FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (Feb. 11, 2016)-- After nearly a month of training exclusively indoors, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside baseball squad will finally get to enjoy the fresh air, opening up the 2016 season this week in balmy south Florida. The Rangers travel to Miami Shores to face Barry University in a four-game set starting on Friday.
 
The Rangers and Buccaneers begin the slate on Friday with a single game at 6 p.m. (Eastern Time). The two squads play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and close the weekend on Sunday with a single starting at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available for all four games.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (14-27, 11-25 Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2015) returns a solid nucleus from last season's team, including six of the top eight hitters, 10 of 12 pitchers, along with four players who saw action in the Northwoods League over the summer.
 
Leading the way offensively is catcher Jake Kolasinski who hit .321 last season with 16 extra base hits and 33 RBIs while snagging First Team All-GLVC and Second Team All-Midwest Region accolades. The junior additionally spent part of the summer with the Lakeshore Chinooks in the Northwoods, manning the hot corner at the start of the season. DJ Peltz returns after hitting .272 while speedster Troy Bittenbender is back after swiping 17 bases in 2015.
 
On the mound, all six pitchers who tossed at least 23 innings return, including aces Josh Serio, Tyler Jandron, and Mario Samuel. Serio was a workhorse last season, leading the team in innings pitched (63), strikeouts (62), and wins (five), making 11 starts and tossing one complete game. Serio continued to shine in the summer, landing a spot on the Northwoods League All-Star team while owning a 0.89 earned run average with 46 strikeouts and a 6-1 record for the league champion Kenosha Kingfish. Tyler Jandron returns after making nine appearances last season, pitching 47 1/3 innings and logging 46 strikeouts while fellow southpaw and 2014 GLVC Freshman of the Year Mario Samuel is back after making 11 appearances in 2015. Both Jandron and Samuel earned time in the Northwoods League with Jandron suiting up for the Wisconsin Woodchucks while Samuel spent time with the in-town Kingfish.
 
Riley Phillips (2-2 record with 3.71 ERA) returns along with reliever Joseph Plaud who compiled 40 strikeouts in 40 innings of work.
 
About the Buccaneers: Barry (3-1) heads into the weekend series having already played two exhibitions and four regular season games. The Buccaneers have proven to be a high-octane team offensively, scoring at least nine runs in every game this season.
 
Barry opened the season with a 12-7 upset win over second-ranked Catawba College on Jan. 29. The Bucs blasted Tusculum College 13-1 the following day before dropping an 11-9 slugfest to Newberry College on Jan. 31. Barry was back on the diamond on Tuesday, disposing of Colorado Christian University 13-5, utilizing a seven-run sixth inning to glide to the win.
 
Seven Buccaneers with at least 10 at-bats are hitting above .300, including Ramon Valdez who sports a .600 batting average. Carlos Matamoros leads the team with 10 base hits while Khalil Denson has driven in seven runs. The Barry offense has combined for 10 home runs and 23 extra base hits through the opening four games of 2016.
 
On the mound, Luis Deville owns a team-best 1.29 earned run average, striking out six in seven innings of work. As a staff, Barry owns a 5.25 ERA with 26 strikeouts.
 
GLVC Reshuffle: 2016 will have a slightly different look to GLVC play with interdivisional games eliminated from the league calendar. Teams will now play seven four-game sets against the rest of their division with the top four teams from each division meeting for the GLVC Tournament from May 12th to 15th in Westview, Indiana.