubles, 71 home runs, a .485 slugging, .395 OBP and a .880 OPS.
• Bryant is second in the league, to UMBC, with a 5.19 team ERA and is second with 361 strikeouts.   

Scouting the Retrievers

• UMBC enters the series with a 23-22 overall record and a 12-9 mark in league play.
• The Retrievers lost two-of-three at Binghamton last weekend, falling in 13 innings in Sunday's series finale.
• Anthony Swenda, Matt Ryan and Justin Taylor all have six home runs, while five different Retrievers have 30+ RBI.
• UMBC leads the league with a 5.05 ERA and has an opp. batting average of .265. 
• Sam Downs leads the league with a 2.47 ERA in 58.1 innings. He is 4-0 with three saves and 45 strikeouts.