INDIANA, Pa. - The IUP baseball team (23-18, 12-8 PSAC West) continues its remarkable season as the Crimson Hawks head into a four-game weekend series with division opponent Gannon (22-13, 13-7 PSAC West). The Golden Knights will host the series-opening doubleheader Friday afternoon in Erie with the final two games played in Indiana on Saturday afternoon. First pitch each day is set for 1 p.m. 

The Crimson Hawks earned a series split with Mercyhurst last weekend to remain fully in the divisional title hunt. They also lost a mid-week non-divisional game to Shippensburg on Tuesday. Gannon went 3-1 against Seton Hill a week ago and lost to Walsh in Ohio on Tuesday. 

HAWKS FLYING HIGH
>> IUP enters the weekend having gone 10-4 overall since April 11, including a 7-3 in divisional play.
>> The Hawks are hitting .379 in those 14 games and are outscoring opponents 9.8 runs to 6.0 runs. 
>> During this span the Hawks posted a 7-game win streak, which is the longest by an IUP team since the 2013 season.
>> IUP scored 10+ runs four times during its 7-game win streak.
>> The 26 runs against Kutztown last week were the most since 2003, the first year of complete statistics.

DIVISION RACE HEATS UP
>> It's a tight race in the PSAC West with just three games separating the top six teams in the standings.
>> Slippery Rock, Mercyhurst, and Gannon are all tied for first with a 13-7 division record while IUP is second at 12-8. Cal U and Seton Hill are tied for fifth at 10-10. 
>> The Hawks wrap up league play next weekend with four games against Clarion (10-28, 5-15 PSAC West).

HAWKS LEFT OUT OF FIRST REGIONAL RANKINGS
>> IUP is on the outside looking in as the NCAA Selection Committee debuted its Division II baseball regional rankings on Wednesday. It was the first of three releases before the complete 56-team field is announced on Sunday, May 15. 
>> The top-10 teams in the Atlantic Region were released with IUP not being one of them. The top seven teams in the Atlantic will earn selection to the NCAA championship.
>> IUP is among the top-5 in the region in DII strength of schedule (3rd, .544), DII performance indicator (4th, 12.500), and in-region RPI (5th, .544). But the Hawks are 13th in the region in both DII win percentage (.575) and Atlantic Region win percentage (.568). 
>> IUP is looking for its first NCAA tournament berth since 1990. 

IUP IN PLAYOFF MODE
>> This is the latest in the season that IUP has been in the playoff race since 2017. That year the Hawks finished second in the division with an 18-10 record.
>> IUP is looking for its first PSAC tournament berth since 2017 and its fourth since 2010. 
>> The Hawks have won two of their five divisional series this year, including 4-0 against UPJ and 3-1 against No. 22 Slippery Rock. IUP also split four-game series with No. 13 Seton Hill and Mercyhurst. 

BIG IMPROVEMENTS
>> With the weekend series split with Mercyhurst, IUP won its 22nd and 23rd games of the season. 
>> It's the fastest to 20 wins since before the 2011 season when the Hawks reached 22 in 42 games in the 2013 season. 
>> The 23 wins this year is better than IUP's win total from the 2019, COVID-shortened 2020, and 2021 seasons - combined. 
>> In those seasons the Hawks went a combined 20-73. 

LOADING THE BASES
>> Four Hawks currently have an OPS of over 1.000 with a min. of 110 at bats, led by Markus Cestra with 1.129.
>> Markus Cestra, Torrey Roper, and Harrison Pontoli lead the team in triples with 4 each. 
>> Four Hawks have double-digit doubles, led by Cestra with 19. 
>> 10 different players have combined to hit 33 home runs in 41 games. Last year IUP hit 10 homers in 37 games. 
>> IUP enters the week as the second best-hitting team in the PSAC with a .315 average.
>> The Hawks are 4th in slugging percentage at .507, 2nd in doubles with 98, and 1st in triples with 17.

SPEED ON THE BASEPATHS
>> The Hawks are 50-68 (.735) in stolen base attempts in 2022.
>> They have already accumulated more total stolen bases in 2022 than they did last season when they posted 33 stolen bags on 42 attempts.
>> IUP has five players with at least 7 stolen bags this season. Au'sean Owens leads the team with 11 steals on 14 attempts.

ALL THE TOOLS
>> Jimmy Tooley continues his pitching hot streak as a freshman after winning another game against Western division rival Mercyhurst.
>> Tooley leads IUP in wins (7-0), shutout (1), and second in WHIP (1.32). He also leads all starting pitchers in ERA (4.17) and third in opponent batting average (.251).
>> He's averaging 6.8 Ks per 7 innings, fanning a season-high 8 batters against Wheeling and No. 22 Slippery Rock. 
>> Tooley pitched a gem fanning 1 batter, allowing 3 hits and gave up just 2 runs in 6.0 innings of work in his win over Mercyhurst.

NEW FACE LEADS THE WAY
>> Veteran MLB pitcher and coach Steve Kline was named the program's 14th head coach last summer.
>> He spent the last 15 seasons as a pitching coach in the San Francisco Giants organization, aiding pitchers such as Madison Bumgarner, Luis Castillo, Sam Coonrod, and Zack Wheeler, among others.
>> Kline appeared in 796 games over 11 seasons in the Majors with Cleveland, Montreal, St. Louis, Baltimore, and San Francisco.