WINCHESTER, Va. – The NCAA Division III Winchester Baseball Regional kicks off Friday morning at Kevin Anderson Field at Bridgeforth Stadium as Shenandoah University hosts Christopher Newport University, Immaculata University, and The College of New Jersey in the four-team double-elimination tournament.
 
The Hornets (38-7) open tournament play at 11 a.m. Friday morning in the opening game versus TCNJ (23-22) in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Christopher Newport (31-9) takes on Immaculata (29-11) at 2:30 p.m. following the opening game.
 
SU, the first seed in the regional, earned a 'Pool C' bid in selections announced by the NCAA Monday afternoon after their 38-win season and partaking in the ODAC Championship for the fifth consecutive season.
 
TCNJ earned one of 41 automatic bids after winning its seventh NJAC conference championship last weekend in a winner-take-all game versus Kean. In route to the championship, the Lions defeated the top three teams in their conference.
 
The two seed in the regional, Christopher Newport, earned a Pool B berth by posting 31 wins and a trip to the semi-finals of the C2C tournament.
 
CNU's opening opponent, Immaculata, earned an automatic (Pool A) bid with its second straight Atlantic East Conference Championship in a 6-0 win over Cabrini University.
 

SHENANDOAH KEY PLAYERS

Leading the way for the Hornets offensively are outfielder Gavin Horning, first basemen Pearce Bucher, and designated hitter Colby Martin. Horning has the best batting average out of players in the Winchester Regional, hitting .429.
 
Bucher and Martin are averaging .367 and .364, respectively. Bucher is tied with Horning for doubles with 16 while also contributing 42 RBI.
 
Horning and his outfield counterpart, Haden Madagan, lead the squad with seven home runs and have combined for eight triples and 95 RBI.
 
On the mound, the top two pitchers for Kevin Anderson's squad are Jacob Bell and Jacob Faivre. Bell has a team-best 1.72 ERA of pitchers who hit a 1 IP/G requirement.
 
Faivre, a RHP, has a team-high 84 strikeouts and holds the opposition to a .214 batting average.
 
Shortstop Frankie Ritter enters the weekend two hits shy of breaking the Shenandoah record for career hits. Ritter, a graduate student, broke the ODAC record last weekend with hit No. 273 of his career.
 

CNU KEY PLAYERS

The Captains leading hitter is outfielder Ayden Stuffel. Stuffel averages .367 at the plate in 34 games played.
 
Senior Justin Bowers leads CNU with eight homers this season as he hits cleanup. Outfielder Alec Reilly has 42 RBI on 38 hits this season.
 
Pitchers Dylan Weber, Jack Braley, and Jackson Baird have a combined record of 17-4 for CNU and have struck out a total of 187 batters, with Weber leading the trio with 95.
 
The trio has also helped the 31-win team maintain a top-10 ERA out of all Division-III baseball teams.
 

IMMACULATA KEY PLAYERS

Josh Crowding leads the Mighty Macs with a .690 SLG% and a batting average of .420, ranked second in the regional. Of his 58 hits, nearly half have been for extra bases helping the catcher to 53 RBI on the season.
 
Joey Wright is second on the squad in batting average, hitting .373. Infielder Joey Sacco has drawn 36 walks on the season. The pair of Joeys are a combined 20 for 20 on stolen base attempts.
 
Jason Hughes leads IU on the mound pitching three complete games in 11 starts this season. In his last 24 2/3 innings pitched, the righty has only given up three runs and 11 hits. He has punched out 35 batters during that span.
 
In its conference tournament run, Immaculata's pitching staff held opponents to just three runs in the three tournament games. Hughes, Ryan Crowell, and Mason Keller picked up the three conference tournament wins.
 

TCNJ KEY PLAYERS

Ryan Goodall is the only player in this weekends bracket with double-digit home runs as he has 10 so far this season. His power and patience at the plate have helped the catcher draw a team-high 35 walks.
 
Justin Marcario bats .356 while getting 64 hits and crossing the plate 42 times. Chris Reader is second behind Marcario with 53 hits for the Lions.
 
TCNJ bats have powered home 7+ runs in the team's last five games.
 
Jackson Maluf leads the NJAC champs with an ERA of 1.84, 65 strikeouts, and has only allowed one homerun in 63 2/3 innings.
 
The Lions second starter Ben Amon has a record of 6-2 and one save in 73 1/3 innings of work. The senior has 57 punchouts compared to only 16 walks given up.
 

ALL-TIME RECORD AGAINST WINCHESTER REGIONAL TEAMS

SU:
19-29 all time versus CNU, IU, and TCNJ
Last meeting versus CNU – 5/19/2012
Last meeting versus IU – 3/1/2020
Last meeting versus TCNJ – N/A
 
CNU:
30-22 all time versus SU, IU, and TCNJ
Last meeting versus SU – 5/19/2012
Last meeting versus IU – 3/5/2023
Last meeting versus TCNJ – 5/18/2018
 
IU:
4-5 all time versus SU, CNU, and TCNJ
Last meeting versus SU – 3/1/2020
Last meeting versus CNU – 3/5/2023
Last meeting versus TCNJ – 4/4/2023
 
TCNJ:
7-4 all time versus SU, CNU, and IU
Last meeting versus SU – N/A
Last meeting versus CNU – 5/18/2018
Last meeting versus IU – 4/4/2023
 

WHERE TO WATCH

All games will be streamed at suhornets.com/live.
 

TICKETS

Day and weekend passes are available at suhornets.com/tickets. All Shenandoah students get free admission all weekend long. The first 25 SU staff members get free admission on Friday and Saturday.
 

UP NEXT

The winner of the Winchester Regional will advance to the Super Regionals and play the victor of the N.C. Wesleyan Regional next weekend in a best-of-three series.
 
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