The Series: Towson (2-4, 0-0 CAA) at #7 Miami (5-3, 0-0 ACC)
Game 1: Friday, Feb. 28th, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 29th, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, Mar. 1th, 1 p.m.
Where: Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field
Online Broadcast: ACC Network Extra (subscription required)
Series: Miami leads 1-0
TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University baseball team will finish its three-weekend road swing with a series against one of the top programs in college baseball, taking on Miami in Florida from February 28-March 1st. This is a return for Towson for the first time since the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
All three games at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field will be broadcast online on ACC Network Extra. For those looking to attend, tickets are available on hurricanesports.com.
Towson earned its first non-conference road series victory since 2017 over the weekend, taking two of three from High Point to stand at 2-4 overall. Miami, after being swept by Florida last weekend, won 7-5 vs. USF on Wednesday to stand at 5-3 overall. Miami is currently ranked #7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
These teams met in the Atlantic Regional of the 1988 NCAA Tournament, with 3-seed Miami winning at home vs. East Coast Conference champion Towson 4-0.
It is Towson's first game against an ACC school since playing a midweek at N.C. State last year, falling 11-1. It is also the first three-game set for the Tigers against an ACC member since playing a trio at Duke from March 1-3, 2013. Towson won two of three in Durham this year. Towson comes back to Florida for the second straight year, falling in three games at Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers in late March 2019.
FIELDS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CAA
Javon Fields earned a place on the 2020 Preseason All-CAA Baseball Team, the first Towson representative since
Richie Palacios in 2017.
Fields was Towson's starting centerfielder in 2019, leading the team in batting average, hits, runs, triples and stolen bases, plus earned 17 multi-hit performances.
LAST TIME: TOWSON WINS SERIES AT HPU
Towson earned its first non-conference road series win since 2017 by taking two of three at High Point, coming back from falling in game one 4-0 to win 12-5 and 4-3 in the final games.
Key stat:
--Bullpen in game three: 6.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 K
Top Towson batter:
--
Brad Powers: .385, 1 2B, 4 RBI
Top Towson pitcher:
--
Nick Ramanjulu: 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 IP, 3 H, 5 K
YOU ARE NEW....
Towson rebolstered the ranks in the offseason with 17 newcomers, including six true freshmen, one DI and 10 JUCO transfers. These 17 just 18 returners, including 16 letterwinners, to round out the roster.
REPPING THE HOME STATE
13 who suit up for the Black & Gold hail from the Old Line State of Maryland. Most live in the Piedmont Plateau areas with others from southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore.
SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME
Several Tigers made their mark in wooden bat leagues across the country this past summer.
Brad Powers was one of the top players in the Prospect League, hitting .344 with nine home runs, 16 doubles and 47 RBI to earn First Team All-Star honors with the Danville Dans.
Kody Reeser also pitched for the Dans, going 1-0 with 11 strikeouts in 14 innings, helping Danville win the East Division regular season title.
Two other Tigers earned All-Star status:
Matt Watters was a Team Maryland All-Star for the Gaithersburg Giants in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, throwing in 14 games with a 3.31 ERA, 2-1 record, a pair of saves and 14 strikeouts.
Cam Clark was an All-Star for the Maryland Monarches in the Maryland Collegiate Baseball League, going 5-0 with a 0.63 ERA in 28.2 innings, striking out 34.in the Maryland Collegiate Baseball League, going 5-0 with a 0.63 ERA in 28.2 innings, striking out 34.
I WANNA GO TO HAWAII!
For the first time in program history, the Tigers will be playing in the Aloha State as Towson will play a four-game series at Hawaii during Spring Break. The four-game set will be played from March 18-21 at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.
GOING SOUTH, WEST AND NORTH
Towson will have its traveling shoes on this season as the Tigers are scheduled to play games in seven different states this year: Maryland, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The Tigers may be visiting the Tar Heel State several weekends, with road series scheduled at High Point (2/21-23), UNCW (4/10-12) and Elon (5/8-10). In addition, the 2020 CAA Tournament (5/20-23) will be hosted by UNCW.
Towson also has a special neutral site game planned on April 29th, playing against Penn State in historic Municipal Stadium in Hagerstown, Maryland, the home of the Hagerstown Suns, low-A affiliate of the reigning MLB champion Washington Nationals.
TIGERS IN THE PROS
Towson has two players in the minor league ranks.
Richie Palacios, a third round pick by the Cleveland Indians in 2018, is listed as the #23 rated-prospect in the system, missing 2019 due to shoulder surgery. Brady Policelli, a 13th round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers in 2016, was a spring training invite after earning FSL All-Star honors in 2019, hitting .249 with 40 extra base hits and 54 RBI with the high-A Lakeland Flying Tigers.
Gavin Weyman pitched in the independent United Shore Professional Baseball League, throwing in four games for the BB Beavers in 2019, going 3-1 with a 4.34 ERA and nine strikeouts.
SCOUTING MIAMI:
Miami was formerly ranked #1 in the country last week and has made 25 trips to the College World Series, the last in 2016. Towson head coach
Matt Tyner formerly played for Miami from 1977-80.
Two Hurricanes were selected as National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason All-Americans: Adrian Del Castillo was in First Team at catcher, hitting .560 with two home runs and eight RBI so far in 2020 while starting pitcher Brian Van Belle was Second Team, standing at 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 13 innings.
LAST TIME VS. MIAMI: TOWSON FALLS IN NCAAS
Then Towson State's first-ever NCAA Tournament game occured against Miami in the 1988 Atlantic Regional as the Tigers fell to the Hurricanes 4-0. That team was inducted into Towson Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.
Chris Nabholz, future 2nd round pick of the Montreal Expos and six-year major leaguer, pitched a complete game with three earned runs and eight strikeouts. Towson State was defeated by Joe Grahe, a former major leaguer for the California Angels, with a complete game three-hitter.
COVERING THE COASTS
Towson's roster has all but one player from the contiguous USA coast lines, including three players from California,
Brad Powers,
Colin Conroy and
Nick Janowicz, and one from Washington state,
Jacob Terao.
Only one Towson player,
Matt Watters from Ohio, is not native to the East or West Coast.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Towson University baseball head coach
Matt Tyner will be on temporary leave from the program due to a medical issue with his wife.
Miles Miller will serve as the interim head coach while Tyner is on leave.
TIGERS IN THE COMMUNITY
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area. For the 7th consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season.
Towson ranked #1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition.
Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations.
Towson won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.
- TowsonTigers.com –
