KUTZTOWN, Pa. – It's been nearly three weeks since the Kutztown University baseball team kicked off its season in North Carolina.  KU will travel to and play five games at the annual Builder Invitational hosted by the Newport News Apprentice School beginning on Thursday, Feb. 23.
 
For complete schedule information of the weekend tournament, CLICK HERE.
 
The Golden Bears (2-2) kick off the invite in Hampton, Va. against Lock Haven on the 23rd at 6 p.m.  Friday's nine-inning contest against the Apprentice School is scheduled for 12 p.m.  KU then has a pair of Saturday games as it goes up against Briarcliffe at 9:00 a.m. and Bloomsburg at 6:00 p.m. A seeding will then take place based upon teams' results from the four games to decide matchups for Sunday's games including the championship game set to begin at 3:00 p.m.

Live stats for this weekend's games can be found by CLICKING HERE. 
 
KU reached the championship game last season, but fell to Lock Haven, 8-4.  It was the first time in the past seven years that KU hasn't won the Builder Invite.  Nevertheless, Kutztown's long-term success should bring a high confidence level to the team this weekend as it has won nine of the last 14 tournaments.
 
It'll be a 19-day layoff when KU takes the field in Virginia since its last competition.  KU split a pair of doubleheaders against Barton College on Feb. 3-4 as head coach Chris Blum was quite happy with his team's opening performance of the season.
 
Kutztown heads into the tournament ranked eighth in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Regional poll.  Notably, the NCAA regional poll released in April will play the deciding factor in regional playoff seeding's.
 
Senior Shayne Houck (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) hit a pair of home runs in the four-game set to tie the KU career home run record of 37.  He is hitting .308 this year and has a team-high six RBIs with an impressive .769 slugging percentage.
 
Leading the team in average in the early going is junior Todd Rubendall (Collegeville, PA/Methacton) (Collegeville, PA/Methacton).  He is hitting .429 and hit his first collegiate home run.  Senior Cody Montz (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Schuylkill Haven) (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Schuylkill Haven) and junior Matt Albaugh (Hatfield, PA/North Penn) (Hatfield, PA/North Penn) accompany Houck with a team-high four hits apiece.
 
On the mound, starting seniors Trent Mertz (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown) (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown) and Dominick Ruscitti (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville-Newbaugh/Dominican College) (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville-Newbaugh) each picked up wins in Barton.  
 
Following the Builder Invitational, the Golden Bears will have off until they plays in their series of games during spring break beginning at Catawba College on Monday, Mar. 12.