After capturing its first conference series of the season last weekend, the Charlotte 49ers return to the diamond with an Atlantic 10 Conference baseball home series against Saint Joseph's, starting at 6 p.m. Friday night at Robert and Mariam Stadium.

This weekend's promotion is Bark at the Park on Saturday afternoon. Fans are invited to bring furry friends to watch the game on the grassy hillside on the first base side of the stadium, as well as participate in contests and a post-game dogs run the bases. Fans planning on bringing a pet to the stadium need to go online and register and agree to campus policies before the event.

Friday, the pitching match-up will be Charlotte redshirt senior Andrew Smith (Matthews, N.C. / Butler HS) against Saint Joseph's junior Kyle Mullen. Both right handers threw complete games last Friday in wins for their respective clubs. It was Smith's first complete game of the year, Mullen's second, though it was his first complete-game shutout. Both pitchers have four wins this season and lead their clubs in strikeouts.

On Saturday, in a game that can be heard locally on ESPN 730, Charlotte sends redshirt senior Joe Yermal (Bel Air, Md. / McDonogh HS) against graduate student Alex Pracher.

Sunday's noon contest features a pair of sophomores, with Charlotte's Tyler Barnette (Hickory, N.C. / Hickory) opposed by Jordan Carter.

The Hawks and 49ers won one of three at Rhode Island to start their conference season. The 49ers are 16-20 overall, 4-8 in the A-10. SJU is 16-21 overall, 6-3 in the league. Charlotte finished with a 2-2 week last week and did not play a midweek game this week. Saint Joseph's won their first-ever Liberty Bell trophy by virtue of a 6-3 win over Penn on Tuesday night at Citizen's Bank Park, home of the Phillies.

Charlotte has beaten Saint Joseph's four-straight times, with a three-game sweep of the Hawks in New Jersey and Philadelphia, and the last game of a home series in 2009. The 49ers are 5-1 against the Hawks in Charlotte in conference, 7-1 all-time at home in the series.

Redshirt junior Justin Roland (Salisbury, N.C. / East Rowan HS) has Charlotte's longest hit streak of the season, currently at 12 games. He has the longest active hit streak in the Atlantic 10 Conference. His high school teammate, Corbin Shive, has reached base safely in 20-straight games, also the team high.

Freshman Leland Clemmons (Chesapeake, Va. / Portsmouth Christian HS) was named Co-Rookie of the Week in the Atlantic 10 Conference this week. After drawing a walk in a pinch-hit appearance in Wednesday's home loss in the late innings to Wake Forest, Leland Clemmons stepped into the starting lineup due to injuries and helped Charlotte to a pair of wins at Temple. Clemmons entered the weekend with five hits this season and he tallied six for the series, including a career-high three on Saturday and he scored a career-high three runs in the Friday win. Clemmons had two triples and two doubles, stealing four bases in as many tries and drove in four runs, the most of any player in the series. He started the series 5-for-5, reaching base in his first eight plate appearances over the first two games. He reached base 12 times total in the series, most of any player from either team. He raised his season average from .119 to .212 in the series.