The Middlebury baseball team heads to Union, New Jersey for the regional round of the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers take on #19 SUNY Cortland on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The rest of the regional includes #9 Kean, who serves as the host, and Husson, who play in the first contest of the double-elimination weekend at 11:00 a.m. 
 
ABOUT MIDDLEBURY 

• Middlebury is making its fifth appearance and fourth straight in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Panthers earned an automatic bid after defeating Williams 10-6 in the NESCAC Championship game. The squad swept the double-elimination weekend, claiming three straight victories to secure the title. 
• Middlebury comes into the playoffs having won 17 of its last 19 contests with a 27-11 record.

PANTHERS TO WATCH

• On the mound, Christian Zebrowski leads the squad with 40.1 innings pitched and has struck out 31 batters heading into NCAA Tournament action. Emmet George comes off a stellar NESCAC Championship performance which included a career-best nine strikeouts over five innings against Williams in the conference semifinals. The second-year pitcher paces the team with 43 strikeouts.
• Middlebury has a group of pitchers who have appeared in 15 or more contests out of the bullpen this spring. Jacob Sherf leads the program with 18 games pitched and has given up just five runs, while Stefano Yozzo has struck out 25 over 24 innings. Dylan Knightly and Kunal Handa have each completed 28 innings of work over 17 and 16 appearances, respectively. Charlie Kutz rounds out the group with a team-best four saves.
• Nathan Samii has been a force at the plate. Hitting in the third spot in the lineup throughout the season, the infielder paces the team with a .411 batting average, 16 doubles and a .720 slugging percentage. His 34 runs batted in (RBI) and 33 runs scored sit second on the team. 
• One of the catalysts of Middlebury's lineup is Kyle McCausland. The outfielder is one of just two players to play in all 38 contests this spring. Securing the second spot in the lineup, McCausland leads the squad in hits (49), RBI (47), runs (36), homers (12) and total bases (101). The senior owns school records with 199 career hits, 153 runs scored and 44 doubles.
• Solidifying the leadoff spot in the order has been Aiden Han. In his second season, the infielder sits atop Middlebury in on-base percentage (.544), is second in batting average (.378), and is only behind McCausland in walks with 25.
• Gus Parker and Will Ashley are spark plugs near the bottom of the Panther lineup. Parker has a .319 batting average and 29 hits over 28 contests, while Ashley is third on the team with 43 hits and 30 RBI.

ABOUT CORTLAND

• Cortland won the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championship for the 37th time in program history with a 16-1 victory over SUNY Oneonta. 
• The squad is making its 32nd NCAA Tournament appearance.
• Cortland won the 2015 National Championship and is seeking the program's second crown.
• The Red Dragons enter the weekend 29-11 and have won nine-straight contests. The program has played nine games against ranked teams, tallying three victories combined over then-#7 Trinity (Texas) and then-#14 Christopher Newport.
• Cortland sits in the top-20 places nationally in five categories. The team leads Division III with 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings and is third in shutouts with seven, while being 11th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.76), 12th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.00) and 15th in earned run average (ERA) (3.62).

RED DRAGONS TO WATCH

• Talon Elkins paces a Cortland offense that has put up 10 or more runs 15 times. The rookie has a team-best .430 batting average and .515 on-base percentage and is second with 34 runs scored.
• Chris Bonacci and Nolan Smith are tied at the top with 46 hits apiece. Smith has 14 multi-hit contests this season, while Smith has crossed the plate a squad-high 42 times.
• Marc Stockhausen is an RBI machine for the Red Dragons. The senior has 43 coming into NCAA Tournament action and also leads the team in slugging percentage (.676).
• On the mound, Luis Misla is sixth nationally in ERA (1.64) and has the fifth-most strikeouts in Division III (107). The lefty is 9-2 and has won his last eight starts on the mound. 
• Nick Jessen (42.2), Matthew Nochowitz (38.1) and Ryan Banks (31.1) each have pitched north of 30 innings this season and have a combined 12-3 mark.

ABOUT KEAN

• Kean earned an at-large bid after falling to The College of New Jersey in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament. 
• The Cougars, who claimed the regular-season crown with a 17-1 mark, are making their 17th NCAA Tournament appearance and searching for their first title since 2007.
• Kean is 35-8 heading into the weekend and has won 18 of its last 21 games.
• NJAC Player of the Year Kyle Adorno leads the Cougars in batting average (.420), hits (68), runs scored (54) and stolen bases (29). The senior has reached base safely in all but four games this season. 
• Tyler Stone has played in all 43 contests, tallying 56 hits and a team-best 12 doubles.
• Jason Gilman, who was named the conference's pitcher of the year, paces a Kean staff with the nation's fifth-lowest ERA (3.18). The lefty sports a 12-0 record with 116 strikeouts over 87 innings pitched.

ABOUT HUSSON

• Husson clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament after claiming its sixth-consecutive North Atlantic Conference (NAC) crown via a 17-7 triumph over Thomas College.
• The Eagles, who are making their sixth postseason appearance, come into the weekend 24-14 overall and winners of their last four contests. 
• Jackson Curtis has been in the lineup for all 38 games and leads Husson in multiple offensive categories, including batting average (.394), hits (56) and runs batted in (47).
• Akira Walker paces the Eagles with 50 runs scored and 30 walks over 37 contests.
• NAC Tournament Most Valuable Player Connor Abood has pitched 54.1 innings and has struck out 56 batters, while Matt Wallingford leads the team with a 1.56 ERA. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Middlebury has never played Cortland, Husson or Kean in baseball.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

• Tournament Central
• Regional Brackets

The winner of the Union Regional moves on to the Super Regional round to begin on Friday, May 23.