DETROIT (4/20/2022) -- It will be a festive day on the warmest weekend so far in the spring season as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team gets ready for Cleveland State on Senior Day Saturday night.

The Titans will honor their 13-member class in Peyton Bixby, Matt Blevins, Cam Case, Mitch Durst, Brett Erskine, Ryan Figueiras, Mason Kamminga, Zach Kennedy, Paul Manuszak, Max Payton, Jacob Prinz, Keegan Stenstrom and Cole Zarola.

The game is set for 8:00 p.m. at Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Michigan. It is set to broadcast live on the Titans Sports Network on YouTube and will have live stats. It will be just the third-ever home game at night and the second under the lights as the Titans hosted Michigan indoors at Ultimate Soccer Arena in 2014 and Robert Morris on Titan Field in 2020. 

Tickets to the contest are $5 and can be purchased here. Tickets can only be purchased electronically as no cash will be accepted. 

The game is vital for both teams looking to stay in the playoff hunt as a loss by either would eliminate them from the postseason.

Detroit Mercy is 1-8 on the year and 0-3 in the Atlantic Sun as the schedule has been a daunting one for the red, white and blue with Marquette, Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State in the con-conference and tough setbacks in league play at Bellarmine and against Air Force and Robert Morris. The Titans did defeat VMI in come-from-behind fashion, 16-11. 

Graduate senior Brett Erskine leads the team in every offensive category as he has 17 goals, seven assists and 24 points on the season, while junior Luke Majick has nine goals and 14 points.

Graduate senior Paul Manuszak leads the team with a career-high 20 caused turnovers along with 52 ground balls and has added a goal and an assist. He is currently third in the ASUN  and seventh in the nation with 2.11 caused turnovers per game and second inbthe conference and 33rd in the country with 5.78 ground balls per game. Redshirt freshman Jakob Hemme leads the team with 110 saves and is tops in the ASUN and 10th in the nation with 13.75 saves per game.

Cleveland State is 3-8 on the year and also 0-3 in league play. Two of the Vikings' wins have been on the road at Canisius (12-10) and at Hampton (19-6), while also beating VMI, 22-10. 

After the game, the Titans will end the regular season next week at Utah. 

Game Nuggets:

• Cleveland State leads the young series, 2-1, with Detroit Mercy winning the only match-up in the Motor City, 12-6, in 2018. The Vikings earned home wins with a 13-6 triumph in 2017 and 11-9 in 2019
• The Titans are in their first season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference after spending 12 seasons in the MAAC from 2010-2021, with their first year as an independent in 2009. Cleveland State is also in the first year in the league that will already see growth with Jacksonville, Mercer and Lindenwood joining the Titans, Air Force, Bellarmine, Robert Morris and Utah next year.
• The four-straight true road games to start the season were the most in a row since the Titans played five straight in 2012, while the four road games to start the year were tied for the longest span in school history with the four in a row in 2011
• Detroit Mercy leads the ASUN and is fifth in the nation with 14.67 saves per game, third in the conference with 30.22 ground balls per game and fourth with 7.11 caused turnovers per contest
• The two-time MAAC LSM of the Year, Manuszak has registered at least five ground balls in six games with back-to-back season highs of eight against VMI and at High Point seven at Marquette and six at Michigan and Ohio State
• He is third in school history with 207 ground balls - nine behind Alex Jarzembowski '21 for second-place - while his 59 caused turnovers are tied for fifth in the school record book with Paul Bitetti '16, one behind Jason McDonald '12 for fourth and 11 in back of current assistant coach Charlie Hayes '20 for third
• His 207 ground balls are also 23rd among active players and his 4.00 ground balls per game is second in school history, only trailing Jordan Houtby's '13 4.74, and is 37th among active players
• Manuszak also has multiple caused turnovers in six games with a season-best four at Ohio State and at Bellarmine and three against Marquette, Robert Morris and Air Force
• His 1.13 caused turnovers per game are tied for fourth in school history
• Hemme has posted double-digit saves in seven of the eight games he has played
• He tied a school record with 28 saves at Michigan - tops in the country at the moment
• Senior Tyler Hart came off the bench for only his second career action and made seven saves in nearly 49 minutes of action against VMI, allowing just two goals in picking up the victory, and then tallied 15 saves at High Point with two caused turnovers and three ground balls
• Erskine is ninth in the ASUN with 1.89 goals per game and 10th in the conference with 2.67 points per game
• He has 134 career points for fourth in school history, 12 away from third place and Alex Maini '15, while his 88 goals are second with the all-time leader Shayne Adams '15 at 147
• His 88 goals are also 45th among active players and 134 points are 53rd
• His 2.68 career points per game are fourth in school history, while his 1.76 goals per game are third
• Freshman Aidan Bishop has scored a goal in five of the last six games, including a season-high two at High Point
• Majick had his first career hat trick with three goals in the season opener at Ohio State and added two goals and two assists against VMI and two goals with a helper at Bellarmine
• Sophomore Will Edell posted his first career hat trick with three goals at Marquette, which also tied his career-high in points
• Senior Keegan Stenstrom registered the first points of his career with a goal and two assists against VMI
• Freshman defender Evan DeVito had three caused turnovers at High Point and has seven caused turnovers and 15 ground balls on the season
• Sophomore defender Noah Martin has eight caused turnovers and 13 GB's on the year and registered a career-high three caused turnovers against VMI
• Graduate senior Mason Kamminga won a career-high 8-of-15 faceoffs with three GB's at Bellarmine, while freshman Billy Hart was also a career-best 5-of-10 with four ground balls
• Junior Ryan Birney - who had a career-high four goals against VMI - had two older brothers who played for the Titans and were All-MAAC players in Mike Birney '15 and Sean '18 as well as an older sister who played on the women's team and was All-ASUN in Kylie
• The Titans have had a long history of family connections on the team in the Birney's, Masterson's, Case's and have another pair of brothers on this year's squad in junior Kyle Loken and freshman Caden Loken and senior Tyler Hart and freshman Billy Hart
• Another family connection is senior Zach Kennedy as his grandfather played basketball and football for the Titans, while his dad played basketball for the red, white and blue
• A leader of men on and off the field and a pioneer of the game helping it flourish in the state of Michigan, Chris Kolon is in his 14th season on the sidelines – and eighth as a head coach - for Detroit Mercy in 2022 and holds a career mark of 38-56. His 14 seasons means that he has been with the program since its birth, first as an assistant before assuming the head coaching duties. On June 2, 2014, he was tabbed the program's interim head coach and then was named the permanent head coach on July 14. During his time with Detroit Mercy, The Titans have posted their first three winning seasons and led the team to a school-record in overall (9) and conference victories (5) in 2018. His teams were always at the top of the MAAC in academic accolades in both Academic All-League selections and honor roll recipients. He has also tutored five players that have gone on to get drafted in the MLL and NLL and 10 that have played in both professional lacrosse leagues. In 2019, he was named an assistant coach with the Atlas Lacrosse Club in the brand new Premier Lacrosse League. In his seven years as a head coach, Detroit Mercy made the MAAC Championships five times, reaching the title game in 2018. His first-ever win was a memorable one as Detroit Mercy upended Ohio State, 9-8, on March 7, 2015. The win was the first by the Titans over Ohio State - who were receiving votes in both the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and the USILA Coaches Poll and would go on to play in the NCAA Tournament later that season