The Stonehill College baseball team is closing in on the 20-win mark with nearly five weeks still remaining in the season.

The Skyhawks take a 19-9 record into this afternoon's game against Assumption College at Lou Gorman Field. They went 4-1 on a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and were 5-4 in Florida.

A pitching staff that is led by senior starters Bryan Galligan of Brockton (pictured right), Michael White and Eric Haughn of Pembroke has been one of the main reasons for Stonehill's success.

Galligan is 3-1 with a 2.29 earned run average in six starts after going 5-1 with a 2.00 ERA last season.

"He's such a competitive kid,'' said Skyhawks coach Patrick Boen (pictured left) "He always wants to be better. When he has a good outing, he feels like he can do a little more work and get even better.''

White, who Boen calls "our best all-around player,'' is 1-2 with a 1.93 ERA in five starts and a relief outing and is hitting .310 with seven doubles, two homers and 22 RBI in 28 games.

Haughn is 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA in six starts and leads the team with 27 strikeouts .

Freshman Armand Rugel is 2-0 with 23 strikeouts in 26 innings with six relief appearances and two starts while sophomore Zach Soulier is 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA in six games, including five starts.

Freshman Jim Duff has made nine relief appearances and is 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA, striking out 19 in 19 innings, and senior Brendan Wright of Easton, a Cardinal Spellman High graduate, is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in seven games out of the bullpen.

"Every game we go into, we feel like we have a chance because of our pitching,'' said Boen, now in his 15th season. "I thought coming into the season we had some veteran pitchers who were going to have to carry us through the early part of the year until our younger guys developed, and that's pretty much how it played out.

"The pitching's going to have to carry us when we get to the heart of our schedule, so it's nice to have those seniors who have all been there before.''

White, batting in the third spot, is following juniors James DeAlto (eight doubles, two triples) and Michael Zeiner (.309 with six doubles and 14 RBI) in the order.

Sophomore Dan Fratus of Plymouth is the cleanup hitter who is batting .330 with four doubles, five triples and 16 RBI while senior Steve Popp is hitting .286. Also contributing are Northeast-10 Conference player of the week Billy Karalis (.316 with three home runs in a doubleheader against Saint Michael's on Sunday) and senior Michael Magnussen of Carver, a Coyle-Cassidy graduate (one homer, 14 RBI).

The NE-10 Conference is now split into two eight-team divisions with the top four in each making the playoffs in May.

Stonehill is 4-1 in the Northeast Division that includes Southern New Hampshire (off to a 25-2 start, including 4-0 in the division).

The Skyhawks play three road games against the Penmen the weekend of April 14-15.