EASTON, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team returns to play Saturday, May 1 as it begins a four-game slate with the Skyhawks from Stonehill College.

Saint Anselm enters Saturday's doubleheader with a 10-12 overall record, having lost last time out to Assumption on Wednesday. The Hawks own just five wins in their 15 games against Northeast-10 Conference foes, while Stonehill owns an 11-12 overall mark with a 6-10 record versus the league.

The four games against Stonehill are presently the final regular-season contests for the Hawks in 2021. With each team in the NE10 qualifying for the postseason, Saint Anselm looks to build momentum and possibly gain a position in the NE10 standings for seeding purposes.

Live Video and Live Statistics of the four games starting Saturday will be provided by Stonehill College.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

• The Hawks lead the NE10 with 34 home runs in 22 games and have 15 more than the second place team, Franklin Pierce. From the 2016-20 season, Saint Anselm logged only 30 home runs in 179 games played. The all-time team record of 45 home runs was set in 2001.
• Sophomore Brady Doran (Stony Brook, N.Y.) leads the NE10 with eight home runs, stroking a leadoff shot in his last game against Assumption. Junior Kyle Maurice (Exeter, N.H.) ranks second with seven on the year with classmate Mike Pierro (North Andover, Mass.) launching five home runs, ranking in a tie for fourth place.
• Doran has cracked the single-season top-10 list for home runs with nine. Only four student-athletes in team history have reached double-digit totals in a single season – Rob Kelly '13 was the most recent to accomplish the feat, stroking 10 home runs as a junior in 2012.
• Doran is riding an eight-game hitting streak, tying for the longest by a Hawks student-athlete in 2021. In that span, he is batting .370 (10-for-27) with three doubles and three home runs. Pierro and sophomore Mike Borrelli (Salisbury, Mass.) have also logged eight-game hitting streaks in 2021.
• Pierro was the offensive star for Saint Anselm in the most recent Saint Michael's four-game series, slugging four home runs and batting .500 with seven hits in 14 at-bats. He is currently riding a five-game hit streak, notching eight hits in 17 at-bats since Apr. 23 against Saint Michael's, and he has reached base in 16 consecutive games.
• Last Friday against Saint Michael's, Saint Anselm hit seven home runs in a doubleheader for the first time since Apr. 10, 2011 when the Hawks eased their way to victories of 13-1 and 10-0 against Merrimack at Sullivan Park.
• Freshman Zack Clough (Newbury, Mass.), who won NE10 Rookie of the Week earlier this season, stroked his first collegiate home run on Wednesday against Assumption. He is batting .320 on the season, collecting 16 hits in 50 at-bats that includes four doubles.
• Sophomore Dylan Bedder (New Providence, N.J.) earned Northeast-10 Conference Pitcher of the Week honors on Monday. Against Saint Michael's on Friday in the series-opening 4-0 victory, Bedder gave up just three hits through eight scoreless innings of work. He also struck out a career-high 11 batters, keeping the Hawks in the game when their lead was only 1-0 through the first seven complete frames.
• On the season, Bedder has made five appearances, striking out 38 batters in just 23 innings of work. He owns a 2-3 record, winning his season debut against American International and striking out at least five batters in each of his games to date. His 14.87 strikeouts-per-nine-innings ranks second in the NE10 and eighth in NCAA Division II.
• The Hawks have turned 18 double plays, tying Saint Michael's for the NE10 lead on defense. Additionally, Saint Anselm ranks fourth in the NE10, catching 26.2% of would-be base stealers.

SCOUTING STONEHILL

• Stonehill was picked to finish fifth in the Northeast Division, according to the NE10 Preseason Coaches' Poll revealed in March. The Skyhawks posted an 8-5 overall record in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and finished the campaign ranked 10th in the East Region poll.
• The Skyhawks are led by Pat Boen, who is in the midst of his 24th season with the Stonehill baseball program. The three-time NE10 Coach of the Year has won 590 games in his career, helping the Skyhawks make three NCAA Division II postseason appearances.
• The Skyhawks ended their 2020 season by winning four of five games. Among returning student-athletes, Stonehill was led by freshmen Conor Kiely and Mike Swanholm – the duo combined to post 32 hits in 66 at-bats, hitting .348. Swanholm, a first baseman, smacked two home runs in his first 11 career games.
• John Orzechowski leads the senior returners with 97 career games played. He has picked up 83 hits in 97 career at-bats (.254 career batting average) while classmates Rob Duarte and Michael White also boast significant playing experience.
• Kiely leads the Skyhawks with a .405 batting average, posting 34 hits, and Duarte is hitting .240 on the year. Orzechowski has swiped 12 bases in 13 attempts so far in 2021.
• White fired a no-hitter against Pace on Apr. 17. On the season, he has struck out 23 batters in 21.2 innings and has issued just three free passes.

ALL-TIME vs. STONEHILL

• Stonehill owns an 84-22 advantage in the all-time series against Saint Anselm that dates back to Apr. 29, 1981, a 5-2 win for the Hawks.
• The Skyhawks have won nine of the last 10 games over Saint Anselm, with the one victory for the Hawks coming on Apr. 30, 2018, a 5-3 decision at Sullivan Park. In that contest, current senior Will Conaton (Windham, N.H.) pitched seven strong innings, fanning what was then a career-high eight batters.
• The Skyhawks have won 48-of-58 games played as the home team. In the three-game series played in 2019, Stonehill outscored the Hawks by a 16-to-4 margin.
• Earlier this season, Saint Anselm was saddled with a 10-9 loss by Stonehill. The Hawks scored eight runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 9-8 lead, but a walk-off, two-run, two-out double by Stonehill carried the hosts to victory.