BUIES CREEK, N.C. – After winning four of their first six games, Coach Mike Gottlieb and the Tiger baseball team will join host Campbell University, West Point and Albany in the Campbell Classic this weekend at Jim Perry Stadium.
The Tigers will face West Point in the tournament opener on Friday, February 28 at 12 noon. On Saturday, March 1, the Tigers face Albany at 12 noon. On Sunday, March 2, Towson faces the host team at 3:00 p.m.
Campbell comes into this weekend's tournament with a 7-2 record while Towson and Army are both 4-2. Albany is 0-4 after dropping all four games at Hawaii.
Coach Gottlieb is hoping that the Tigers' pitching will continue to be effective. Through six games, Towson has a 2.24 team E.R.A. In 52.1 innings, Tiger pitchers have only 23 walks.
Senior righthander Brandon Gonnella has thrived in his role as the team's ace reliever. In two appearances, he has pitched 5.2 innings and allowed no runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. He has a 1-0 record with a save.
Freshman lefthander Bruce Zimmermann has also been impressive in the early season. He has a 1-0 record with a 0.87 E.R.A. Junior righthander Nick Cioffi has a 1-1 record and a 0.84 E.R.A.
The Tigers struggled to score runs last weekend at Cal State Bakersfield. They had only nine runs in the weekend series. Towson has a .271 team batting average with 30 runs scored in six games.
Junior outfielder Peter Bowles is the Tigers' hottest hitter. He has a .375 batting average with four runs batted in. Senior shortstop Hunter Bennett is off to a good start and has a .350 batting mark. Graduate student Zach Fisher is batting .348 with a .516 on-base percentage.
Through six games, the Tigers have not hit any home runs. They have eight doubles and two triples.
West Point comes into the series after dropping two of three games at William & Mary last weekend. The Cadets opened their season by sweeping three games from Massachusetts in games that were played at Cary, N.C.
Campbell has a team batting average of .349 through nine games. The Fighting Camels opened the season with a three-game sweep over LaSalle. After a loss at East Carolina, Campbell won three of four games last weekend. The Fighting Camels beat Manhattan twice and split two games with Delaware.
Most recently, Campbell beat Missouri, 6-3.
