Weekend Preview: Eagles Begin 2016 in Arizona

THE FACTS
MATCHUP: Boston College (0-0) vs. Northern Illinois (0-0)
WHERE: Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz.
WHEN: Friday, Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. EST | Saturday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. EST (Doubleheader) | Sunday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. EST
RECORD vs. NIU: It will be the first-ever meetings between the two teams.

THE MATCHUP
Pitching Matchups
Friday: RHP Mike King vs. RHP Joe Hawks
Saturday Game 1: LHP Jesse Adams vs. RHP William Anderson
Saturday Game 2: RHP Jacob Stevens vs. RHP Aaron Rumfield
Sunday: TBA vs. LHP Ryan Olson

Scouting the Huskies

The Huskies finished the 2015 season with a 22-33 record, going 10-17 in the Mid-America Conference.
NIU returns its top two hitters from last year, OF Stephen Letz, who led the team with a .310 batting average, and INF Brian Sisler, who had a team-best 32 RBIs and 14 doubles.
All three NIU starters from a year ago do not return but the top hurler from the bullpen – Andrew Frankenreider, who posted a 1.69 ERA with nine save and 40 strikeouts over 26 appearances - is back for the Huskies. Starters Joe Hawks and Aaron Rumsfield transferred to NIU from Iowa Central Community College.
NIU second-year head coach Mike Kunigonis goes way back with the BC head coach Mike Gambino. Kunigonis was the volunteer assistant coach at Virginia Tech from 2008-10, when Gambino served as an assistant under former BC skipper Pete Hughes.

THE SERIES

The four-game set will the first-ever meetings between the two squads.
The Eagles have only traveled to Arizona one other time in program history. In 1999, they went 0-4 at Arizona State.

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE EAGLES

Sophomore Jake Palomaki ended his first-year campaign reaching base in the final 37 games tallied a hit in the final 11 games. His 46 walks in 2015 were a BC single-season record. His 11-game hit streak is currently 11th in BC record books. Last year, he notched at least one hit in 33 of the 50 games played and reached base in 39 contests.
Senior Logan Hoggarth starts the 2016 campaign on a career-long, eight-game hit streak. He ended 2015 with 10 hits, four runs, two RBIs and two doubles.
Sophomore Donovan Casey also begins 2016 on a career-long hit streak at six games. In that span he has tallying 10 hits, four runs and four RBIs.
Junior RHP Mike King looks to build on a success sophomore year, after ranking 11th in the ACC with a 3.03 ERA. He was one of two conference pitchers to throw two complete games and recorded a complete-game, one-hit shutout against No. 24 Georgia Tech in BC's 1-0 victory on April 17, 2015. He was the first BC pitcher to pitch a one-hitter since 2003.
In his final five starts of 2015, senior LHP Jesse Adams recorded 25 strikeouts, walked nine, gave up 11 runs - eight earned - and allowed 21 hits.
Sophomore Nick Sciortino tied for fourth in the ACC with 17 runners caught stealing in 2015. He also led the Cape Cod Baseball League with the same total. He also tied for fourth in the conference with five runners picked off and eighth for a .997 fielding percentage.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jesse Adams

Donovan Casey

Logan Hoggarth

Mike King

Jake Palomaki

Nick Sciortino

Jacob Stevens