WALTHAM, Mass. – Two of the Northeast-10's leaders in strikeouts, Bentley University's Bill Sullivan (Carver/Carver HS) and Southern New Hampshire University's Mitchell Powers,  are expected to be on the mound Tuesday night when the two teams meet at Penmen Field (6 pm) in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships.

Tuesday's winner between the nationally-ranked Penmen, the top seed in the Northeast Division, and the fourth-seeded Falcons will advance to the double-elimination portion of the championships, which will be hosted, beginning Thursday, by the highest surviving seed out of the Southwest Division.

Sullivan, a right-handed graduate student, is tied for second in the conference in strikeouts with his total of 78 seven shy of Rob Finneran's single season Bentley record.  The NE10 leader in innings pitched (85.1), he'll bring a 6-5 record and a 3.06 ERA into his conference-high 12th start of the season. Last Wednesday, he authored a six-hitter and struck out nine in a 4-2 win at Stonehill, a victory the Falcons needed in order to qualify for the championships.

Powers, a junior righty, is 4-2 with a 1.82 ERA and a .195 opponent batting average. He's struck out 76 in 64.1 innings while walking only a dozen.  His last appearance came last Tuesday when he fanned 12 and allowed only seven hits in a complete-game 3-1 win over Franklin Pierce.

The probable lineup for coach Bob DeFelice will include as many as six players – five freshmen and a sophomore – who didn't have a collegiate at bat entering the season. That includes the team's top three hitters, a list headed by freshman first baseman Ryan Berardino (Sudbury/Lincoln-Sudbury Reg. HS).  His .368 average is third best in the NE10 and he's also number three in on base percentage (.456).

Sophomore right fielder Austin Farry (Watertown/Watertown HS) follows at .275 and he's taken over the team-lead in total bases (53) and RBI (22).

Southern New Hampshire, which has won 14 in a row to improve to 39-7 and is currently ranked fourth nationally in Division II, is led offensively by Zach Goldstein and Caleb Potter. Goldstein (.344) is second in the NE10 in on base percentage (.485) and runs scored (46) while Potter is hitting .331 with six homers and 36 RBI. The Penmen like to run with 125 stolen bases, including 20 by Goldstein.

Bentley, 11-29, will be making its first appearance in the conference championships since 2014 when the Falcons also faced Southern New Hampshire.

The two clubs met three times this season with the Penmen taking all three at home (13-4, 2-0 and 6-4). Neither Sullivan or Powers pitched in that series.