Region Preview: No. 4 Long Island

Long Island, the winners of the Northeast Conference tournament and regular-season championship, fill out the regional as the No. 4 seed. The Sharks went 37-19 and 18-9 in the conference, good for No. 135 in RPI.

Long Island only played four games in the second quadrant and did not face off against a single Q1 team. Their strength of schedule ranks No. 265 in the nation. The team’s best series win came against Bryant — ranked No. 103 in RPI — in early May. The Sharks fell to the Bulldogs in their earlier series in March.

Graduate infielder Luke Turner, who missed nearly the entire month of April, leads the team in batting average at .343. Leading the team in OPS and second in batting average is graduate Michael Edelman. The big bat in the lineup — junior EJ Esposito — leads the Sharks with 13 home runs.

As for pitching, the top-two starters for the Sharks are senior Josh Loeschorn and graduate Jalen Wade. Loeschorn, the apparent No. 1 for Long Island, has a 3.02 ERA in 95.1 innings pitched. Wade registered a 5.90 ERA in 68.2 innings. Out of the bullpen, senior Nick Torres — the NEC Tournament MVP — has a 3.14 ERA in 51.2 innings. While mainly pitching in relief, Torres has started games for the Sharks, including a 6.1-inning, no-run performance in the conference championship game.