ETTRICK, VA  – The Virginia State University baseball team (9-11) will travel over to Wilson, North Carolina to face Barton College (15-15) in a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 29. Last time out, the Trojans were red hot offensively against Christendom College beating them by a total score of 28-9 in the doubleheader. In game one, the Trojans won 17-8 on 13 hits with three errors while the squad cleaned it up in the second game 11-1 on 14 hits with just one error.


After going a perfect 8-8 against Christendom, Dawsyn Hock now leads the team with a ridiculous .526 batting average. Hock leads the team in slugging percentage (.737) and on-base slugging percentage (1.315). He has had four games this season when he has batted 1.000 with more than one at-bats in the game. Opposing teams plan to play the fence against Ricky Jones as he was able to put a jolt into the baseball twice in game two of the CAU series. Jones leads the squad in home runs (3), hits (29), RBI (17) as well as total bases (45), triples (1), and at-bats (68). Jones has collected nine multi-hit games this season. The super freshman, Tahruan Hammond, currently leads the team in runs (23), walks (22), doubles (8), on-base percentage (.583) and triples (1). His on-base percentage ranks him 13^th in the country. Hammond also has a lively arm on the mound as the reliever has accounted for nine strikeouts while giving up just four hits. Chase Moore missed the season opening series but has since accrued 10 hits in just 31 at-bats (.323/BA) while driving in six runs and scoring six himself. The Trojans currently have five players, who have at least 30 at-bats, that maintain a batting average of .300 or better while three players average .400 or better. The team hits a whopping .301 from the plate with an on-base percentage of .426. The pitching rotation has been keeping the base paths vacant this season as they allow just 4.61 earned runs per contest and have not allowed an opponent to score 10 runs or more. Nicholas Woolfolk and Grayson "Cole" Spain are proven to be a two-headed monster on the mound as Woolfolk leads the team with a three wins while maintaining an impressive 3.08 ERA in 38 innings while Spain leads with 58 strikeouts which, ranks him 21st in the country. Against CAU, Woolfolk earned a career-high nine strikeouts as Spain earned a season-high 14 strikeouts against Davis & Elkins. Woolfolk is tied for 26^th in the country in innings pitched with 38.0 while also tying for third in complete games with three. Spain has his name all over the country's pitching statistics as he ties for third as well with three compete games. He also ties for 26th in innings pitched with 38.0 and ranks 15^th in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.74. Avante Banks leads the infield with 64 put outs so far this season while also maintaining a .306 batting average, which ranks him fourth on the team. Ricky Jones is a vacuum in the outfield as well with 45 put outs on the season with no errors. Tahraun Hammond has assisted on the most outs on the team this season with 35.  


Weekend Schedule
Tuesday, March 29
Virginia State at Barton College
2:00 p.m. *Wilson, NC *Nixon Field



About Barton
The Barton Bulldogs are 15-15 overall and 8-7 in the Conference Carolinas on the season after taking two games off of Barry in the three-game series. Prior to taking both games in a doubleheader against Barry, the Bulldogs lost six-straight games as they lost to Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne and was swept by Belmont Abbey. Offensively, the Bulldogs put the bat on the ball quite a bit hitting .293 with a .393 on-base percentage. BC has driven 163 runs home with a .425 slugging percentage. The squad has struck out 222 times while drawing 115 walks. Colby Warren is the most consistent hitter on his team as he leads his squad with a .411 batting average along with 44 hits (tied for 29^th in the nation) and six home runs. He leads the squad in home runs (6), slugging percentage (.682), doubles (11) and on-base slugging (1.124). Andres Machado isn't far behind his counterpart Warren, as he bats .367 from the plate and leads the squad in at-bats (128) and runs (26). The Bulldogs pitching rotation gives away 5.44 earned runs per contest while allowing 182 runs with 208 strikeouts and 99 walks this season. Teams have accumulated 294 hits against the rotation this season. Alex Hart is the ace as he leads the team in innings pitched (64), strikeouts (63) (10^th in the nation) and wins (4). Hart has walked just nine batters this season and maintains a 2.81 ERA. He also has a tied for 21^st in the country with a 7.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio.


 
Series History
The Trojans are 0-2 against the Bulldogs in matchups dating back to 2020. VSU scores an average of seven runs against BC. The last matchup, Barton scored 25 runs on 21 hits while scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on their way to a 25-6 victory.  
 
  
Next Five Matchups

• Mar. 29 at Barton
• Apr. 1 at Newport News Apprentice School
• Apr. 6 vs. Barton
• Apr. 9-10 at Mid-Atlantic Christian
• Apr. 14 vs. Newport News Apprentice School