University of Maine's Billy Cather (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) has been named America East Player of the Week. UMBC's Ed Bach (Columbia, Md./Atholton) receives America East Pitcher of the Week, while Stony Brook's Michael Stephan (Patchogue-Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) takes home the America East Rookie of the Week honor. The awards were announced Monday (March 12).
Cather led the Black Bears to a 3-4 mark on the week. Maine scored a combined 40 runs during its three wins of the week. Cather batted .387 with four doubles, six runs scored and eight RBIs. In addition, the sophomore centerfield was a perfect 6-of-6 in stolen-base attempts.
Bach tossed eight shutout-innings in the Retrievers 5-0 win over Wagner. The sophomore southpaw scattered four hits and fanned eight, while allowing just two walks.
Stephan batted .500 (6-of-12) during the weekend helping the Seawolves take two-of-three from Nicholls State. He scored three runs and belted a two-run home run, the first of his collegiate career. He leads Stony Brook with a .400 average.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOKS
Albany Great Danes
UAlbany (2-7) won only game of the week, an 8-0 shutout of New York Tech... The Great Danes only managed to get one game in against the Bears, as field conditions hampered the weekend series... Senior right-hander John Naples (Troy, N.Y./Catholic Central) through five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and fanning five opposing batters... Sophomore Sean Gregory (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) threw four frames of scoreless relief, allowing three hits with four strikeouts... Senior rightfielder Leo Corvino (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) led the Great Danes at the plate, scoring three runs off three hits and recording one stolen base... The Great Danes will visit St. John’s on Wednesday for a non-conference tilt at 3 p.m. and will kick off a three-game weekend series at Delaware State on Friday.
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (2-4, 0-0 AE) went 1-2 for the week, grabbing the series finale at Radford after back-to-back losses... Senior right-hander Mike Van Gorder (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) pitched five scoreless innings on Sunday, allowing just three singles with no walks and three strikeouts... Senior first baseman and two-time America East first teamer Brendon Hitchcock (Laceyville, Pa./Wyalusing Valley) hit .636 on the weekend, going 7-for-11 with a .727 slugging percentage... Hitchcock is hitting a team-high .455 early in the season... The Bearcats will head to Philadelphia this weekend for three games as part of the Philadelphia Baseball Bash.
Hartford Hawks
Hartford notes coming soon
Maine Black Bears
Maine baseball team (4-5, 0-0 America East) went 3-4 on the week... The Black Bears had wins against Mount St. Mary's, Monmouth and Penn on the week... Maine tied a school record with five triples in the game against Monmouth last Wednesday night... Matt McGraw (Burlington, Ontario/Nelson), Kevin McAvoy (Brewer, Maine/Brewer), Myckie Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac), Mark Ostrander (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) and Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) all had a triple in the game for the Black Bears... It ties the record set in 1965 against Maryland State... Maine has seven triples this season, led by McGraw who has three... Mike Powers (Portland, Maine/Portland) pitched in two games in relief on the week... He pitched a total of 6.1 innings and fanned 12 batters... He fanned five batters in a row in Sunday's game against Fordham... Maine returns to action on Tuesday when it plays at Miami... The Hurricanes are ranked in the top 20 in the majority of collegiate baseball polls... The game against Miami will have special significance for Maine second baseman Danny Menendez... His older brother, Gus, plays for the Hurricanes... Maine will travel west next weekend for a four-game set with Arizona State University.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (3-6, 0-0 America East) defeated the Wagner Seahawks, 2-1, in a three-game series over the weekend... Senior Steve Bowen (Pasadena, Md./Catonsville C.C.) led the Retrievers in the series, going 6-for-10 on the weekend with six hits, four of which were doubles, and two RBI’s... The Retrievers took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning of Friday night’s game off sophomore Scott Peddicord’s (Columbia, Md./Long Reach) two-run double and scored two more to take the game, 4-2... Peddicord recorded six RBI’s and a .364 average during the weekend... Junior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Chesapeake JC) added his second home run of the year during Sunday’s game, in which the Retrievers fell, 5-7... Sophomore Eddie Bach (Columbia, Md./Atholton) started Saturday for the Retrievers, recording 8 strikeouts, no runs, and four hits in 9.0 innings pitched, and leading the Retrievers to a 5-0 victory... The Retrievers travel to Delaware on Tuesday to battle the Blue Hens at 3:00 p.m. before hosting Buffalo on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. and Niagara in a three-game series from Mar. 16-18.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (2-7, 0-0 America East) won 2 out of 3 over Nicholls State for their first series win of the year... Tom Koehler (New Rochelle, NY), Mike Errigo (Bayside, NY) and Kurt Jung (Canadaguia, NY) all had great starts for Stony Brook... Koehler struck out four in 6.2 innings of work and allowed six runs, only three earned, as the Seawolves picked up their first win of the year... In a tough luck no decision, Errigo allowed two runs in 8.2 innings of work... Jung wrapped up the weekend as the senior only allowed three hits and one run in 7.0 innings on the mound... Michael Stephan (Patchogue-Medford, NY) hit his first collegiate homer of his career and hit .500 at the plate to lead the Seawolves... The bats finally came alive for Stony Brook as the Seawolves hit .296 with 17 runs in three games vs. Nicholls State... Stony Brook will play five games this week, starting with a game at Seton Hall on Wednesday and a four-game set with LaSalle over the weekend, including the Seawolves home opener on Saturday.
Vermont Catamounts
The Catamounts went 2-1 over the weekend to open their eight-game swing in Bradenton, Fla.... Vermont topped IPFW and Valparaiso before falling to Akron ... After just three extra-base hits in its first four games, UVM rapped out 11 doubles against Valparaiso and Akron ... The Cats had season-highs of 16 hits and 10 runs against the Zips ... Brandon Miles (Berlin, Conn./Taft) allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings in picking up the win over IPFW. He walked only two and had three strikeouts in lowering his ERA to 1.50 in his first two starts ... 1B/RHP Kyle Henry (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro/Connecticut) was exceptional in the three games hitting .333 with 6 RBI and had a 1.28 ERA. He earned the victory over Valpo in his first collegiate start on the mound tossing seven innings allowing four hits and one run ... Bryan Rembisz (Clinton, Conn./Westbrook) came on in relief against IPFW and now has appeared on the mound in 55 career games, fifth all-time at UVM ... Freshman Ethan Paquette (West Burke, Vt./St. Johnsbury) continued his solid debut hitting .364 with 4 RBI in the three games. He also had an on base pct. of .500 and a .636 slugging pct. ... Shortstop Jim Chapman (Bourne, Mass./Kent’s Hill) had three multi-hit games going 8-for-14 (.571) on the weekend ... Vermont plays five games this week in Bradenton taking on Fairfield twice, Miami-Ohio, Illinois and Eastern Kentucky.