CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Stony Brook University's junior outfielder Brian Witkowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) and right-handed pitcher Tom Koehler (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) earned America East baseball player and pitcher of the week, respectively. Binghamton freshman third baseman Brian Ivan captured the rookie award for the week ending March 23.
Witkowski hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th inning of the Seawolves’ 7-6 victory over Longwood on Saturday afternoon. He also went 3-for-3 with a double and a stolen base in the 6-4 loss to No. 19 Virginia on Tuesday. For the week, Witkowski posted an on-base percentage of .647 and a slugging percentage of 1.067.
Koehler struck out nine batters in 6.0 innings of work to pick up the victory in the Seawolves’ 16-3 win over James Madison on Thursday. It was the only appearance of the week for Koehler, who allowed just two earned runs and five hits. He moved to 3-1 overall this season with a 3.55 earned run average. This is Koehler’s second such award this season.
Ivan continued his hot hitting by going 6-for-10 against Big 12 member Kansas State. He has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and leads the Bearcats with a .410 batting average. Ivan recorded six hits and three runs batted in in 10 plate appearances during the three-game series, striking out just twice.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany
(4-14-1, 0-0) went 1-4 in five games last week... Opened the week with a 5-3 win
in the first game of a doubleheader at Hofstra on Tuesday, March 18 at University
Field in Hempstead, N.Y... Senior Mike Konstanty
(Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta/Winthrop) blasted a two-run homer in the top of the
seventh inning to deliver the win... Junior Sean Donovan went 3-for-4 in the
contest, including a solo homer, and scored two runs... Junior Sean Gregory (West
Islip, N.Y./West Islip)
pitched two scoreless innings, with two strikeouts, for the win... Konstanty
launched a solo homer in game two as Hofstra took the nightcap 4-1... On Friday, March
21, the Great Danes lost a 5-1 decision to No. 18 Coastal Carolina at Watson
Stadium in Conway,
S.C... Sophomore Brendan Rowland (Albany,
N.Y./Colonie Central) registered two hits and scored UAlbany’s only run... On
Saturday, March 22, Coastal Carolina pounded out 22 hits in an 18-4 win over UAlbany...
Rowland and junior Ryan Gugel (Batavia,
N.Y./Batavia/Genesee C.C.) each accounted for two hits and a run scored in the
contest... In the finale of the three-game series on Sunday, March 22, Coastal
Carolina jumped out to a 14-1 lead through four innings in taking the game
17-4... Konstanty and junior Dave West (TomsRiver,
N.J./Toms River North) each connected for two hits for the Great Danes.
Binghamton (5-10, 0-0 AE) dropped three games
at Big 12 member Kansas State, despite outhitting the Wildcats 25-22 in the
series ... Freshman third baseman Brian Ivan (Toronto, Ontario/Michael Power HS)
sent 6-for-10 in the series and drove in three runs ... Junior pitcher Jeff
Dennis (North Syracuse, N.Y./Liverpool) lowered his ERA with a solid
showing. Dennis scattered four hits and
two runs over seven innings (2.57 ERA) but absorbed the loss... The Bearcats now
square off against nationally 20th-ranked Wichita State (14-3) in a
two-game set Tuesday and Wednesday before getting 12 days off.
The University of Maine baseball team (5-11, 0-0
America East) had its three-game series with New York Institute of Technology
this past weekend canceled due to poor field conditions at NYIT... Maine will
swing back into play this coming weekend when the Black Bears travel to Wagner
for a four-game series staring Friday afternoon.
UMBC (5-9, 0-0 America East) wrapped up their
spring break trip at IMG Baseball Academy
last week as the went 0-3 in their last three games to St.
Louis, Illinois, and Kansas... Junior Brad
Brainer (Chester, Md./Kent Island/Chesapeake JC) led all
Retrievers on the week with a .692 average and tallied two doubles, two
triples, and three RBI while holding a 1.154 slugging percentage... Brainer was
4-for-5 with one run scored and three RBI to start the week against St. Louis
as he recorded a bases-clearing double in a seven-run seventh inning for the
Retrievers... Brainer also added another triple, his third of the season, on the
next day in a loss to Illinois and tallied the
only extra-base hits for the Retrievers with two doubles in the finale against Kansas... The Retrievers
will host Mount St. Mary’s in a 4 p.m. contest on Tuesday and travel to College Park, Md.
to face the Terrapins on Wednesday before hosting Longwood in a three-game
series from Fri.-Sun.
SBU went 2-4 in its six games this week ... The
Seawolves defeated Longwood 7-6 in 12 innings on Saturday afternoon and is now
3-0 in extra innings this season ... Stony Brook will play its first home game of
the 2008 season on Friday after playing its first 16 contests on the road ... SBU
had season-highs in runs (16) and hits (15) in Thursday’s victory over James
Madison ... The Seawolves have had double-digit hits in three of their last four
games ... Senior Tom Koehler has gone at least 6.0 innings in each of his four
starts this season ... Junior Stephen Mazzurco has a hit in 11 of the Seawolves
last 12 games and Witkowski has a hit in seven straight games.