CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- All three of this week's America East baseball awards went to members of the Hartford Hawks squad, who posted its first series win over conference rival Stony Brook in the history of the program and moved to 6-2 in league play. Sophomore catcher Mike Amendola (North Babylon, N.Y./Suffolk) took home player of the week honors, while junior righty Weston Szymanski (Mt. Airy, Md./South Carroll) and freshman infielder Simon Kudernatsch (Czech Republic/Prague West) earned the pitching and rookie accolades for the week ending April 13. Click here for PDF Weekly Release.
Amendola was the second-leading batter for Hartford over a five-game week, which included the Hawks’ second 3-1 conference series in a row. He finished with three multi-hit games, batting .474. Amendola posted nine hits in 19 at-bats, including three doubles and his fourth four-bagger of the season. In the day doubleheader Saturday vs. Stony Brook, he went 5-for-8 with one RBI and three runs scored.
Szymanski pitched his second complete game of the season, a nine-inning, seven-hit game to lead the Hawks to a 5-2 series-opening win over Stony Brook. After a rocky first inning, the righty shut down Stony Brook for the remainder of the game, striking out six Seawolves and not allowing a runner past second base until the ninth inning. Szymanski did not issue a single walk in the effort.
Kudernatsch led all Hawk batters on the week, reaching base 13 times on nine hits and four walks, and batting .600 in 15 plate appearances. The rookie finished with four RBI and scored four runs along with two multi-hit games in the Stony Brook series. Kudernatsch played all five games for Hartford last week and struck out just once. He also recorded a 4-for-5 effort at Holy Cross to open the week.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (8-24-1 overall record, 4-4 in America East) went 3-2 last week... The Great Danes opened the week with a 13-4 loss at Marist on April 8 at McCann Field... Juniors Sean Donovan (Pleasant Valley, N.Y./Arlington) and Dave West (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) each picked up two hits in the contest, with West driving in a pair and Donovan scoring twice... The Great Danes split an America East doubleheader at Maine on Friday, April 11... UAlbany won the opener, 11-8, but lost, 6-0, in the nightcap... Sophomore Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) went 3-for-5 in the contest and drove in two runs... Junior Ryan Gugel (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia/Genesee C.C.), one of four players to score twice in the game, singled twice and stole home in the seventh... On Saturday, the Great Danes swept the Black Bears for their first back-to-back wins of the season... UAlbany took the first game, 5-2, and recorded an 8-3 victory in game two... Josh Willimott (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) pitched into the sixth inning in the first game to record his team-high fourth win of the season... After falling behind 1-0 in the second inning, Willimott held Maine scoreless until the sixth frame... Gugel gave UAlbany the lead with a two-run single in the third inning and added an insurance run in the fifth... In the nightcap, the Great Danes tied the game at two in the sixth and went ahead with four runs in the seventh... Freshman Dave Kubiak (Southold, N.Y./Southold) pitched 7.0 innings, allowing three hits and three runs, for his first win of the season.
Binghamton (10-20, 3-5 AE) took three of four against UMBC to snap a five-game skid and move up in the standings... The Bearcats hit .353 in the series, averaging nine runs per contest. Binghamton improved to 14-3 all-time against the Retrievers. Sunday’s contest was played at Binghamton Mets Double-AA NYSEG Stadium and was broadcast live on Time Warner Sports... Freshman right fielder Peter Bregartner (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) extended his hit streak to 14 games with another outstanding series. Bregartner, the team’s leadoff hitter, went 9-for-18 in the four games. He is hitting .455 in league play and lifted his team-best season average to .349... Junior first baseman Ryan Holley (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East/Oakton CC) drove in nine runs in the series and hit .455 with a slugging percentage of 1.000... Sophomore left fielder Joe Charron (Schaghticoke, N.Y./La Salle Institute) hit .500 with six RBI in three games. Charron has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games and has totaled 16 RBI in that span... Junior pitcher Jeff Dennis (North Syracuse, N.Y./Liverpool) notched his second win of the season in game 2, tossing seven innings and allowing just two runs. Dennis scattered five hits and struck out five in posting his fifth complete game in eight starts... Binghamton plays at Siena on Tuesday before welcoming longtime SUNY rival Albany in a rematch between the 2007 America East finalists.
The Hawks (12-15, 6-2 AE) finished a five-game week with a 3-2 overall record, including a 3-1 record in the four-game conference series at Stony Brook. The Hawks opened the week with a 10-11 loss at Holy Cross, led by freshman Simon Kudernatsch (Czech Republic/Prague West) who finished 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBI. In the opening game against the Seawolves the Hawks used the momentum of a seven hit complete game from junior pitcher Weston Szymanski (Mt. Airy, Md./South Carroll) leading the Hawks to a 5-2 win. Szymanski allowed both of the SBU runs in the first inning and then never allowed a runner to get past second base until the ninth. He finished the game with six strikeouts. Mike Amendola (North Babylon, N.Y./Suffolk) led the Hawks in the first game of the series with three hits in four at bats with a double and a run scored. On the doubleheader day the Hawks saw a pair of complete games. The first came from sophomore Chris Greiner (Elkridge, Md./Mt. St. Joseph) who allowed three runs on nine hits, while striking out six batters. Senior hurler Pete Moraski (Hamden, Conn./Notre Dame HS) allowed just one run in his seven inning complete game. He finished with eight hits against, while striking out four batters. Over the two games, Bill Perry (East Falmouth, MA/Falmouth) led the team with three hits in seven at bats. All three of his hits went for extra bases, one each of a double, triple and home run. The Hawks will play a five game schedule in the coming week, all out of conference as the Hawks will enjoy their bye week. The week begins with two mid-week games at Connecticut on Tuesday and at Rhode Island on Wednesday. They then travel to New Jersey for a three-game series against the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders on Saturday and Sunday.
The University of Maine baseball team (11-16-1, 1-3 AE) went 2-3 on the week... Maine opened the week with a 19-1 win over Husson College... The Black Bears scored eight runs in the first inning of the game with Husson before making an out... The Black Bears belted five home runs in the game, including two by rookie Jarrett Lukas (Old Town, Maine/Old Town)... A highlight of the weekend for Maine was the performance of rookie pitcher Kevin Scanlan (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury)... He pitched a complete seven-inning shutout in Maine’s 6-0 win over the Great Danes... Allowed just three hits in the game while striking out a career-high 12 batters in the game... Redshirt freshman Matt Howard (Weston, Mass./Weston) has seven hits on the season and four have been home runs... Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao/Peter Stuyvesant) moved into a tie for sixth place on Maine’s all-time RBI list this past weekend when his 158th career RBI... He is currently third on Maine’s all-time hits list with 269... He trails just Mark Sweeney (328 hits) and Joel Barrett (283 hits). .. The Black Bears return to action this weekend when they travel to Coppin State to play a non-conference game before playing a weekend series at UMBC.
UMBC (10-19, 2-6 AE) started the week off with its first-ever series sweep of Navy, as the Retrievers defeated the Mids, 8-7, on Tuesday night... Senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) led the way in the victory, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBI, and a double, while freshman Travis Pearson (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) earned the first win of his collegiate career after pitching two scoreless innings in relief and giving up just one hits while fanning two batters... Fowler finished the week with four doubles and set a new school record for career doubles after he tallied his 62nd on Sunday... Junior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.) tallied 10 RBI on the week, including seven in conference play... Retz led the Retrievers to the 9-4 win over Binghamton on Saturday, going 3-for-3 with one run scored, two RBI, and two doubles, while senior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) earned his first win of the season, allowing only two runs on five hits and striking out three in six innings pitched... The Retrievers fell to the Bearcats in 10 innings on Friday, 9-8, 13-2 in seven innings on Saturday, and 10-8 on Sunday... UMBC will see a six-game homestand beginning with a Tuesday night contest against Maryland at 7:00 p.m. before hosting Maine in a four-game series beginning with a 4:00 p.m. doubleheader on Friday night.
The Seawolves (16-14, 5-3 AE) went 2-3 on the week, defeating Marist 6-2 in non-conference action before dropping three of four to Hartford over the weekend ... Junior Michael Tansey had a terrific week, going 10-for-20 while tallying multiple hits in four of five Seawolves games ... Sophomore Michael Stephan has a hit in six straight games and currently has an on-base percentage of .563 ... Sophomore Devin Will picked up his first collegiate victory on Wednesday against Marist, allowing just one run and one hit in 3.0 innings of work ... Junior Keith Fier went 3-for-4 in Sunday’s victory over Hartford and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning ... Sophomore Jeremy Nowak pitched 3.0 scoreless innings to pick up the victory against Hartford on Sunday and has now gone 15.0 straight innings without allowing an earned run ... Junior Brian Witkowski led off Sunday’s game with a home run, the first time this season a Stony Brook player has homered to lead off a game ... Through the first two series of the conference season, sophomore Rob Dyer leads the Seawolves in batting average (.429), hits (12), home runs (two) and RBI (nine).
Vermont (13-11, 3-1 AE) won five of six non-league games last week ... After losing five straight, the Catamounts have bounced back to win seven of their last eight ... UVM split a doubleheader at longtime rival Siena last Tuesday and took four straight from NJIT over the weekend outscoring the D-I Independent Highlanders, 48-12, along with hitting five home runs ... Sophomore Brad Currier (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) hit .750 in three games last week, all UVM wins, with a homer, eight RBI and a 1.125 slugging percentage with six of his RBI coming with two outs ... In Sunday's 17-2 win over NJIT, he went 3-for-3 with seven RBI, the most in a single-game by a Catamount this season. Currier had two two-run singles and a three-run homer, his first career home run ... Junior lefthanders Joe Serafin (Tariffville, Conn./Simsbury) and Justin Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) both hurled complete-game victories this week ... Serafin tossed a two-hitter to defeat NJIT, 3-1, Saturday to improve to 4-1 on the season ... Albert (2-2) allowed five hits in beating Siena last Tuesday ... Sophomore Ethan Paquette (West Burke, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) hit a team-high .444 last week with a HR and six RBI. He leads the Catamounts with a .388 batting average ... Justin Milo (Edina, Minn./Edina/Cornell) now has an America East-best five triples in the first 24 games, already the fifth most in a single season at UVM ... The Catamounts take on Dartmouth in their home opener Tuesday ... After a game Wednesday at Quinnipiac, Vermont returns to America East play this weekend hosting Stony Brook in a four-game series, Friday through Sunday, April 18-20 ... Tuesday's game opens the 102nd year UVM has competed at Historic Centennial Field.