ETTRICK, VA  – The Virginia State University baseball team (10-13) will return home to face Barton (18-16) to put a cap on the season series between the two on Wednesday, April 6 at 3:00 p.m. Last time out, the Trojans split with The Newport News Apprentice School after claiming the victory thanks to a bomb by Ricky Jones with the bases loaded to win 6-3 in the first game. The Trojans went on to drop the second game 5-3.
 
 
 
After going a perfect 8-8 against Christendom, Dawsyn Hock now leads the team with a ridiculous .490 batting average. Hock leads the team in slugging percentage (.694) and on-base slugging percentage (1.230). He has had four games this season when he has batted 1.000 with more than one at-bat 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 (4), hits (32), RBI (21) as well as total bases (51), triples (1), and at-bats (78). Jones has collected nine multi-hit games this season. The super freshman, Tahruan Hammond, currently leads the team in runs (25), walks (23), doubles (8), on-base percentage (.542) and triples (1). His on-base percentage ranks him 14th 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 35 at-bats (.279/BA) while driving in seven runs and scoring seven himself. The Trojans currently have four players, who have at least 40 at-bats that maintain a batting average of .300 or better while two players average .400 or better. The team hits a whopping .295 from the plate with an on-base percentage of .415. The pitching rotation has been keeping the base paths vacant this season as they allowed a respectable 4.79 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 four wins while maintaining an impressive 3.18 ERA in 45.1 innings while Spain leads with 60 strikeouts which, ranks him 34th 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 27th in the country in innings pitched with 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 29th in innings pitched with 44.1 and ranks 18th in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.38. Rashard Miller has proven to be a primetime reliever as he has stepped in 21.2 inning and struck out 14 batters while boasting the best ERA on the team with a 2.91. Avante Banks still leads the infield with 64 put outs so far this season while also maintaining a .317 batting average, which ranks him fourth on the team. Ricky Jones is a vacuum in the outfield as well with 53 put outs on the season with no errors. Tahraun Hammond has assisted on the most outs on the team this season with 38. Dawsyn Hock is perfect on the season as he leads the team with 92 putouts.
 
 
Weekend Schedule
Wednesday, April 6
Virginia State vs. Barton College
3:00 p.m. *Ettrick, VA *Whaley Colbert Field
 
 
 
About Barton
The Barton Bulldogs are 18-16 overall and 10-8 in the Conference Carolinas on the season after taking two games off of Emmanuel in the three-game series. Prior to the most recent doubleheader against Emmanuel, the Bulldogs beat the Trojans 7-3. Offensively, the Bulldogs put the bat on the ball quite a bit hitting .294 with a .393 on-base percentage. BC has driven 184 runs home with a .425 slugging percentage. The squad has struck out 242 times while drawing 124 walks. Colby Warren is the most consistent hitter on his team as he leads his squad with a .421 batting average (27^th in the nation) along with 51 hits and six home runs. He leads the squad in home runs (6), slugging percentage (.678) and doubles (13). Andres Machado isn't far behind his counterpart Warren, as he bats .400 from the plate and leads the squad in at-bats (144) and runs (30). Machado is 12^th in the country with 52 hits. The Bulldogs pitching rotation gives away 5.14 earned runs per contest and has allowed 196 runs with 242 strikeouts and 107 walks this season. Teams have accumulated 325 hits against the rotation this season. Alex Hart is the ace as he leads the team in innings pitched (73), strikeouts (76) (5^th in the nation) and wins (4). Hart has walked just 11 batters this season and maintains a 2.47 ERA. He also has a tied for 26^th in the country with a 6.91 strikeout-to-walk ratio.


 
Series History
The Trojans are 0-3 against the Bulldogs in matchups dating back to 2020. VSU scores an average of 5.67 runs against BC. The last matchup, Barton scored seven runs on nine hits with no errors while the Trojans scored three runs on five hits and an error. BC scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning runs on their way to a 7-3 victory. 
 
 
 
 
Next Five Matchups

• Apr. 6 vs. Barton
• Apr. 9-10 at Mid-Atlantic Christian
• Apr. 14 vs. Newport News Apprentice School
• Apr. 16-17 at Salem
• Apr. 19 at Univ. of Mount Olive