Tampa Baseball Set to Meet Mercyhurst to Open NCAA Championships

CARY, N.C. – The University of Tampa baseball team is set to meet Mercyhurst University in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Baseball Championships at the USA National Training Complex on Sunday.

The Matchup: No. 2 University of Tampa Spartans vs. No. 7 Mercyhurst University Lakers

Date/Time: Sunday at 7 p.m.

The Records: Tampa (41-14), Mercyhurst (34-14)

Location: USA Baseball National Training Complex | Cary, N.C. | Directions | Tickets

About the Spartans: Tampa is riding a five-game postseason winning streak, defeating Spring Hill, West Florida and Nova Southeastern in the South I Regional. Last weekend, the Spartans prevailed in a best-of-three series with Delta State in the South Super Regional. Hitting .309 as a team, UT is led by junior All-American Yorvis Torrealba, who is hitting .401 while also leading the team with 11 home runs and 22 stolen bases. Senior catcher Danny Sirven has continued to be a force, hitting .363 with five home runs to go with a team-leading 52 RBI. Ace pitcher Keven Pimentel is enjoying a senior campaign where he is 12-2 with a 2.73 ERA. In 105.2 innings pitched, he has 98 strikeouts. In 16.0n innings of work in the postseason, Pimentel is 2-0 while allowing just one earned run. He also has nine strikeouts while walking just one opposing hitter.

About the Lakers: Offensively, Mercyhurst is led by Alex O'Donnell, who enters the championships hitting .313. Domenic DeRenzo has slugged a team-high 10 home runs to go with 37 RBI while hitting .215.  Mercyhurst has a .385 team on-base percentage. Matthew Minnick earned All-American honors as the top pitcher is 6-3 with a 3.03 ERA. In 68.1 innings of work he has 122 strikeouts while opposing hitters are batting just .215 against the senior left-hander.

Series History: Tampa holds a 1-0 lead in the all-time series. The only meeting also came in Cary, N.C., at the 2015 NCAA Championships with UT taking a 3-1 victory in the national semifinals.

Championship Tradition: Tampa has captured a total of seven national championships and ranks as the winningest baseball program in the nation in the 2000s. Head coach Joe Urso has guided his team to four national titles since 2006 as UT is the lone team with multiple championships in Cary with two. This is UT's 34th NCAA tournament appearances as the Spartans have won 18 regional titles.

Game Coverage: Fans may watch live and follow live stats through NCAA.com.

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Text Alerts: UT also offers a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.

Front Row: Download the official app of UT Athletics on the Apple or Android store. Look for Tampa Spartans Front Row app to receive notifications from your favorite Spartan teams. The app is completely free.