CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University of Vermont sophomore outfielder Justin Milo (Edina, Minn./Edina) earned America East Baseball Player of the Week for the week ending March 16 for his first honor as a Catamount since transferring from Cornell University. Teammate Mark Micowski (Haddam, Conn./Xavier) received the Rookie of the Week honors for the same week. Binghamton sophomore Murphy Smith (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) took home Pitcher of the Week recognition for his performance over the weekend. Click here for Week Release in PDF.
In five games, Milo hit .545 with a 1.091 slugging percentage with 11 runs batted in and eight runs scored as Vermont went 4-1. Six of his 12 hits went for extra bases including two doubles, two triples and a pair of three-run homers. He went 7-for-8 with six RBI in UVM’s sweep of Bradley on Saturday in Bradenton, Fla.
Smith allowed just one hit over five scoreless innings in a win over La Salle. He struck out seven batters and improved to 2-1 on the season with a 2.05 ERA. In his last 15 innings, Smith has given up just two runs and has struck out 14. Opponents are hitting just .192 off Smith this spring and he has allowed just three extra-base hits in 22 innings of work.
Micowski, the Vermont leadoff hitter, set the table in a 4-1 week hitting .476 with two doubles and eight runs scored. Micowski hit safely in all five contests with three multi-hit games. With 21 plate appearances over the week in Bradenton, Fla., he raised his season average to .378.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (3-10-1 overall record, 0-0 in AE) went 0-3-1 in four
games last week... Opened the week with a 10-10 tie at Manhattan on Wednesday, March 12 at Van
Cortlandt Park in Riverdale, N.Y... Senior Mike Konstanty (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta/Winthrop)
went 5-for-6 with two RBI and a run scored... Freshman Jamie Liebowitz (Queens, N.Y./Cardoza) blasted his first career home run
in the Great Danes’ four-run fifth inning... Junior Sean Gregory (West Islip,
N.Y./West Islip)
pitched three scoreless innings to preserve the tie... On Friday, March 14, the
Great Danes lost a 9-2 decision to St.
John’s at Van Cortland Park in Riverdale, N.Y... Juniors
Ryan Gugel (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia/Genesee C.C.)
and Dave West (Toms
River, N.J./Toms River
North) each drove in a run... On Saturday, March 15, UAlbany was swept in a pair
of seven inning games, 11-4 and 9-8, by New York Tech at President’s Field in
Old Westbury, N.Y... In the opener, the Great Danes fell behind 10-0 after three
innings... UAlbany got on the board in the fifth on an error and a two-run double
by Gugel... In the nightcap, the Great Danes plated four runs in the first
inning... Gugel capped the inning with a two-run single... After NYIT took a 6-5
lead, UAlbany regained the lead with a pair of unearned runs by Konstanty and
Tom Zink (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland/Hudson Valley C.C.)... NYIT scored
three runs in the bottom of the fifth for the win... Zink and Gugel each recorded
three hits in the contest, with Zink scoring three times and Gugel driving in
three.
Binghamton (5-7, 0-0) won two of three
games during the week, thanks to a twinbill sweep of host La Salle, as part of
the Villanova Baseball Tournament ... The Bearcats had a team ERA of 2.05 for the
week and have now won three of their last four games... Sophomore starter Murphy
Smith (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) continued his dominance with another
strong outing. Smith allowed just one
hit over five scoreless innings in a win over La Salle. He struck out seven batters and improved to
2-1 on the season with a 2.05 ERA. In
his last 15 innings, Smith has given up just two runs and has struck out
14. Opponents are hitting just .192 off
Smith this spring and he has allowed just three extra-base hits in 22 innings
of work... Junior lefty Jeff Dennis (North Syracuse, N.Y./Liverpool) earned his
first win of the season with seven innings of one-run ball. Dennis scattered four hits and struck out
eight in a win over La Salle... Sophomore outfielder Joe Charron (Schaghticoke,
N.Y./La Salle Institute) hit a team-high .538 for the week. Charron went 7-for-13 with three extra-base
hits and four RBI in the three games...
Head coach Tim Sinicki, the reigning America East Coach of the Year, won
his 300th game in Binghamton’s 8-3 win over Longwood on March
9. His
teams have increased their win total in each of the last four seasons, and his
teams are 103-96-2 (52%) in that span.
Maine (5-11, 0-0) finished up
its spring trip last week with a game at fifth-ranked Miami and three games in
Annapolis, Md.... Maine fell to fifth-ranked Miami 7-4, but jumped out to an
early 3-0 lead in the game against the Hurricanes... Curt Smith (Willemstad,
Curacao/Peter Stuyvesant) belted his fifth home run of the season against the Hurricanes... Maine
played three games in a round robin format at Navy in Annapolis, Md. ... The
Black Bears played Duquesne on Friday, Navy on Saturday and Monmouth on Sunday...
Two of the three games went to extra inning and the third Maine lost 5-4... The
Black Bears faced former coach Paul Kostacopoulos on Saturday in the game
against Navy... Maine has gone to extra inning in four of 16 games this season...
Maine pitchers combined to strike out a season-high 17 batters in the 12
innings against Monmouth on Sunday... Matt Jebb (Toronto, Ontario/St. Michael’s
School) led the way with a career-high eight strikeouts... Sophomore Myckie
Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) has a hit in all 16 games for the Black Bears
this season...
SBU (4-5, 0-0) fell to Charlotte 6-1 in the opener of a three-game
set as Zach Rosenbaum hurled a complete game
seven-hitter at the Seawolves. Senior Tom Koehler took the loss for Stony
Brook, allowing just two earned runs in 6.0 innings of work. The 49ers pounded
out a season-high 25 hits on its way to a 23-5 victory over the Seawolves in
the first game of the twinbill on Sunday afternoon. SBU took an early lead in
game one, as sophomore Mike Stephan doubled with two outs in the first and then
came around to score on an RBI single from freshman Nick Thode. The 49ers came
back though with three runs in the bottom half of the first and then blew the
game open with eight runs in the second. Stephan went 2-for-2 with three runs
scored and two RBI for the Seawolves. Alan Parks went 2-for-4 with five RBI to
lead the 49ers to a 13-4 win over the Seawolves in game two. SBU once again
took an early lead in game two, striking for two runs in the top of the first.
The Seawolves loaded the bases with two outs and Thode then grounded one to
second that was mishandled by second baseman Cory Shaylor, allowing Witkowski
to score. Stephan then scored the second Stony Brook run when the Charlotte starter Andrew
Smith uncorked a wild pitch. The 49ers loaded the bases with one out against
Mike Errigo to bring up Parks who slammed a 3-2 pitch over the center field
wall to give Charlotte
a 4-2 lead. A Stephan RBI groundout in the top of the second drew the Seawolves
to within a run but Charlotte
struck for three more runs in the bottom of the third. Parks added a RBI double
in the fourth to make it to 8-3 as the 49ers coasted to the series sweep and
their 12th straight victory at home.
Vermont
(5-5, 0-0) went 4-1 last week to wrap up its spring break trip to Bradenton, Fla. with a
5-2 record ... The Catamounts have won
four straight with wins over IPFW and Bucknell along with a sweep of Bradley of
the Missouri Valley Conference, 7-1 and 10-1, in a doubleheader Saturday ...
UVM’s three top-of-the-order hitters were outstanding last week capped by going
a combined 18-for-24 in the Bradley sweep ... Freshman leadoff hitter Mark Micowski (Haddam, Conn./Xavier)
hit .476 and scored eight runs, and is now hitting .389 on the season with a
.489 on base percentage ... Sophomore Justin
Milo (Edina, Minn./Edina/Cornell) hit .545 (12-for-22) last week with 11
RBI. Six of his 12 hits went for extra bases including a pair of three-run
homers ... Sophomore Ethan Paquette
(West Burke, Vt./St.Johnsbury Academy) hit .556 (10-for-18) with 5 RBI to raise
his batting average to a team-best .457 ... Vermont’s solid starting pitching
also has been a key to its four-game win streak ... Joe Serafin (Tariffville, Conn./Simsbury) won his second straight
start going the route in topping Bradley. The junior lefty leads America East
pitchers with a 1.50 ERA in the early going ... Justin Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) picked up his first victory of the
season with five scoreless innings against the Braves in Saturday’s nightcap
... Seniors Kyle Henry (Brattleboro,
Vt./Brattleboro) and Eric Thompson
(Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) also earned their first wins, and junior Keith Rakus (West Suffield, Conn.) had
two solid outings allowing only one earned run in eight innings ... The
Catamounts play their first games in the northeast this weekend with a
doubleheader at Monmouth Saturday.