Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College baseball team (29-17, 14-6 NE10) will begin pursuit of the program's second Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Tuesday at Dick Rockwell Field at 2:00 p.m.

The Dolphins, who earned the no. 1 seed in the NE10 Southwest Division after claiming the regular season title, will host the division's no. 4 seed, the Adelphi University Panthers (22-24, 9-11).

Le Moyne won 14 of their final 16 conference games to earn their first NE10 Southwest Division regular season championship since 2018, while the Panthers recorded a four-game sweep of the no. 2 team in the east region, Southern Connecticut State University (29-15, 12-8 NE10) in their final conference series to sneak into the NE10 tournament with the fourth and final seed in the southwest division.

The winner of Tuesday's matchup at Dick Rockwell Field will advance to NE10 Championship Weekend, where the final four teams remaining will battle for the NE10 postseason title in a double elimination format. If the Dolphins eliminate the Panthers on Tuesday, then Le Moyne will host Championship Weekend at Dick Rockwell Field.

Le Moyne was ranked no. 5 in the most recent East Region Poll after claiming series sweeps over Saint Rose (16-25, 6-14 NE10) and Pace (29-18, 9-11 NE10), followed by a series win at home against Adelphi. The Dolphins concluded their regular season by taking three of four games from the New Haven Chargers (28-15, 10-10 NE10) in West Haven.

The Dolphins and the Panthers played four competitive games at Dick Rockwell Field during their regular season series at the end of the April. The 'Phins were coming off back-to-back conference series sweeps prior to their final home series against Adelphi, but the Panthers took a 6-2 lead on the Dolphins going into the eighth inning of game one. Graduate first baseman Dewey Roden (Sherrill, N.Y./Vernon-Verona-Sherrill/UMass Lowell) launched a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to make it a three-run game, then the 'Phins loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, leading to a walk-off grand slam from freshman DH/catcher Brody Keneston (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa).

The Panthers tallied 15 hits during the game one setback, then they recorded 16 hits during game two, but Roden and freshman third baseman/left fielder Adam Sullivan (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) both provided a two-run home run during the nightcap as Le Moyne grinded out a 7-5 victory to extend their winning streak to 10 games.

The Panthers once again recorded 16 hits in game three of the series on April 28 to earn a 10-8 bounce-back victory. Le Moyne shook off the loss and responded with a 7-6 triumph during game four to register the series win. Freshman right-handed starting pitcher AJ Petraitis (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) held Adelphi's hot lineup to just five hits over 6.0 innings during the series finale, then junior right-handed reliever Billy Hoffacker (Erial, N.J./Timber Creek/Rowan College of South Jersey) allowed just one baserunner and zero runs over the final 3.0 frames to earn his first win as a Dolphin and secure Le Moyne's third consecutive conference series victory. Le Moyne senior center fielder Zach Brush (New York Mills, N.Y./New York Mills) launched a two-run home run during Le Moyne's final home game of the regular season, and fifth-year shortstop Nick Nevins (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) provided a big three-run home run to tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth.

Le Moyne advanced to NE10 Championship Weekend in 2022 after earning a first-round win at Southern Connecticut State. The Panthers were the no. 1 seed in the southwest division during the 2022 NE10 postseason tournament and defeated the no. 4 seed College of Saint Rose Golden Knights. Both Le Moyne and Adelphi fell during NE10 Championship Weekend, but both sides earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. They met in the NCAA East Regional on May 20, and Le Moyne earned a 5-1 win behind a complete game from left-handed pitcher Max Parker (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius).

During the 2023 regular season, Le Moyne led all NE10 Southwest Division teams in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage during conference play. The Dolphins put together a team slash line of .297/.396/.498 in 20 conference battles. The Panthers were second in the division in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage during NE10 play, but they were first ahead of the Dolphins in NE10 batting average with a .307 team BA.

Le Moyne led the division in RBI (131), home runs (24) and runs scored (140) during conference play, while Adelphi was second in all three categories with 19 home runs, 103 RBI and 113 runs in 20 conference contests. Adelphi led all southwest division teams with 202 hits during NE10 battles.

Le Moyne's pitching staff is fourth in the entire NE10 with a 4.51 team ERA during conference play, while the Panthers pitching staff is 10^th in the league with a 6.90 NE10 earned run average. The Panthers are second among the 13 NE10 programs with a .971 fielding percentage during NE10 contests, while the Dolphins are seventh with a .965 fielding percentage.

Both sides have a catcher currently swinging a hot bat. Adelphi's Alec Maag has started 18 NE10 games and is second in the league with a .459 conference batting average. Le Moyne's Benji Ries (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) is third among NE10 hitters with a .444 batting average in 17 conference starts.

Roden led all southwest division hitters with 22 RBI in 20 regular season conference games, while Sullivan was close behind with 20 runs batted in. Roden produced a team-best 45 RBI in total during the regular season.

With the help of five home runs during conference play, Patchett was second among southwest division players with 22 runs scored in 20 NE10 starts. Patchett started all 46 games during the regular season with a team-high 43 runs scored, 11 doubles, a team-high 11 home runs, 34 RBI, 26 walks, 13 HBPs, and five stolen bases with a .443 on-base percentage and a .596 slugging percentage.

Graduate second baseman and leadoff hitter Drew Carroll (Clifton Park, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy (Albany)) has also started all 46 games so far this season and has produced 47 hits, including 14 doubles and two home runs, along with 32 runs, 30 walks, a team-high five sacrifice flies and a team-best 17 stolen bases in 19 attempts.

Nevins started all 20 NE10 games at shortstop for the 'Phins and produced 23 hits, including five doubles and four home runs, to go along with 19 runs and 18 RBI.

Le Moyne senior right-hander Sam DiGeorge (Canastota, N.Y./Canastota) leads all NE10 pitchers with a 1.82 overall ERA in 11 appearances. He has a 5-1 record on the year, and a 3-1 record during conference play. DiGeorge has a conference ERA of 2.12 (fourth in NE10) while Max Parker leads all NE10 pitchers with a 1.55 earned run average through 29.0 innings pitched against NE10 competition. The junior left-hander has surrendered just seven runs in total through four NE10 starts. Le Moyne did not use Parker in the New Haven series, leaving him available for the first-round elimination game against the Panthers on Tuesday.

Petraitis, DiGeorge and sophomore left-hander Jacob Crystal (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) each put together a 3-1 conference record with one complete game during the regular season for the 'Phins

Adelphi's senior second baseman Anthony Cipri recorded a team-high 30 hits with three doubles, two home runs, six RBI and a team-best 16 runs scored during conference play. Cipri tallied a combined 10 hits, six runs, two home runs and four RBI during the series at Le Moyne on April 27 and 28.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher John Rizzo has started five NE10 games for the Panthers and has a 3-1 record during those contests with a 3.57 earned run average and a .163 opponent batting average. Rizzo started game one of the Le Moyne series on April 27 and held the Dolphins to four hits and two runs with eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work. The Dolphins scored six runs on graduate right-handed reliever Coletan Reitan to claim the walk-off victory in the bottom of the ninth. Reitan has made a team-high seven relief appearances during conference season and has recorded a team-high three saves with 20 strikeouts in 13.1 innings pitched. Freshman righty Brendan Kenneally also has a 3-1 record through five conference starts for the Panthers. On the season, graduate left fielder Kyle Olson leads the Panthers with 35 runs batted in while junior infielder/DH Joe Pellegrino has a team-high six home runs in just 18 games started.

Cipri and Maag both recorded a combined six hits during the sweep of SCSU, while senior first baseman Michael Draskin contributed five hits and four RBI during the four-game series. The Panthers claimed a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Owls in game two of the series on a two-run home run from Maag with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. After trailing 1-0 going into the final inning of game three against the Owls, Draskin lifted the Panthers to another walk-off victory with an RBI base hit through the left side of the infield.

The Dolphins lost their four first games of the conference slate against SCSU, then they won 14 of their final 16 regular season contests to earn the program's first southwest division regular season title since 2018. Le Moyne's 2018 squad featured First Team All-American, National Pitcher of the Year and NE10 Pitcher of the Year Josiah Gray, All-American Honorable Mention honoree Ben Walsh, and all-conference selections Brian Cox, Andrew Taft, Camillo Spinoso and Nick Place, along with NE10 Rookie Pitcher of the Year Ryan Murphy. Le Moyne head coach Scott Cassidy '98 was named NE10 Coach of the Year following the 2018 regular season.

The Le Moyne baseball program won their lone NE10 Postseason Championship in 2012, the team's first year competing in the conference after transitioning from Division I. The Dolphins have yet to return to the NE10 Championship title game.