Albany's Steve Wyland (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) has been named America East Player of the Week. Maine's Greg Norton (South Portland, Maine/South Portland) earns America East Pitcher of the Week, while Stony Brook's Rob Dyer (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) receives America East Rookie of the Week. The awards were announced Monday (May 14).
Wyland led the Great Danes with a .625 average in five games last week. The senior third baseman recorded 10 hits, including two doubles, two triples and three home runs, driving in 11 runs for the Great Danes. Wyland drew six walks and did not strike out in 16 at bats. He was 1-of-2 on stolen base attempts. Wyland’s highlight of the week came in a 14-8 win over UMBC in the series finale on Sunday. He went 4-for-4 with two home runs, one double, one triple and five RBI. Wyland also hit a homer in the 5-1 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader sweep of UMBC on Saturday. In Friday’s series-opener, he went 2-for-4 with one run scored and four RBI. Wyland becomes the third different Albany player to win this award this season.
Norton helped lead the Black Bears to a doubleheader sweep in a complete-game two-hit win on Sunday at Hartford. The senior hurler took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, allowing an unearned run in the fifth inning. Norton walked just one batter and struck out one. He becomes the second Black Bear to win this award in as many weeks. Last week, Brad Hertzler was named co-pitcher of the week.
Dyer helped lead the Seawolves to a 4-1 week and helped them clinch a berth in the 2007 America East Tournament. Dyer hit .444 on the week with three doubles, a home run , five runs scored and five driven in. Dyer slugged .778 on the week and was flawless in the field.bn m In the 14-10 win over rival Hofstra, Dyer went 4-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored, including a solo home run. In the Vermont series, Dyer hit .308 and scored four runs and drove in two as the Seawolves won 3-of-4.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOKS
Albany Great Danes
UAlbany (23-25, 10-10 America East) fell to non-conference opponent Manhattan on Tuesday before hosting UMBC in a four-game series over the weekend... The Great Danes lost to the Retrievers in the opener, 10-8, then took the next three... UAlbany swept Saturday’s doubleheader by scores of 7-6 and 5-1, and claimed a 14-8 win in the series finale on Sunday... Senior third baseman Steve Wyland (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) led the Great Danes with a .625 average, recording 10 hits, including two doubles, two triples and three home runs... He also drove in 11 runs, drew six walks and did not strike out in 16 at bats... Junior Mike Konstanty (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta) hit .571 in five games last week, recording eight hits, including two doubles and one home run, and drove in five more runs... Senior right fielder Leo Corvino (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) scored a team-high seven hits last week, recording five doubles and four RBI... Junior right-hander Casey Walsh (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) recorded a complete-game win in a 5-1 victory over UMBC on Saturday... He did not allow an earned run, struck out six and issued two walks, while scattering four hits in his seven-inning performance... The Great Danes will host non-conference opponent Le Moyne on Tuesday, and will visit Vermont for the final regular-season series over the weekend.
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (24-16, 15-4 America East) won three of four games during the week. The Bearcats enter the final weekend with a two-game lead over Stony Brook for the regular season America East title... The Bearcats' highest finish in five years of conference play was a fourth-place standing in 2005... Junior pitcher Zach Groh (Reading, Pa./The Perkiomen School) tossed 7.0 splendid innings against NJIT, striking out 10 and allowing just one hit... Groh (6-1) won his sixth straight decision and stretched his unearned runs streak to 14 consecutive innings. Groh also broke the school record for strikeouts in a season with 77... Junior closer Khalid Afify (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton/Broome CC) also set a school single-season record with his sixth save. Afify is 4-1 with six saves this spring... Sophomore Jeff Dennis (North Syracuse, N.Y./Liverpool) allowed just one hit in six innings of work against NJIT and improved to 4-1 overall... He leads the team with a 2.30 ERA... Senior second baseman Matt Simek (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) hit .467 with eight RBI in four games during the week... Simek leads the Bearcats with 37 RBI in 36 starts this spring... Senior first baseman Brendon Hitchcock (Laceyville, Pa./Wyalusing Valley) has advanced to the national ballot for ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. The Dean's List accounting major is hitting a team-high .387 this season.
Hartford Hawks
Hartford (13-33, 9-14 America East) closed out a four-game week with a 1-3 record in their final America East series of the season against the Maine Black Bears... The Hawks picked up the first game of the series by a 7-2 margin, with Weston Szymanski picking up the victory, his team leading fifth of the season... Maine came back to take the Mother’s Day double header by 14-1 and 3-1 margins and then won the final game of the series with a 16-3 score, possible off of five home runs for the Black Bears... The Hawks were led over the series by Bill Perry, who finished with seven hits on 13 at bats... In total nine different players finished with a multi-hit week, with Ben Sobocinski and Brady Stouffer each adding five... Sobocinski’s five hits in this weekend’s series puts him eight hits away from tying Jeff Bagwell and Earl Snyder’s single season record of 66 hits... The Hawks will close out the 2007 season with four non-conference home games this week... Hartford will host Rhode Island on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and then host the New Jersey Institute of Technology in a three-game series on Friday (single game at 3 p.m.) at Saturday (doubleheader at 12 noon).
Maine Black Bears
Maine (19-27, 10-9 America East) won two of three games on the weekend at Hartford... Maine got outstanding pitching performances from Brad Hertzler (Westport, Mass./CCRI) and Greg Norton (South Portland, Maine/South Portland)... Hertzler pitched a complete game and allowed one run on five hits, while Norton went the distance and allowed one unearned run on just two hits... He took a perfect game into the bottom of the fifth inning... Norton picked up his team-leading sixth win of the season... He moves into a tie for third place on Maine's all-time wins list with his 26th career win... He ties Scott Morse (1984?86) who finished his career with 26 wins... He is one shy of the school record of 27 held by Bill Swift (1981?84) and Mike D'Andrea (1989?92)... Norton completed his team-leading fourth game of the season on Sunday... Joel Barrett (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) belted his 60th career double on the weekend.... He is now in sole possession of second place on Maine's all-time doubles list... Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao/Peter Stuyvesant) hit his team-leading sixth home run of the season on Sunday... Smith also leads the Black Bears in RBI with 39... Matt McGraw (Burlington, Ontario/Nelson) hit his sixth triple of the season on Sunday... He is two shy of tying the Maine record of eight triples in a season set in 1932 by Amel Kizonak... McGraw and Brian Hackett (Bangor, Maine) were named to the ESPN The Magazine/Academic All-District First Team and will both be placed on the national ballot... The Black Bears will play seven games over the next seven days.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (12-36, 3-17 America East) picked up their third conference win this weekend, with a 10-8 decision over host Albany... The Retrievers have taken one game each from the Great Danes, league-leading Binghamton, and Vermont... The Retrievers lost four games last week, beginning with a 10-4 outcome to cross-town rival Towson... The Retrievers led the Tigers, 3-0 after six innings, but gave up an eight-run seventh to lose contest... Senior Matt Buchholz pitched a masterful 6.0 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out five before allowing three runs in the seventh... The Retrievers took the first game of the series from Albany, thanks to an eight-run seventh inning that gave them the 10-8 victory... Junior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Chesapeake JC) led the Retrievers in the win, going 3-for-5 with one run scored, two RBI, a double, and a home run... Junior Mark Lemon (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) drove in the winning run for the Retrievers with a 2 RBI triple in the seventh... The Retrievers dropped the rest of the three games, 7-6, 5-1, and 14-8, to the Great Danes... The Retrievers will play their final week of the season entirely at home, beginning with a Tuesday night game vs. Georgetown and ending with a four-game series against Stony Brook.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (28-21, 13-6 America East) went 4-1 on the week to clinch a spot in the 2007 America East Tournament... The Seawolves opened up the week with a 14-10 come from behind win over local Hofstra... The Seawolves tallied 20 hits on the afternoon as Rob Dyer (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) and Steven Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) each rattled off four hits in the win... Dyer blased his third home run of the season in the win... On Friday, Tom Koehler (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) struck out nine batters in 8.0 shutout innings as the Seawolves topped Vermont in the series opener, 7-0... Stony Brook won its fourth straight games when the Seawolves completed a doubleheader sweep of Vermont on Saturday... The Seawolves are a perfect 8-0 on Saturday's in conference play... Gary Novakowski (Prospect Conn./Holy Cross) and Jon Kalkau (Bellmore, N.Y./Holy Trinity) are a combined 8-0 in America East play and are 12-1 overall on the year.
Vermont Catamounts
Vermont (20-25, 9-10 America East) kept their postseason hopes alive with a 5-1 win Sunday that stopped a six-game losing streak... Vermont needs to take three out of four from Albany at Centennial Field this weekend to qualify for the America East Baseball Championship for the third straight season and fifth time in six years... The Catamounts were just 3-8 on the road in conference games this season... UVM is 6-2 at home in its first two series ... At UVM’s Rally Awards last Tuesday, Bryan Rembisz (Clinton, Conn./Westbrook) was the 2007 male winner of the J. Edward Donnelly Award given to the school’s top athlete in the senior class... Five Catamount seniors will see their last action at Centennial Field this weekend... Rembisz, Jim Chapman (Bourne, Mass./Kent’s Hill), Will Huntington (Montville, Conn./Montville/UConn Avery Point), Nick Gallipani (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) and Brandon Miles (Berlin, Conn./Taft) will be honored to be honored Sunday on Senior Day... Chapman is now second all-time at UVM in games played with 182 and moved into the top ten in career hits now ranking ninth with 176... Sophomore LHP Justin Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) hurled a nine-inning complete game six-hitter to top Stony Brook Sunday. He lowered his ERA to 2.36 overall and 1.73 in conference games ... Freshman OF Ethan Paquette (West Burke, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) continued his solid play hitting .333 last week... He leads America East freshmen in games played (44), hits (38) and RBI (22)... Vermont is Stony Brook for a four-game series next weekend.