The Series:               Towson (8-13, 0-9 CAA) at Stony Brook (5-16, 3-6 NEC)
When:                        Friday, March 27 at 1 p.m.
                                    Saturday, March 28 at 1 p.m.
                                    Sunday, March 29 at 12 p.m.
Where:                       Joe Nathan Field | Stony Brook, N.Y.
Stream:                     FloCollege Baseball
Live Stats:                TowsonTigers.com
 
TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University baseball team makes its first of two visits to Long Island this season to face Stony Brook in a three-game series starting Friday at 1 p.m. Saturday's and Sunday's games are set for 1 p.m. and 12 p.m. starts, respectively.
 
The games will stream live on FloCollege Baseball. Live stats can be found at TowsonTigers.com
 
SCOUTING THE SEAWOLVES
Stony Brook enters this weekend's series at 5-16 overall and 3-6 through the first three weeks of league play. The Seawolves started the season 0-7with series sweep losses against Arkansas State and the second-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets before picking up their first win on Feb. 27 vs. FIU. In league play, Stony Brook has avoided sweeps with a win in series vs. Northeastern, Charleston and Monmouth.
 
In the CAA's predicted order of finish, the Seawolves finished tied for second in the North Division. Outfielder Matthew Jackson earned a preseason all-league honorable mention nod, the lone SBU player to do so.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday, Towson put one run up in the first inning before UMES tied the game in the home half. The Tigers scored three, five, four and six runs over the next four innings to reclaim the lead at 19-1. The Hawks added four runs in the bottom of the sixth before no scoring in the seventh ended the game, 19-5, in midweek action in Princess Anne, Md.
 
AJ Kolb had a career day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with five RBIs, his first collegiate home run and two runs scored. Yariel Rodriguez had a season-best day at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with two RBIs, two doubles and four runs scored. Eleven of 14 Towson players to record an at-bat hit safely.
 
CAA PRESEASON HONORS
The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) released its 2026 preseason All-CAA baseball team on Feb. 4. Two Tigers, catcher Brian Heckelman and outfielder Max D'Alessandro, garnered preseason team selections.
 
In 2025, Heckelman paced the Black & Gold offense in batting average (.365), on-base percentage (.442), slugging percentage (.588), RBIs (42), extra-base hits (20) and total bases (100). The backstop caught runners stealing at a 22.8% (18-79) clip. His 2025 numbers earned the New York native a 2025 All-CAA first team selection, Towson's first since Brady Policelli was named first team all-conference shortstop in 2016.
 
D'Alessandro slashed .312/.398/.529 with 34 RBIs and 35 runs scored in his junior campaign with the Tigers. He paced the team with nine home runs, adding eight doubles and a triple. The New Jersey native was a perfect 5-5 on the base paths and earned an All-CAA honorable mention nod by the season's end.
 
THE NEWCOMERS
The Tigers welcome 18 newcomers to this season's squad, 15 transfers and three true freshmen.
 
Highlighting the transfer group is infielder Nigel Sebastianelli, who earned an NJCAA Div. III Baseball ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove award, at SUNY Niagara last season. Sebastianelli recorded a .937 fielding percentage and committed only eight errors in 127 chances across 47 games in 2025. He batted .468 with two home runs, 15 doubles, six triples, 53 RBIs and 73 runs scored. Sebastianelli also garnered NJCAA Div. III first team and second-team All-Western New York Athletic Conference selections.
 
Jack Hughes, an NJCAA Div. II second-team All-American at Lackawanna College last season, is another focal piece of the transfer class. Hughes finished the 2025 season slashing .433/.567/.773 with 10 home runs, 19 doubles, one triple, 54 RBIs and 56 runs scored in 46 games for the Falcons. Hughes was a first-team All-Region XIX selection and the Region XIX Player of the Year.
 
Other notable transfers include infielder Frank Adamski Jr. and outfielder Keldrin Rodriguez from Harford, pitcher Joey Tuttoilmondo from High Point and pitcher Aden Knowles from NC State.
 
RECORD SCRATCHED
In Towson's opening series of the season against Norfolk State, the Tigers scored 15 runs in the fifth inning of game two of Saturday's doubleheader. That marks a new program record for runs in an inning.
 
The previous record was 14 runs scored in the first inning against Richmond on April 5, 2005. Towson's 28 runs in the game fell two short of matching the all-time record set in the same game.
 
LEAGUE'S ORDER OF FINISH
With the Coastal Athletic Association's (CAA) adoption of divisional formatting in baseball for the 2026 season, Towson is in the North Division with Hofstra, Monmouth, Northeastern and Stony Brook.
 
The South Division is comprised of Campbell, Charleston, Elon, North Carolina A&T, UNCW and William & Mary.
 
In the league's predicted order of finish, the Tigers finished tied for second, with one first-place vote, in the North Division. Northeastern received four first-place votes and 16 total points. Towson, Hofstra and Stony Brook each finished with nine points. Monmouth was picked to finish fifth with seven points.
 
In the South Division, UNCW finished atop the standings with three first-place votes. Charleston (2) and Campbell (1) each earned first-place votes in second and third, respectively. Elon, William & Mary and North Carolina A&T rounded out the southern group.
 
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS AT JOHN B. SCHUERHOLZ PARK
The 2026 season marks the 25^th anniversary of the opening of John B. Schuerholz Park on April 29, 2001.
 
Schuerholz Park is named in honor of Mr. Schuerholz and his father. Honored as Towson's Alumnus of the Year in 1986, he was the general manager of the Kansas City Royals from 1981 to 1991 and led the Royals to the world championship in 1985. He joined the Braves organization in 1991 and led the Braves to the 1995 World Series title. In 16 years as the Braves' general manager, Atlanta won a record 14-straight divisional titles as well as six National League pennants and one World Series.
 
He was honored as the Major League's Executive of the Year in 1985, an award he also earned with the Braves in 1991. Schuerholz is the first baseball executive to be the general manager of world championship teams in both the American League and the National League.
 
2025 RECAP
Towson finished its 2025 season at 21-35 overall and 11-16 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play, two games out of a spot in the CAA Championship. Four Tigers received all-league honors: catcher Brian Heckelman (first team), pitcher Nate Nabholz (second team), outfielder Max D'Alessandro (honorable mention) and infielder Nich Francuzenko (All-Rookie).