EMMITSBURG, Maryland — Emmitsburg, Maryland – A road trip doubleheader awaits the University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team as the Hawks (1-6) visits Mount Saint Mary's (MD) on Feb. 28 with first pitched slated for noon.

Seniors Dwayne Marshall (Piscataway, New Jersey) and Marty Tolson, Jr. (Stafford, Virginia) will start for the Hawks, both will be their third start of the season and each is currently sporting sub-4 ERAs. The pair also lead the team in strikeouts with eight and seven, respectively.

"Our guys have done a great job so far," head coach Brian Hollamon said. "I was to see them to continue to pound the zone, I want to continue to see them work quick and I want to see them continue to make people get themselves out."

The offense through the season so far has been carried by Blake Coleman (Woodbridge, Virginia), Brian Cordell (Pasadena, Maryland), Dillon Oxyer (Pasadena, Maryland) and Andrew Revels (Annapolis, Maryland) who all feasted on University of Albany pitching over the weekend
Coleman currently leads the team with 10 hits while Cordell has been in midseason form since Opening Day with seven runs, two homers and a staggering 1.230 OPS over 22 at-bats.

Despite the top of the order getting the job done, Hollamon is looking for a strong effort from the whole lineup to keep down the number of runners left on so far this season

"From the offensive standpoint I think we've done a nice job," Hollamon said. "We've got to score runs when the opportunity arises. We have tendency to get guys in scoring position and we just need to get them across the plate.

"We've done a good job of getting there, we just have to finish the job."

Aside from runners left on it's been a battle against errors for the Hawks so far in 2020 with each loss having at least one error and unearned run with the exception of 2/15 against Mercer University in which all runs were earned.

The Hawks lone win on the season: a mistake free game against Albany in which just one Dame to steal.

"We've been sporadic with our defensive prowess," Hollamon said. "What I've liked to see this weekend is being solid defensively and not making any mental mistakes - we obviously can always make physical mistakes but not making mental mistakes that turn out to be costly for us in the weekend."

With an expected game time temperature of just 39 degrees and wind gusts of up to 30 mph, the Hawks will have more than just the Mount trying to ground them.

"The biggest hurdle for tomorrow is going to be who can battle the elements," Hollamon said. "The wind is gonna blow, the temperature is going to be down, so whatever team can block those things out is probably going to be the team to win."

The Mountaineers enter the game at 0-3 after dropping their opening series against St. Bonaventure — a common opponent for the teams — with two blow outs and a two-run loss.

The squad went 15-35 in 2019, splitting a two-game series in Salisbury before the Shore took two from them a week later in Emmitsburg – one game going to extras until Nick Roets (Charlotte, North Carolina) knocked in a runner for the game winner and Oxyer added an insurance run later in the inning.

Mount Saint Mary's will bring one of the nation's best base stealers in junior Myles Nicholson the speedy utility man currently has three stolen bases on four attempts in 2020 after stealing 37 of 41 last year in 44 games. Thomas Savastio currently leads the Mount statistically at the plate with four RBIs on four hits and Jordan Geber leads in strikeouts with five but gave up two home runs in his lone start.

Originally the series was to be a three-game set, but incoming weather has postponed game three until April 22 at Mount St. Mary's at 4 p.m.