The Matchup:          Towson (15-22) at UMBC (18-16)
When:                        Tuesday, April 21 at 6 p.m.
Where:                       Alumni Field | Baltimore, Md.
Live Stats:                TowsonTigers.com
Stream:                     AmericaEast.com
 
TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University baseball team caps a 10-game road stand against local foe UMBC on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
 
The game will stream live on AmericaEast.com. Live stats can be found at TowsonTigers.com.
 
SCHEDULE UPDATE
Please note, game times for two upcoming home games have been revised.
 
Next Saturday's (April 25) game vs. Stony Brook has been moved back to a 3 p.m. start.
 
The game next Tuesday (April 28) vs. George Washington has been moved up to 12 p.m.
 
SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS
UMBC enters Tuesday night's game at 18-16 overall and 7-5 in America East play. The Retrievers were picked to finish seventh in the America East preseason poll. They're coming off a series win over UMass Lowell at home last weekend.
 
Catcher Derek Paris leads the team at the plate, slashing .342/.415/.450 with nine doubles, a home run, 23 RBIs and 25 runs scored.
 
LAST TIME OUT
After Mercer jumped out to an early lead in Sunday's series finale, Towson tied the game at three, then twice more later in the game. Tied 6-6, the Bears hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning to go up by two runs. The Tigers were held scoreless in the final inning, falling 8-6 in the final game against the Bears.
 
WEEKLY HONORS
Brian Heckelman earned CAA Co-Player of the Week honors on April 6 after batting .500 (5-for-10) with a double, three home runs, five RBIs and five runs scored in the Tigers' series win over Hofstra at John B. Schuerholz Park.
 
The senior catcher was 3-for-5 with a double and a two-run shot in Thursday's 9-6 win and belted a game-tying solo shot in the 8th on Friday. He smacked a 2-run homer in the first on Saturday as the Tigers won 8-6 to take the series.
 
CAA PRESEASON HONORS
The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) released its 2026 preseason All-CAA baseball team on Feb. 4. Two Tigers, 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).