ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany baseball team will play their first midweek contest of the season as they travel to take on Army, Wednesday afternoon.
 
Series Info
Wednesday, March 13
Doubleday Field – West Point, N.Y.
3:30 pm E.T.
Live Stats | ESPN+  
 
 Projected Starters
UAlbany – Ryan Pittz | RHP | So. | 6-1 | 160 | 6.23 ERA
Army – Trevor Finan | RHP | Sr. | 6-0 | 177 | 27.00 ERA

Leading the Pack

• Starting in all 10 games this season, Will Binder leads the offense with a .303 batting average, a .415 on-base percentage, and five RBIs.
• Jared Toby has brought power to the lineup, owning a team-best .486 slugging percentage and five extra-base hits, including two home runs.
• In addition to patrolling center field, Luke Filippi has started the season with a .278 batting average.
• Owen Birkman has been the anchor of the Great Dane rotation with a 6.00 ERA. Steven Turk has been effective out of the pen, only allowing seven hits over 6.1 innings pitched.
• The pitching staff has amassed a 12.35 ERA over 74.1 innings, with an opposing batting average of .342.

 
Season Review

• UAlbany started the season going 0-10 in non-conference play.
• Opening their season against #9 Tennessee (2.23-25), the Great Danes narrowly fell 5-8 in game one before being defeated 6-21 and 0-12.
• Traveling to George Washington (3.1-3), UAlbany lost the first two games with the Revolutionaries completing the sweep, winning 3-5 in game three.
• Most recently, the Great Danes fell in all four games at Purdue (3.9-10).
• Will Binder and Luke Filippi lead the team with 10 hits on the season.  
• Jared Toby leads the team with five extra-base hits, including three doubles and two home runs.
• Two players have tallied five RBIs- Ryan Ferremi, and Binder.
• Owen Birkman leads the pitching with a 6.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 15 innings.

 
Heating Up

• Will Binder's bat was on fire last weekend at Purdue. Binder hit .615 over the four-game series with two runs, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.
• Cooper Loyal batted .300 over the weekend. After earning his first collegiate hit, Loyal went on to earn two RBIs while not making an error in 17 chances at shortstop.
• Luke Myers tallied four hits, three walks, two runs, and an RBI in last weekend's series at Purdue.
• Connor Eisenmann shoved after coming out of the pen against the Boilermakers. Throwing 5.1 innings with five strikeouts while only allowing one earned run, two hits, and three walks.

 
Scouting Army
The Black Knights started their season going 7-7 after finishing last season with a 24-29 record.

• Army split their contests on opening weekend with two wins against Monmouth (2.16 and 2.18) and two losses against Penn State (2.17 and 2-18).
• Following a loss to Fordham (2.23), the Black Knights earned victories over Stetson (2.24) and Maine (2.25).
• Participating in the Battle of the Ballpark, Army defeated Air Force (3.2) but fell to Louisiana Tech (3.1) and Creighton (3.3).
• Most recently, the Black Knights split their four-game series at Georgia State (3.8-10).
• Sam Ruta has been a force at the plate, leading the team with a .364 batting average, six home runs, and eight doubles.
• William Parker has a team-high 19 RBIs with a .345 batting average.
• Bryce Brownlee heads the rotation with a 3.24 ERA and a .219 opposing batting average through 16.2 innings.

 
Leading the League
The Great Danes have leaders in five of the hitting categories, eight of the pitching categories, and two of the fielding categories.

• Owen Birkman
  • T5th – 7 walks allowed
  • 8th – 6.00 ERA
  • T7th – 10 earned runs allowed
  • T8th – 13 runs allowed
  • 11th – 19 hits allowed
  • 12th – .302 opponent batting average
  • T13th – 11 strikeouts
• Connor Eisenmann
  • T4th – 16 hits allowed
  • T10th – 15 runs allowed
  • T11th – 3 batters struck out looking
  • 13th – .327 opposing batting average
  • T13th – 14 earned runs allowed
  • 9th – 9 walks allowed 
• Will Binder
  • 11th – .415 on-base percentage
  • 13th – .303 batting average
  • 13th – 20 assists 
• Jared Toby
  • T7th – 2 stolen bases
  • T9th – 2 home runs
  • 10th – .486 slugging percentage
• Levi McAllister
  • 3rd – 3 runners caught stealing

 
2024 Captains
Will Binder, Connor Eisenmann, and Cregg Scherrer will serve as the captains for the Great Danes during the 2024 season. Binder enters his third season with UAlbany after starting his collegiate career at LaSalle. Since joining the Great Danes, he has started in 89 games and has a .325 batting average. Eisenmann returns to UAlbany for his fourth season. Through 37 appearances for the Great Danes, he has recorded a 5.93 ERA with 121 strikeouts and a .254 batting average against. Scherrer is a redshirt senior from Skaneateles, N.Y., entering his fifth season with the team. Appearing in 44 games, including 34 starts, Scherrer has struck out 195 batters and owns a 5.73 ERA.
 
Fresh Faces

• The Great Danes have had multiple freshmen find success to open the season.
• Thomas McElwee and John Vitucci have started the year going 5-12 (.417) at the plate. Vitucci has also scored four runs in five appearances.
• Levi McAllister has been a wall behind the plate, throwing out six players (three caught stealing).
• Cooper Loyal has recorded three hits and two RBIs while registering a .971 fielding percentage at shortstop.
• In 17 at-bats, Anthony Scarabino has a double, three RBIs, and two runs.
• In 5.1 innings pitched, Luke Boule has struck out five batters.

 
2024 America East Preseason Poll

• UAlbany was picked to finish seventh in the 2024 America East Preseason Poll, earning eight points.
• The Bearcats were picked to finish first in the conference with 35 points, including five first-place votes.
• Maine, the defending champions, followed closely behind with 31 points and two first-place votes.
• UMBC (26) placed third, NJIT (19) fourth, and Bryant (18) fifth.
• UMass Lowell (10) and UAlbany rounded out the poll.

 
America East Standings
Bryant, NJIT, and UMass Lowell have all tallied a conference-high five wins, with Bryant holding the advantage having lost fewer contests. Binghamton trails just behind with a 4-9 record. With a 2-10 record, Maine sits fifth on the conference ladder. Following behind is UMBC with one win on the season. UAlbany is still looking for their first win of the season.  
 
America East Contests This Week

• Tuesday
  • St. Bonaventure at Binghamton, 3:00 pm
  • Stonehill at Bryant, 3:00 pm
  • UMBC at Towson, 3:00 pm
  • Seton Hall at NJIT, 3:00 pm
• Wednesday
  • Bryant at Northeastern, 2:30 pm
  • UAlbany at Army, 3:00 pm
  • Maine at South Florida, 6:00 pm

 
Up Next: The Great Danes will travel to the nation's capital to take on Georgetown in a three-game series starting Friday.
 
Keep up with all the latest news, highlights, and insights on UAlbany baseball by following the team on X (@UAlbanybaseball), Instagram (@ualbanybaseball), and Facebook (UAlbany Baseball).