Roll Purps': As winter sports are slowly coming to an end, spring sports are hitting the fields

Niagara University’s spring sports consist of both women’s and men’s tennis, women’s lacrosse, baseball, softball

By Dominique Paliani

Special to Niagara Frontier Publications

This past weekend, the baseball team started its official season with a series win over Norfolk State. This is the first time since 2008 wherein Niagara won its season-opening series.

Marcus Cashman earned his first honor of the season, as he was named MAAC Pitcher of the Week, due to his five scoreless innings (only allowing two hits).

The team leaves this weekend for a four-game set with George Mason with a doubleheader on both Saturday and Sunday.

Senior Josh Marchese said, “As a team, we feel good going into this weekend. With a schedule change into two days with double-headers, it will be a different kind of weekend – very similar to the MAAC tournament last year with having little rest between games. It will be a good test for our team. George Mason is a very good team and will be wanting to get a sweep at home. After losing the first game last weekend, we need to come out with more energy to start the weekend off, and stay with it throughout the series and with us the rest of the year.”

Softball is currently 2-3 to start the season, but the team is turning its attention to the Hawaii Spring Fling. The team hits the field Thursday against St. Bonaventure in Honolulu, O’ahu. The team will also be facing the University of the Pacific and Utah twice, along with Santa Clara and Hawaii at The Spring Fling.

Senior Kaity McInall said, “We are excited about our first game, since it is against a hometown rival: St. Bonaventure. They traveled to Hawaii, as well, so we want to come out strong and show Hawaii that we are the best softball school in WNY!”

The women’s lacrosse team is 4-1 currently in the season after a loss against Colgate this past weekend. Now turning its attention to this weekend's two home games, the team will face Youngstown State on Thursday at 2 p.m., then will face Binghamton on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will be aired on the Niagara Sports Network.

Women’s tennis has a record of 3-5, while men's tennis sits at 3-5. The women’s team will host MAAC play on Saturday, March 4, against Quinnipiac. The men will also host Quinnipiac on Saturday, March 4, but, first, the team will take on Binghamton on Thursday, March 2, on the road.

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This is a Niagara University student-created piece completed as part of the course CMS 226A. For more information, contact the Niagara Frontier Publications’ managing editor.