Stony Brook's Rob Leonard (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh HS) has been named America East Player of the Week. Vermont's Justin Albert (Concord, Mass./Concord) earns America East Pitcher of the Week, while Maine's Myckie Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) garners America East Rookie of the Week. The awards were announced Monday (May 21).
Leonard closed out the regular season with one of his best weeks in his four-year collegiate career. The senior outfielder cracked five home runs in a four-game set at UMBC with 11 RBI and a slugging percentage of 1.375. In the 3-1 series win over UMBC, Leonard crossed the plate seven times and drove in 11. Leonard leads the Seawolves with his .341 batting average, seven home runs and 42 RBI. He is hitting a league-best .422 in America East play and leads the conference with 29 RBI and six home runs in conference. Leonard earns player of the week for the second time this season. He was player of the week on April 9.
Albert put up another quality start as the sophomore southpaw limited Albany to five hits and one run in 7.1 innings in a game won by the Catamounts in 10 innings. Albert lowered his ERA to 2.21 overall and 1.65 in conference games. He third different Catamount to take home pitcher of the week honors this season, joining Keith Rakus and Bryan Rembisz.
Lugbauer hit .444 in three games for the Black Bears. The freshman catcher was 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI in Maine’s 16-3 win over Hartford. Lugbauer belted a three-run home run in the game and was 2-for-4 in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday with an RBI. Lugbauer closes out 2007 as the season leader in rookie of the week honors, as he collected the award on four different occasions.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOKS
Albany Great Danes
UAlbany (26-27, 13-11 America East) fell to non-conference opponent Le Moyne on Tuesday before visiting Vermont in a four-game series over the weekend... The Great Danes defeated the Catamounts in the opener, 3-1, before splitting Saturday’s doubleheader... UAlbany dropped the first game, 2-1, in ten innings, and posted an 8-2 win in the nightcap... UAlbany claimed a 5-4 comeback win in the series finale on Sunday... Senior third baseman Steve Wyland (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) led the Great Danes with a .375 average, going 6-for-16 with a double and one RBI hits... Senior catcher Chris Wood (Warsaw, N.Y./Warsaw Central) batted .364 with one run scored, four hits and two RBI... He also went 1-for-1 on stolen base attempts... Senior second baseman Al Barbato (Utica, N.Y./Whitesboro) scored a team-high four runs, batting .308 with one double and two RBI... Senior right-hander Alexander Beaulieu (Levis, Quebec/Cardinal Regional) made three appearances in relief, earning two saves... Sophomore Josh Willimott (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) and senior John Naples (Troy, N.Y./Catholic Central) both posted a 1.50 ERA in two six-inning performances... Willimott recorded five strikeouts, allowing one run and issuing no walks in a six-inning no decision... Naples fanned five in six innings to earn a win on Friday... The Great Danes will make their second-straight appearance in the America East Tournament this week.
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (26-17, 17-5 America East) split two games at Maine and clinched at least a share of the program's first-ever America East regular season title... One win in Monday's twinbill would give the outright crown to the Bearcats, who have never finished higher than fourth in the standings... Binghamton has seven players listed among the national statistical leaders... Junior pitcher Zach Groh (Reading, Pa./The Perkiomen School), who has a school-record 80 strikeouts and only 20 walks in 63.2 innings, ranks No. 17 in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (11.2)... Junior third baseman Ryan James (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) is No. 5 in the country in sacrifice hits (0.38/game)... Sophomore pitcher Jeff Dennis (North Syracuse, N.Y./Liverpool) is No. 37 in earned run average (2.30) and senior Mike Van Gorder (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) is No. 63 (2.56)... Junior closer Khalid Afify (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton/Broome CC) notched his fourth win of the season against Maine and with his six saves, ranks 93rd in the country. Afify has a perfect 0.00 ERA in conference play... Senior first baseman Brendon Hitchcock (Laceyville, Pa./Wyalusing Valley), the league's top hitter, is No. 77 in batting average (.387) and is No. 97 in toughest to strike out (12 Ks in 142 at-bats)... Senior shortstop Justin Smucker (Bird-in-Hand, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) is No. 51 in doubles per game (0.38)... Senior second baseman Matt Simek (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) extended his hit streak to eight games and has raised his season average to .348, which ranks fifth in the league. Simek is hitting .464 with 12 RBI in the eight-game stretch.
Maine Black Bears
Maine (21-29, 12-11 America East) split a doubleheader with Binghamton on Sunday after winning a single game at Hartford on Monday... It was a frustrating weather week for the Black Bears who saw games against Northeastern and Siena canceled because of the weather and games scheduled for Friday and Saturday against Binghamton pushed to Sunday and Monday.... Maine's 5-4 win over Binghamton on Sunday secured a spot in the upcoming America East Tournament for the Black Bears.... Mike Powers (Portland, Maine/Deering) picked up a win in the game for the Black Bears while Brad Hertzler (Westport, Mass./CCRI) earned his first career save in the game... Joel Barrett (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) and Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao) each hit their team-leading seventh home runs of the season on Sunday against the Bearcats... Greg Norton (South Portland, Maine/South Portland) earned the start in the second game on Sunday... The start was the 49th of his career, tying the school record for career starts set by Mike D'Andrea (1989?92)... On Monday, May 14 at Hartford, Maine hit a season-high five home runs in the game... The Black Bears conclude the regular season when they host Binghamton for a doubleheader on Monday at noon... Before the game on Sunday, Maine honored seniors Greg Norton, Matt McGraw (Burlington, Ontario/Nelson) and Joel Barrett... Each will leave with their names multiple places in the UMaine baseball record books.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (13-40, 4-20 America East) picked up their fourth conference win with a 7-3 decision over Stony Brook on Senior Day on Saturday, but also recorded their 40th loss, the first time in school history, in the series finale on Sunday... The Retrievers lost the series, 3-1, to the Seawolves falling on Friday, the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, and Sunday by scores of 10-6, 8-7, and 14-6... Earlier in the week the Retrievers lost a close one, 6-5, to Georgetown... Junior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) led the Retrievers on the week, batting .389 and slugging 1.076 while recording three home runs, six RBI, and three doubles... Senior Matt Buchholz (Millersville, Md./Old Mill) picked up the only win of the week for the Retrievers, pitching a complete-game victory on Senior Day against the Seawolves. Buchholz gave up just five hits and three runs in 7.0 innings of work while striking out five, amassing a 3.86 ERA... The Retrievers concluded their regular season with Sunday’s loss to Stony Brook and finish in seventh place in the America East Conference.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (31-22, 16-7 America East) went 3-1 on the week to cap their most successful America East regular season in program history. The 16 wins in America East play are a program best and the 31-22 overall record is the best since 2003... Rob Leonard (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh HS) hit five home runs, drove in 11 and slugged 1.375 to lead the Seawolves to a 3-1 week. Leonard upped his batting average to a team-best .341 and is hitting .422 with six home runs in America East play... Four year starter Chris Sipp (Wantagh, NY/MacArther HS) capped his regular season career hitting .500 with six runs scored and four driven in as the Seawolves took 3-of-4 from UMBC... Mike Stephan (Patchogue-Medford, NY/Patchogue-Medford HS) was hit by five pitches over the weekend. The redshirt freshman DH has been hit by a league best 22 pitches on the year. With his 26 walks and 22 HBP, Stephan leads the Seawolves with a .517 on-base percentage... Gary Novakowski (Prospect, Conn./Holy Cross) and Jon Kalkau (Bellmore, NY/Holy Trinity) are a combined 10-0 in conference play. Novakowski is a perfect 5-0 in league play with a 2.23 ERA. Kalkau is a perfect 5-0 with a 3.86 ERA and 26 strikeouts... The Seawolves will host the 2007 America East Baseball Championship for the first time in program history. The Seawolves will host the tournament at Farmingdale State in Farmingdale, NY... Five of Stony Brook's starters are hitting over .300 in league play. Leonard, Stephan, Justin Echevarria (Uniondale, NY/Uniondale), Brian Witkowski (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) and Sipp have combined for 88 of Stony Brook's 130 runs (68 %) and have hit 12 home runs and driven in 71 versus America East squads.
Vermont Catamounts
Catamounts closed out the 2007 season with a 21-29 overall record and a 10-13 mark in league play ... Five Vermont seniors wrapped up their careers in the Albany series, Bryan Rembisz (Clinton, Conn./Westbrook), 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). Four of the five received their degrees at UVM’s 203rd Commencement on May 20 and the fifth will finish this fall ... Rembisz, the 2007 winner of the J. Edward Donnelly Award given to UVM’s top athlete in the senior class, was one of the nation’s top two-way players this year seeing action in all 50 games on the mound and at second base. He hit a team-high .319 with 5 triples, 27 RBI and tied for the team-lead with 12 stolen bases. On the mound went 5-3 and led America East with a 2.05 ERA. In 70.1 innings, he struck out 79 and walked just 17 ... Rembisz ranked second all-time at Vermont in strikeouts (237), appearances (65) and innings pitched (246) while finishing tied for fifth all-time in triples (7) ... His 79 Ks in 2007 are the eighth-most in a single season at UVM and his 59 base hits tie for sixth ... Chapman completed his career second all-time at UVM in games played (187) and at bats (659), and ranked sixth in hits (183) ... Miles, who pitched in four of the last five games earning a win on May 19, finished third in pitching appearances with 61 ... One of the best defensive outfielders in the conference, Huntington raised his batting average to .294 as a senior after hitting .211 in 2006. He tied for the UVM lead this year in doubles (13) and stolen bases (12 in 14 tries) ... Sophomore LHP Justin Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) finished the season with another quality start allowing five hits in 7.1 strong innings on May 19 in a game eventually won by the Catamounts, 2-1, in 10 innings. He lowered his his ERA to 2.21 overall and 1.65 in conference games, a huge improvement over his first season when he recorded a 11.69 ERA in 12 appearances ... Kyle Henry (Brattleboro, Vt./Bratteboro/Connecticut) hurled his America East-leading sixth complete game Sunday. He also led the Cats with 5 HR and 28 RBI and tied for the team-lead with 13 doubles ... Vermont returns 14 letterwinners in 2008 including LHP Joe Serafin (Tarrifville, Conn./Simsbury), a first-team America East All-Conference selection in 2006 who missed all but one game this year due to an injury.