NEWS

The Wildcats host Rhode Island for a weekend series.

As the Atlantic 10 Conference baseball season enters the final three-week stretch, Davidson will host its next two series at home, including this weekend against Rhode Island.

The action will commence Friday afternoon at Wilson Field.

It’s the sixth of eight A-10 series in the 24-game league schedule.

FAN APPRECIATION WEEKEND
• The first 150 fans on Friday will receive a free Davidson baseball rope hat.
• Free beer will be available in the first base beer garden on Friday, beginning at 4:30 p.m.

LATEST ON THE ‘CATS
• Davidson is 18-25 overall after a 9-8 win at Queens Tuesday night.
• In A-10 play, the Wildcats are 4-11 after losing all three games at Dayton last weekend.
• Davidson has won A-10 series against Saint Joseph’s and Richmond, taking two of three games in each series.
• The Wildcats also have non-conference series victories against Villanova and Siena.
• At Queens Tuesday, Hunter Anderson’s seventh-inning solo home run broke an 8-8 tie and proved to be the difference.
• On the mound, Adam Katz and Matt Weber combined to keep the Royals off the scoreboard in the final 3.1 innings.
• Other Wildcat homers came from Cider Canon (2-run) and Jacob Friend (3-run) in the third and sixth innings, respectively.

PUTNAM OUT FRONT
• First baseman Eli Putnam has had a breakout season a year after an injury limited his action. He’s the A-10 leader with 13 home runs, 49 RBIs and 111 total bases.
• He ranks second in the league in runs (48), slugging percentage (.677) and OPS (1.144) and is third with 59 hits and a .360 average.
• Putnam leads the Wildcats with 19 multi-hit and 14 multi-RBI games. That includes a four-hit performance vs. Richmond (April 20) and a five-RBI game against Brown (March 10).

FRIEND AND FRIENDS
• Catcher Jacob Friend finds himself among the league leaders as well, thanks to his knack for getting on base.
• Friend ranks second in the league with 39 walks and is third with an on-base percentage of .500 and a 1.095 OPS.
• Catcher Noah Jouras (4 triples) and shortstop Nick Calero (4 sacrifice flies) rank second in the A-10.
• On the mound, Friday starter Wilson Perkins is fourth in the A-10 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.17) and walks per nine innings (1.71) and sixth with 62 strikeouts.
• Saturday starter Cooper Cavanaugh is second in the league with 7.74 hits allowed per nine.

SCOUTING THE RAMS
• Rhode Island is 14-25 overall and 6-9 in the Atlantic 10.
• The Rams are eighth in the standings, tied with Saint Joseph’s and George Mason.
• Last weekend, the Rams went 1-2 against Fordham.
• Also in league play, the Rams went 2-1 against UMass and Saint Joseph’s, 1-2 against George Washington and 0-3 against Saint Louis.
• Infielder Anthony DePino is the Rams’ top offensive threat. He ranks fourth in the A-10 with 11 home runs and ninth in slugging percentage (.602), while hitting a team-best .278.
• Infielder Michael Anderson leads URI with 31 RBIs, while ranking seventh in the league with nine home runs.
• Infielder Reece Moroney has stolen 13 bases.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Wildcats and Rams first met in 1985.
• Davidson leads the series 13-12.
• That includes going 3-1 against the Rams last year.
• Davidson won two of three at Rhode Island during the regular season, then beat the Rams in the A-10 Tournament.