SMITHFIELD R.I. - The University of Hartford Hawks baseball team hosts the Roger Williams University Hawks in the first round of the Conference of New England (CNE) playoff tournament tomorrow at Bryant University. The first game will take place at 12:00 PM and if the Hartford Hawks win, they will then play Nichols College 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game for a chance to get in the CNE Semifinal.  

Wednesday Games at Bryant University: 
No. 3 University of Hartford Hawks (18-20, 9-7 CNE) vs No. 6 Roger Williams University Hawks (14-21, 6-10 CNE) - 12:00 PM start 
Winner of Prior Game vs No. 2 Nichols College (24-16, 11-5 CNE) - Start time is 45 minutes after previous game 

Game Headlines: 

Hartford will compete in its first playoff game since transitioning to division III competition. With this being the first season, the Hawks can compete in conference playoffs the team aims towards a CNE title.  

Hartford Headlines: 

• The Hawks ended the regular season with an overall record of 18-20 with a 9-7 CNE record and had a huge sweep of Nichols College during the conference season winning on April 1st and April 22nd. The Hawks split with Roger Williams on April 14th at Fiondella Field.  
• The team has been hot to end the season winning five of their last eight games including four-straight wins. The offense is led by graduate student Jake Santiago (Bristol, Conn.) who ended the year batting .492 in conference play with seven overall home runs and 32 RBIs. Sophomore JJ Romatzick (Stratford, Conn.) has been solid all year hitting .388 on the season 13 extra-base hits and a team-high 33 runs scored. Junior Jeremey Mangiameli (Middlefield, Conn.), junior Jackson Ciccone (Danbury, Conn.) and sophomore Alek Popovich (Rochdale, Mass.) are also players to watch as they all have had hot bats in the month of April into early May.  
• For the pitching staff it will be interesting to know who will get the first start for the postseason games. Sophomore Anthony Bubba (Jefferson, N.J.) and freshman Ryan Sheehy (Shelton, Conn.) both have done the bulk of the conference games. Bubba ended the year 4-1 with an ERA of 3.38 and 46 strikeouts. Sheehy ended his stellar freshman season 6-2 with an ERA of 3.65 and 74 strikeouts. Freshman Jeffrey Blake (Hopewell, N.J.) and freshman Justin Gouin (North Haven, Conn.) are also starters to watch as the pair combined for 17 starts on the season.  
• In the bullpen watch out for junior Michael Featherstone (Ramsey, N.J.) who ended the season with two saves, an ERA of 4.56 and 22 punch outs. Freshman Evan Gentile (Berlin, Conn.) and sophomore Sam Smith (Branford, Conn.) were also useful arms out of the bullpen combining for three saves. Senior Luke Rier (Miami, Fla.) is also an arm to watch out of the bullpen with a 2-0 record in conference play in 15 innings.  

Roger Willliams University Headlines:

• RWU heads into the CNE playoffs as the six seed following a split against the Western New England Golden Bears losing the second game of the doubleheader 6-5. 
• The Hawks have a weapon on offense in Ty Cali who has played in 34 of the 38 games this season, despite having five extra base hits he has been a consistent bat putting a .330 batting average in 112 at bats. Along with Cali the Hawks will have Will Florio as a threat, on the season he leads the Hawks with five home runs and 21 RBIs.  
• RWU enters the game with the 2nd lowest ERA in conference play behind Endicott College. The Hawks are led in their pitching by Jonathan Quinn who has posted a 3.38 ERA in 40 innings of work.  

Nichols College Headlines: 

• The Bison enter the Playoffs as the #2 seed in the CNE following a doubleheader sweep against Curry College.  
• The Bison will take on the winner of the game between Hartford and RWU. On the season the Bison lost both games against Hartford with the first one back on April 1st where the Hartford would eventually win the game on a Josh Kaplan walk off. However, in game two Hartford took over, putting up 19 runs that would later go down as a 19-3 win in favor of Hartford. When the Bison took on RWU back on March 29th the Bison split the series. With game 1 going to the Bison in a 3-1 final but game two would go to RWU with a final of 5-2. 
• The Bison are led by captains John Steed and Liam Flynn. Flynn is batting .368 with 15 doubles and a team leading 6 home runs. With his last coming on April 15 against Trinity College.  John Steed has posted a 3.84 ERA in 61 innings; to go along with the low ERA Steed also leads the team in strikeouts with 53.