WESTMINSTER, Md. – McDaniel will travel to Baltimore, Md., in search of its first Centennial Conference (CC) baseball championship this weekend.
The third-seeded Green Terror (30-8, 11-7 CC) will first travel to Haverford, Pa., to face second-seeded Haverford (24-12,13-5 CC) for the opening-round game on Thursday. Game time is 3 p.m. Top-seeded Johns Hopkins (26-11-2, 13-4-1 CC) will host fourth-seeded Gettysburg (24-15-1, 10-7-1 CC) in the other semifinal of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday at 3 p.m.
The losers of the Thursday's two games will meet at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning at Johns Hopkins with the winners meeting at 12:30 p.m. or 30 minutes following the conclusion of the day's first game. Saturday concludes with a second elimination game at approximately 4 p.m.
The championship game will take place at Johns Hopkins on Sunday at 12 p.m.
The tournament's champion will earn the CC's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Division III tournament, slated to begin on May 18. The NCAA field will be announced on Sunday, May 15.
McDaniel is seeking its first CC championship in its fourth tournament appearance.
McDaniel split with Haverford in the regular-season series on the Main Line. The Fords took a 4-0 victory in game one on Apr. 16 before the Green Terror forged the split with a game-two to win, 11-2.
McDaniel was swept by Johns Hopkins, falling 2-1 in Baltimore on Apr. 12 before dropping a 15-4 decision in Westminster on Apr. 15. The Green Terror split with Gettysburg with each team winning on the other's field. The Bullets took a 17-6 victory on Apr. 27 before the Green Terror won 15-1 on Apr. 29.
McDaniel enters the tournament with the conference's top offense, hitting a collective .338 on the year. Seven of the Green Terror's regular starting nine are hitting .300 or better. Marty Windisch (Manchester, Md./Manchester Valley) is hitting a conference-best .441 with 64 hits, including nine doubles, five triples and three home runs to go with 52 runs scored and 46 RBIs. Cameron Bahr (Southampton, N.J./Seneca) is also hitting .407 on the year with 10 doubles and four home runs.
Windisch also leads the pitching staff with a 2.08 ERA in his 69 innings. He is 9-2 with 62 strikeouts. Zach Kronick (Schenectady, N.Y./Guilderland) has fanned a conference-best and program-record 96 and is 8-1 with a 2.35 ERA in 72 2/3 innings.
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