The Sacred Heart University baseball team needs some wins.

Losers of six in a row, SHU was swept off its home field last weekend by Wagner and slipped all the way to fifth in the Northeast Conference standings. The good news is six teams will qualify for the NEC Championship, and the Pios are still 3.5 games clear of a three-way tie for seventh as the stretch run begins in earnest this weekend. SHU will face all three teams currently in the tie for seventh over the season's final three weeks, beginning with three games at Coppin State on Thursday and Friday.

Wet weather has yet again forced changes to the weekend schedule. The Pios and Eagles will meet for a doubleheader on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., followed by a single game on Friday at 1 p.m. 

LAST TIME OUT
Zack Kovalchik's left hand was six inches from home plate. SHU was six inches from completing a much-needed ninth-inning comeback. Alas, the catcher's glove, and the ball inside it, was already planted on the middle of his back. The potential tying run was cut down at the plate to end the game on a brisk Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Diamond, as Fairfield escaped with a 4-3 victory in the cross-town, non-conference rivalry. 

A LOOK AT THE PIOS
Sacred Heart (16-22, 11-10 NEC), which has been resurgent in 2023, is in the midst of its first serious skid of the season, having lost its last six in a span of just eight days. It was a humbling sweep at the hands of visiting Wagner last weekend, as the Pios were outscored 30-14 over three games and suffered their first home NEC sweep since May of 2019. Against conference opponents, SHU is second in the NEC in both batting average (.301) and on-base percentage (.408), but ranks eighth of 11 teams in ERA (5.94).

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Coppin State (13-25, 6-12 NEC) has dropped its last four NEC series, but gave first-place Central Connecticut State all it could handle in New Britain last weekend. The Eagles took the opener, 5-1, before CCSU responded with an 8-1 victory in game two. In the third game, Coppin State rallied with single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to force extras, but CCSU walked things off in the 10^th for a 6-5 win. In NEC play, Coppin State ranks fifth in ERA (5.66) and seventh in on-base percentage (.371). 

ON THE MOUND
Sacred Heart projected starters:
Thursday (Game 1): Jake Babuschak (RHP)
            Season stats: 54.0 IP, 61 H, 35 R (28 ER), 19 BB, 42 K, 4.67 ERA, 1.48 WHIP
            Last start: April 21 vs. Wagner (L), 6.0 IP, 6 R (3 ER), 7 H, 1 BB, 4 K
Thursday (Game 2): Jack Kramer (RHP)
            Season stats: 43.0 IP, 48 H, 34 R (31 ER), 24 BB, 42 K, 6.49 ERA, 1.67 WHIP
            Last start: April 21 vs. Wagner (ND), 2.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 K
Friday: Nick Kane (RHP)
            Season stats: 29.0 IP, 37 H, 22 R (19 ER), 14 BB, 27 K, 5.90 ERA, 1.76 WHIP
            Last start: April 22 vs. Wagner (ND), 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 K 

Coppin State projected starters:
Thursday (Game 1): Marcos Herrand (RHP)
            Season stats: 62.2 IP, 77 H, 45 R (41 ER), 25 BB, 52 K, 5.89 ERA, 1.63 WHIP
            Last start: April 21 at CCSU (W), 8.0 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
Thursday (Game 2): Tyler Nichol (RHP)
            Season stats: 34.1 IP, 39 H, 28 R (26 ER), 24 BB, 32 K, 6.82 ERA, 1.83 WHIP
            Last start: April 22 at CCSU (L), 4.2 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 6 BB, 2 K
Friday: Christian Pareja (RHP)
            Season stats: 26.0 IP, 23 H, 24 R (16 ER), 18 BB, 17 K, 5.54 ERA, 1.58 WHIP
            Last start: April 22 at CCSU (ND), 4.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K 

LAST TIME AGAINST THE EAGLES
There is only one previous three-game series on the books between SHU and Coppin State, as the Pios traveled to Baltimore in March of 2006 for a trio of non-conference games. Sacred Heart bookended the series with 6-3 and 12-9 victories, while the Eagles took a 5-3 win in the middle game. Coppin State is a first-year member of the NEC and this weekend marks the first-ever league contests between the two teams. 

NEXT UP
SHU has midweek home games against Yale (Tuesday) and Fairfield (Wednesday) next week, before hosting Delaware State in an NEC series May 5-7.