Duquesne will face sixth-seeded St. Bonaventure (29-22/15-12) in the the A-10's opening round action on Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at Campbell's Field, the home of the Atlantic League's Camden (N.J.) Riversharks.
The Dukes with be making thier fourth trip in six years to the A-10's six-team, double elimination championship tournament. The Red and Blue were picked in the preseason by the league coaches to finish twelfth.
Duquesne started the season with an 0-9 record after taking on perennial baseball powers Florida State, the number three team in the nation, number 18 South Carolina, and LSU, 21st in the current USA Today / ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll. These three programs combined record is 119-44. All contests were away from the friendly, but much colder, confines of Duquesne Field.
Coach Mike Wilson's squad improved on 2007's 22-29, 10-17 league mark. This included an 11-game win streak with six Atlantic 10 victories against Massachusetts and the Bonnies.
The Dukes have been led by junior Mike Carroll (.361), senior Derek Mechling (.348), senior Pat Kimutis (.343) and senior Aaron Janusey (.335). Janusey leads the A-10 with 466 putouts. Mechling, who has team bests of 12 home runs and 42 RBI, is on the Johnny Bench Award watch list, the trophy given annually to the the nation's best catcher.
Junior pitcher Ryan Juran has a 6-7 mark and sophomore Paul Bugajski is 5-3. Fellow soph Danny Brown has recorded nine saves. Juran received A-10 Pitcher of the Week honors on March 24.
Two Dukes apprear on the latest national statistics lists. Junior Anthony Manley's 12 sacrifice bunts are good for 18th in the nation and Mike Carroll has been hit by a pitcher 17 times - 19th highest.
Xavier (25-29/19-8) and defending champion Charlotte (40-14/19-8), as the top two seeds, have byes to the quarterfinals. Wednesday's other first round game will feature fourth seed Temple (26-27/16-11) against No. 5 Rhode Island (29-25-1/15-11-1).
For more information, including a link to the tourney bracket in .pdf format, please click here