PC Welcomes in Toledo, Northwestern, Michigan State for Three Straight Games

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team returns to the diamond on Friday for the first of three games against three different opponents as the Blue Hose welcome Toledo to town on Friday at 3 p.m… The weekend continues on Saturday at 2 p.m. with a visit from Northwestern before Michigan State visits Clinton on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the weekend's final game.

Toledo, Michigan State and Northwestern are slated to play Gardner-Webb and USC Upstate when not in Clinton this weekend.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Toledo (1-2) vs Presbyterian (2-2)
WHERE: PC Baseball Complex (Clinton, S.C.)
WHEN: Friday, February 24 at 3 p.m.
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Never Played in DI Era

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Northwestern (0-3) vs Presbyterian
WHERE: PC Baseball Complex (Clinton, S.C.)
WHEN: Saturday, February 25 at 2 p.m.
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Never Played in DI Era

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Michigan State (3-1) vs Presbyterian
WHERE: PC Baseball Complex (Clinton, S.C.)
WHEN: Sunday, February 26 at 1 p.m.
THE SERIES (Since 2008): MSU Leads 2-0

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast (Toledo) | Stat Broadcast (Northwestern) | Stat Broadcast (Michigan State)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes

ON THE MOUND
Friday
TOL –  RHP Brennan McCune (0-1, 11.57 ERA, 0 K)
PC – RHP Duncan Howard (0-0, 1.29 ERA, 4 K)

Saturday
NW –  RHP Matt McClure (0-1, 14.73 ERA, 2 K)
PC – RHP Fenix DiGiacomo (1-0, 1.59 ERA, 1 K)

Sunday
MSU –  RHP Andrew Carson (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 K)
PC – LHP Charlie McDaniel (0-1, 7.50 ERA, 6 K)

About the Blue Hose
• Following a 3-0 victory over WCU, the Blue Hose play their first home weekend set of the season as PC welcomes in Toledo, Northwestern and Michigan State to the PC Baseball Complex on consecutive days beginning with the Rockets on Friday afternoon. Toledo opened the season with a 1-2 record against ETSU to begin the 2023 season. Northwestern was winless in its opening series suffering three straight setbacks to Texas State. Michigan State took part in the Desert Invitational on opening weekend and earned wins over Michigan, Fresno State and Grand Canyon suffering the lone setback to Arizona.

Scouting the Rockets
• Toledo began the 2023 season with a 1-2 record against ETSU in the opening weekend of the new campaign. The Rockets are under the direction of fourth-year head coach Rob Reinstetle. The Rockets come into 2023 off of a strong 2022 campaign that saw Toledo tally 33 wins including a 23-16 mark in the MAC.
• Toledo is led offensively thus far in 2023 by Jeron Williams who's hitting .385 with a double thru the first three games. Four Rockets connected on homers in the first weekend.
• On the mound, Cal McAninch tossed 4.1 scoreless innings tallying three strikeouts in a pair of outings. Patrick Dillon tossed 1.2 scoreless inning with a pair of punchouts in relief work.
• Dane Hall is the top starter for the Rockets allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts in his debut last weekend.

Scouting the Wildcats
• Northwestern was winless in the opening weekend as the Wildcats dropped three straight against Texas State in San Marcos. Jim Foster is in his first season at the helm of Northwestern this season. The Wildcats went 24-27 a season ago with a 10-14 mark in the Big 10 Conference.
• The Wildcats are led offensively by Stephen Hrustich who hit .400 in the opening three games with a pair of extra base hits. Vincent Bianchina hit .357 with two doubles and a triple.
• On the mound, Northwestern was led by a pair of relief arms who tossed scoreless innings in their season debuts.

Scouting the Spartans
• Michigan State opened the 2023 season with a 3-1 record in Desert Invitational defeating Michigan, Fresno State and Grand Canyon with a setback against Arizona. Jake Boss is in his 15th season at the helm of Michigan State. The Spartans went 24-30 a season ago and 8-16 in the Big 10.
• Brock Vradenburg led Michigan State last weekend going 10-of-18 with seven runs scored in the first series of the year. Trent Farquhar was 8-of-17 with seven runs scored and two doubles to begin the campaign.
• The Spartans totaled 14 extra base hits in their opening weekend led by Jack Frank and Mitch Jebb with three apiece.
• On the bump, Andrew Carson led the Spartans to begin 2023 with six scoreless innings in a win over Grand Canyon. Joseph Dzierwa tossed 4.2 scoreless relief innings against Michigan in earning a victory.
• In MLB Pipeline's top 200 draft prospects for the 2023 MLB draft, Jebb ranks 44th on the list.

Head to Head vs the Opponents
• The matchups with Toledo and Northwestern will serve as the first all-time meeting between the schools in the Blue Hose DI era.
• PC and Michigan State have met a pair of times prior to Sunday's contest with the Spartans earning both victories against the Blue Hose. The last matchup occurred in 2017 when MSU defeated PC 10-2 in Greenville.

Pitching Strong to Begin 2023
• The Blue Hose pitching staff has come out of the gates fast in 2023 as the staff begins the weekend with an ERA of 2.62 as a team which ranks 31st in the nation. PC's led by Duncan Howard (1.29), Fenix DiGiacomo (1.59) and Luke Gibson (2.08) early on in 2023.
• PC has also limited the walks early on with eight walks over the first 34.1 innings pitched for a WHIP of 0.96 which ranks 14th in the country and tops in the Big South.

Newcomers Getting PC Early Victories
• On Saturday, Blue Hose pitchers Fenix DiGiacomo and Luke Gibson started their Blue Hose careers strong as PC downed the Hoyas 5-2 in the middle game of the three-game weekend series. DiGiacomo got the ball rolling on Saturday with a start spanning 5.2 innings allowing four hits and one run en route to a victory in his PC debut. Gibson finished it off for the Blue Hose recording the final 10 outs allowing one solo home run and striking out four to earn the save. Gibson and DiGiacomo were teammates at Patrick Henry CC before coming to Clinton for the 2023 season.
• In his first college start on Wednesday, PC was led by freshman Mason McDaniel tossing six scoreless innings to lead Presbyterian to a 3-0 win over Western Carolina. McDaniel struck out eight Catamounts en route to his first college win on Wednesday afternoon.

2023 Preseason Honors
• Catcher Dalton Reeves was named to the league's all-conference team as selected by Perfect Game.
• DI Baseball has tabbed a host of Blue Hose on the conference's top prospects in the next few drafts. RHP Duncan Howard, RHP Fenix DiGiacomo, Catcher Dalton Reeves, RHP Colbey Klepper, RHP Tanner Smith and OF Jay Wetherington were apart of the 2023 Draft Rankings.
• Joel Dragoo was tabbed by the publication in the 2024 Big South Prospect Rankings.
• Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson and Amman Dewberry were selected to the Impact Freshman in the league on the list by DI Baseball.

Newcomers Join the Blue Hose Family
• Head Coach Elton Pollock was busy in the offsesaon with the addition of 16 new faces to the Blue Hose family.
• The incoming class includes Evan Cuervo, Jay Allred, Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson, Travis Camp, William Nobles, Ryan Becker, Lorenzo Rios, Kyle Mueller, Luke Gibson, Tyler Mecchella, Fenix DiGiacomo, Mason McDaniel, Eli Bowery, Jeremiah Hampton, Amman Dewberry.

Pollock Selected to USA Baseball 13U/14U Development Program Staff
• Presbyterian College head baseball coach Elton Pollock was selected as one of four DI head baseball coaches to serve as managers during the 2022 13U/14U Team USA Athlete Development Program in Cary, N.C. last summer
• Pollock was joined by Erik Bakich (Michigan), Randy Hood (UNC-Wilmington) and Omar Johnson (Jackson State) as team managers in 2022. Additionally, a group of accomplished high school coaches will join them as team assistant and pitching coaches.
• The program which will now welcome 72 athletes to the USA Baseball National Training Complex for the first time, will feature advanced on-field skills development with positional and team-fundamental drills, along with ongoing evaluation by the coaching staff. The participants will be split across four teams and compete head-to-head in a series of games. Additionally, the athletes will participate in off-field educational seminars while gaining additional exposure to professional scouts and college recruiters.

Scouting the 2023 Season
• The 2023 season nine games against teams from the ACC, SEC and Big 10 conferences. PC is also set to play four tournament over the span of eight games throughout 2023 season.
• The 2023 schedule opens with a trip to North Carolina to battle Georgetown in a three-game series from February 17-19 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary.
• The home slate begins on February 22nd with a visit from Western Carolina before hosting a three-game series against Toledo, Northwestern and Michigan State on three consecutive days beginning on February 24.
• Following a midweek trip to Georgia (Feb. 28), the Blue Hose return home for a three-game series against Georgia State (March 3-5) and close out the home stretch with a visit from Western Michigan (March 7).
• The Blue Hose embark on a five-game road trip beginning with a trip to Clemson (March 8) before heading to Eastern Kentucky (March 10-12). The road swing continues midweek matchup against South Carolina (March 14). PC will then travel to Fluor Field in Greenville home of the Greenville Drive for a contest against Duke on that Wednesday night.
• The Blue & Garnet open conference play on March 17 with a three-game set at High Point. The Blue Hose with a five-game home stretch beginning with a midweek battle against Davidson (March 21) before welcoming Charleston Southern (March 24-26) to Clinton. The home stretch wraps up with a visit from Wofford on March 29.
• Presbyterian opens the month of April with a three-game set at UNC Asheville (March 31-April 2) before traveling to Davidson on April 4. The Blue Hose welcome in Campbell (April 6-8) for an Easter weekend Thursday-Saturday series.
• The Blue Hose embark on a four-game road swing following Easter at Wofford (April 11) before battling at Winthrop (April 14-16).
• PC returns home for five consecutive games beginning on April 19 in a midweek battle against ETSU before hosting Gardner-Webb (April 21-23). The homestand wraps up with a Tuesday afternoon tilt against Alabama State (April 25). The Blue Hose close out April with a trip down the road to Spartanburg to battle USC Upstate (April 28-30).
• In the month of May, PC will spend a majority of its time away from Clinton with road series against Miami (Fla.) (May 5-7) and Radford (May 18-20). The Blue Hose also have midweek contests at Western Carolina (May 9) and Alabama State (May 16).
• The lone home series for PC in the month of May will come with Longwood visiting Clinton for a three-game set beginning on May 12-14.
• The 2023 Ingles Big South Baseball Championship will be played at Truist Point in High Point, N.C. The four-team tournament to determine the Big South's automatic bid recipient to the NCAA Championship will be held Thursday-Saturday, May 25-27.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo: INF; 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R

#25 Duncan Howard: RHP; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

#34 Colbey Klepper: RHP; 6' 4"; Senior; R/R

#31 Charlie McDaniel: LHP; 6' 3"; Junior; L/L

#32 Dalton Reeves: C; 6' 5"; Junior; L/R

#16 Tanner Smith: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#21 Jay Wetherington: OF; 5' 9"; Junior; L/L

#7 Evan Cuervo: OF; 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R

#8 Jay Allred: OF; 6' 2"; Freshman; L/R

#13 Jake Randolph: C; 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R

Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R
: INF

#25 Duncan Howard
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#34 Colbey Klepper
: 6' 4"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#31 Charlie McDaniel
: 6' 3"; Junior; L/L
: LHP

#32 Dalton Reeves
: 6' 5"; Junior; L/R
: C

#16 Tanner Smith
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#21 Jay Wetherington
: 5' 9"; Junior; L/L
: OF

#7 Evan Cuervo
: 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R
: OF

#8 Jay Allred
: 6' 2"; Freshman; L/R
: OF

#13 Jake Randolph
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R
: C