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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team gets set to face 11th-ranked East Stroudsburg University in an early-season Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) series that gets underway with a doubleheader on Thursday, March 24 at 1 p.m. at North Campus Field.

The two teams then make the short trip to ESU, where the Warriors host KU in another doubleheader on Saturday, March 26 to finish the season-series, starting at 1 p.m.   

The Golden Bears are looking to rebound from a current five-game losing streak that saw the team drop to 10-13 (1-3 PSAC) on the season.  Kutztown recently returned from its spring break trip to North Carolina on March 12, a stretch of games that saw the team go 7-5, including a PSAC-win over Lock Haven University. 

Kutztown has been led on offense by junior outfielder and third basemen Alec O'Dell (Edgewood, Md./West Chester Bayard Rustin (Harford C.C.)), who is batting .333 (18-for-69) with three home runs, 13 RBIs and five stolen bases.  Freshman Bo Rottet (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua) sits right behind him with a .306 average, one homer, 10 RBIs and four steals.  Freshman Kyle Rogers (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area), in a key reserve role, is hitting .314 (11-for-35) with four RBIs.  Brady McNab (Hatboro, Pa./Archbishop Wood (Frederick C.C.)) has also contributed 10 RBIs and three stolen bases on the year. 

The Golden Bears pitching staff is led by senior Matt Swarmer (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) and sophomore Mike Kammerer (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic).  Swarmer is 2-2 with a team-high 41 strikeouts (2nd in PSAC) over 23.1 innings pitched.  Kammerer is 0-2 over three starts, and holds a 3.00 ERA with 21 strikeouts.  Dave King (Zerbe, Pa./Minersville) is 2-0 out of the bullpen with a team-leading 1.23 ERA.  Reliever Anthony DeVito (Philadelphia, Pa./Central (Mercer County C.C.)) also holds a 2-0 record with two saves in eight appearances.  Pat Flynn (Pottstown, Pa./West-Mont Christian Academy) has a team-high three saves.    

East Stroudsburg (19-2, 4-0) enters the game as one of the hottest teams in all of Division II.  ESU is riding a nine-game winning streak that has saw the Warriors outscore their opponents by a margin of 94-32.  ESU enters the weekend batting .386 as a team, the second-best mark in D-II.  The Warriors also lead the PSAC in hits (274), doubles (53), home runs (34), RBIs (237) and slugging percentage (.621).  Eight players hold batting averages better than .357.    

ESU will travel to Philadelphia University on Wednesday, March 23 for one final non-conference tune-up at 3 p.m. before the weekend series. 

East Stroudsburg had been led on offense by sophomore outfielder Christian Rishel who sits as the 14th-ranked batter in Division II, going 36-for-75 (.480) with seven home runs, 32 RBIs, 26 runs scored and four stolen bases.  Junior shortstop Conner Crookham is right behind as the 27th-ranked batter in D-II, batting 27-for-60 (.450) with four home runs, 26 RBIs, 24 runs scored and three stolen bases. 

Pitcher Matt Festa enters the series for ESU with a 5-0 record and 2.10 ERA, striking out 35 over 30 innings-pitched.  Tyler Eckman sits at 4-0 with a 1.69 ERA over 32 innings.  The Warriors have four pitchers with ERAs under 2.10.

East Stroudsburg took the season-series last year, 3-1.