Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Baseball team will open the 2014 season on the road this weekend when it travels to Bridgewater (Va.) and Eastern Mennonite. The Dolphins will play doubleheaders both days as part of an eight game road swing to begin the campaign.
 
The Dolphins will be under the direction of third year head coach Paul LaMarr and will return their top-five in nearly every offensive category from 2013. Junior Steven Maio (Thornwood, N.Y.) returns after pacing the Mount in batting average (.365), slugging percentage (.473) and RBI (27) in his first year with the program.
 
Seniors Josh Sharpe (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) and Jason Rivera (Bronx, N.Y.) also returns after being found among the team leaders offensively last season. Sharpe led the team with 25 walks, while Rivera finished the season atop the team leaderboard in runs scored with 31 and total bases with 44.
 
LaMarr and the Dolphins also return a talented pair of middle infielders in 2014 in Keith Schroeher (Riverhead, N.Y.) and Joseph Senisi (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Schoreher set the program mark for a hitting streak after hitting safely in 21 consecutive games as a freshman. He also paced the team with 37 hits and 11 multiple hit games. Senisi was tops a season ago in on-base percentage at .526 after getting hit with a team-high 15 pitches.
 
The offense will also look to a talented group of newcomers in 2014 to improve on a .251 team batting average in 2013. The newcomers include: Nicholas Pace (Cranford, N.J.), Robert Drake (Staten Island, N.Y.), Robert McMahon (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Casey Surdi (West Babylon, N.Y.) as well as two way players Evan Brown (St. Albans, N.Y.), Sean Kanganis (Somers, N.Y.) and Cristian Lynch (Mastic, N.Y.).
 
Although the pitching staff lost wins and strikeout leader Mike McManus to graduation, it returns senior Brian Rush (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) who posted three wins and worked 50.1 innings in 2012 before missing the 2013 season due to injury. Mount Saint Vincent also welcomes back sophomore Tyler Krolikowski (Massapequa, N.Y.) who worked 28.1 innings as a freshman and junior Michael Kucczinski (Millstone Twp., N.J.) and graduate student Dan DiLascio (Yonkers, N.Y.) who pitched a combined 45 innings for the Dolphins in 2013.
 
LaMarr will turn to newcomers Robert Negron (Bronx, N.Y.), Joseph Crosser (Cutchogue, N.Y.) and Corey Hourahan (Providence, R.I) to bolster a pitching staff that posted a 9.44 earned run average in 2013.
 
Following the eight game road swing to begint he season, the Dolphins will open the home schedule on March 15 against cross-town rival Lehman. The home opener is set for 1:00 p.m. at Van Cortlandt Park in Riverdale, N.Y. 

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