Conway, Ark. – The Dominican University Baseball team travels to Arkansas to kick off their 2025 campaign against New York University and Hendrix College.
Series History vs. New York:
All-Time Record / Streak: First Ever Meeting.
DU in Review:
- Dominican begins a stretch of three games in two days to open the 2025 season, with two games taking place on Sunday, February 23rd.
-The Stars traveled to Conway, Arkansas last season and went 1-2 on this trip.
-The 2025 season marks the 14th season with Head Coach Steve Hardman at the helm. The Stars finished with a 15-25 record overall and were 7-17 in the NACC.
-DU heads into 2025 looking to make the conference tournament for the first time since 2019.
-As a team last year, the Stars hit with a .292 batting average and a 7.20 team ERA.
Familiar Faces:
-Dominican returns Graduate Student Grayson Downing after only playing 17 games in his senior year, G.Downing is a lockdown centerfielder that has a career batting average of .363 in his 127 games in a Stars uniform. Grayson only has 4 errors in his collegiate career with a .990 fielding percentage.
-Senior CJ Kalekas is one of the right fielders and pitcher on the DU roster and returns with a .284 career batting average and a 7.63 career ERA. Kalekas threw 21.2 innings on the mound last season. On the offensive side Kalekas collected 29 hits and 15 RBI’s
-Junior Zach Helein is a two-year left fielder for the Stars and has produced a lot in his time in a DU uniform. Helein holds a .300 career batting average with 36 total hits and 18 total RBI’s. Helein does not make mistakes in the outfield with just 3 errors and holds a .966 fielding percentage in left field.
-Senior Matthew Hannafin is returning from injury during his junior year and the Stars are excited to get the 6-2 righty back on the mound. Hannafin holds a 6.05 career ERA with 34 strikeouts through two full seasons of pitching.
-Sophomore Langdon Downing is looking to make a big jump headed to his sophomore year. L. Downing is a 5-11 right-handed pitcher who threw 17.1 innings as a freshman. L.Downing collected 19 strikeouts in his freshman year.
Scouting Report:
-New York University will have two games under their belt when playing Dominican on Sunday, but those games will both be on Saturday February 22nd.
-The Violets of New York University went 25-13 overall in their 2024 season with an 8-8 conference record.
Series History vs. Hendrix:
All-Time Record / Streak: 1-0, DU W1
-Last season was the first time Dominican and Hendrix ever played each other and the Stars won in a shootout.
-The final score was 14-13 with Dominican coming back from a 13-2 deficit after the 3rd inning.
-Grayson Downing went 4-5 with 3 rbis, 2 walks, and 2 runs scored.
Scouting Report:
-Hendrix college is currently 2-0 with winning two games on Valentine’s Day. The Warriors will play two more games against New York University before playing the Stars on the 23rd and the 24th of February.
-The Warriors have scored 17 runs and given up 10 runs in their two games.
-in the 2024 season Hendrix finished with a 27-19 overall record and a 12-9 record in their conference, while being 17-8 on their home field.
-The Warriors are currently 2-0 on their home field.
