NEWS

 

One final Atlantic 10 Conference road series awaits the Davidson Wildcats at Saint Joseph’s this week.

The league-leading Wildcats, who have won six straight games, will open play against the Hawks on Thursday at 3 p.m., with afternoon games to follow Friday and Saturday.

Now 37-9, the Wildcats are 15-3 in A-10 play and two games ahead of second-place VCU with six league games left.

NUMBERS TO WATCH
Sophomores Michael Carico and Ryan Wilson have been 1-2 in batting average throughout the season, but through 46 games, the two are even. Exactly even.

Both are hitting .427, with 70 hits in 164 at-bats, which leads the A-10 and ranks second nationally.

Carico is the national leader with a .580 on-base percentage, while Wilson is third (.561). And Carico ranks third in the nation in slugging percentage (.866).

Senior outfielder Trevor Candelaria is leading the team with 26 multi-hit games, while junior shortstop Jacob Hinderleider has 17 multi-RBI performances, most among Wildcats.

Candelaria enters the weekend riding a 39-game reached-base streak and a 14-game hit streak, with Hinderleider next in line with active 25-game reached-base and 12-game hit streaks.

RECORD-BREAKERS
With plenty of baseball still on the schedule, it’s already been a record-setting year for the Wildcats, who, most significantly, set the program’s single-season wins record in Saturday’s 28-0 thumping of UMass.

The 2022 team has also set program marks for runs (407), RBIs (377) and hit-by-pitches (94), with others still within reach. The Wildcats are currently seven shy of the single-season doubles mark (126).

Individually, Carico is closing in on multiple Davidson single-season records after already surpassing the hit-by-pitch mark (now at 24). He has hit 17 home runs — one off of Will Robertson’s standard set in 2017. He needs two extra-base hits to match the record of 39, and his 61 runs and 19 doubles are three shy of the records.

Wilson, with 53 runs driven in, is eight off the RBIs record, and his 40 walks are seven from the mark.

On the single-game record front, the Wildcats set a new hit-by-pitch record with nine against UMass on Saturday and tied the program mark with 27 RBIs.

ON THE MOUND
While the Davidson offense continues to post high numbers, the Wildcat pitchers are focused on keeping numbers low. And they have been.

Davidson has the best team ERA in the A-10 (3.48), where only one other team (VCU, 4.03) has a sub-5.00 ERA.

Weekend starters Nolan DeVos (2.73), Ryan Feczko (2.91) and Blake Hely (3.00) rank 1-2-3 individually in ERA, while the most relied-upon relievers have ERAs under 4.00: Bennett Flynn (1.14), Gabe Levy (1.98), Isaac Fix (2.84), Ryan Kutz (2.97) and Will Schomberg (3.86).

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Saint Joseph’s is 25-19 overall and currently fifth in the A-10 at 9-8 in league play, and the Hawks have one of the top offenses in the league. They’re tied with Davidson atop the team statistical rankings with .309 averages.

Outfielder Brett Callahan is hitting .394, fourth best in the league, and is second with 22 stolen bases, while outfielder Brendan Hueth hits .377 (6th) and leads the league with 21 doubles. Catcher Andrew Cossetti leads the A-10 with 56 RBIs, ranks second with 15 home runs and a .698 slugging percentage and is third with a 1.160 OPS.

Inclement weather kept the Hawks and Saint Louis from completing a full three-game series last weekend, as the Billikens won both games of a Sunday doubleheader.