CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Stony Brook junior outfielder Brian Witkowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) garnered his second America East Baseball Player of the Week honor of the season Monday, April 28 for the week ending April 27. Vermont junior left-handed pitcher Justin Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) pitched a gem Sunday to earn the conference's weekly pitching award, while UMBC redshirt-freshman pitcher Austin Drewyer (Elllicott City, Md./River Hill) earned the Rookie of the Week accolade. Click here for full PDF Weekly Release.
Witkowski finished the week with a .500 batting average, .583 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of 1.100. He went 3-for-5 with a homer and two RBI in a midweek win over Hofstra, then slugged three hits, two runs and three RBI in the opening game vs. Maine on Friday. Witkowski drove in three runs and scored four in the series finale on Sunday. The junior scored 10 runs, batted in another eight runs, and hit three doubles and three home runs on the week.
Albert put together an outstanding effort in a nine-inning complete game 3-1 win over Albany on Sunday to earn the series split for the Catamounts. The lefty scattered just six singles, and the lone run was unearned, giving Albert a stellar 0.00 ERA. He walked just one batter and struck-out a career-high 10 including four in the last two innings to close out the Great Danes.
Drewyer earned his first collegiate win and save during last weekend’s series sweep of Hartford, the first four-game sweep ever for the Retrievers. Making three appearances and pitching 9.2 innings, the rookie generated a 0.93 ERA, giving up just one earned run on 11 hits. Drewyer walked three and struck out five in his work on the mound. In his best appearance of the week, he earned the win against Hartford Sunday, pitching four innings of relief and striking out two.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (11-31-1 overall record, 6-10 America East record) went 2-3 last week... The Great Danes opened the week with an 11-7 loss at Le Moyne on April 22 at Dick Rockwell Field in Syracuse, N.Y.... Sean Donovan (Pleasant Valley, N.Y./Arlington), Mike Konstanty (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta/Winthrop) and Dave West (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) each connected for home runs in the game... The Great Danes split with Vermont in America East action over the weekend... UAlbany took the opener, 10-4, on Friday, April 25... Junior Gary Pitcheralle (Mechanicville, N.Y./Mechanicville/Alfred State) registered three hits in the contest, including a two-run double in the sixth inning to give the Great Danes a 6-4 lead... Sophomore Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie) scored twice, including a three-run homer in the eighth, over the final two innings... On Saturday, the Catamounts rallied for a 6-5 win in the opener, while the Great Danes rallied in the nightcap for a 6-4 win... UAlbany built a 5-1 lead through six innings of the first game, before Vermont scored four times in the top of the seventh to force extra innings... In the nightcap, the Great Danes fell behind 4-0, before rallying over the final three innings... Rowland got the Great Danes within one in the sixth with an RBI-single, before West scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice... In the series finale, the Great Danes took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning on a wild pitch to score Tom Zink (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland/Hudson Valley C.C.), but the Catamounts scored three runs in the ninth for the win... Junior righty Nate Novak (Hudson, N.Y./Hudson/Hudson Valley C.C.) allowed just two hits over the first seven innings.
Binghamton (19-21, 7-5 AE) pushed closer to the .500 mark with five non-conference wins during the week. In the process, the Bearcats extended their win streak to nine games ? tops in the program’s Division I tenure. The defending America East regular season champions, Binghamton currently sits in second place with 12 games to remaining... After outslugging Le Moyne 12-10 in a midweek game, Binghamton swept back-to-back doubleheaders from NJIT. In the four-game set with the Highlanders, BU hit .331and averaged 8.2 runs per contest... Junior first baseman Ryan Holley (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East/Oakton CC) continued his hot-hitting with seven hits and four RBI. Holley has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games (.393) and has 22 RBI in that span. In BU’s 3-2 win over NJIT, Holley drove in all three runs with two-out hits... Senior second baseman Ryan James (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) hit .389 in the five games and was 6-for-6 in stolen bases. James has a nine-game hit streak and is batting .441 with eight RBI in that stretch. He has stolen 15-of-16 bases this spring... Junior designated hitter Tom Baileys (Apalachin, N.Y./Owego/Broome CC) hit .462 for the week, and has hit safely in seven of his last eight games (11-of-18, .611)... Junior closer Greg Lane (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton/Hofstra) racked up three more saves during the week, including his school-record setting seventh in Sunday’s game two win at NJIT. Lane also preserved a two-run victory over Le Moyne and a one-run win over NJIT. He has seven saves and three wins on the season, and has given up just one earned run in his last 7.2 innings. Lane broke the season saves record set by Khalid Afify in 2007 (6)... Senior Zach Groh (Reading, Pa./The Perkiomen School) picked up his third win of the season with a complete-game effort against NJIT. Groh allowed just one run and struck out five. In his last two starts, Groh has surrendered just one earned run in 13.2 innings, with 15 strikeouts and two walks... Sophomore Murphy Smith (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) posted his team-high fourth win of the season with six strong innings against NJIT. Smith scattered six hits and allowed just one earned run, while striking out eight and walking none. His 4.15 ERA is tops among Binghamton starters.
The Hawks (14-24, 6-6 AE) finished winless in a six-game week, all at home. The Hawks opened the week with a pair of non-conference losses to Marist (5-8) and Yale (6-11) before being swept by UMBC (9-13, 3-5 (9), 2-5, 7-8 (10)). For the week, the Hawks were led by Adam Grap who finished with a .385 batting average in four games played with three starts. He finished with five hits in 13 at bats, while knocking in two runs. Adam Bowser finished second with a .375 batting average. He had a total of nine hits in 24 at bats, starting all six games this week. Ben Sobocinski led the team with 10 hits, finishing with a .370 ERA, having started all six games. Matt Walker led the Hawks with five RBI, while Sobocinski and Andy Drexel each added four. On the mound, the Hawks were led by Zack Tarner who in two starts finished with a 1.80 ERA. He pitched 12 total innings and gave up seven runs, with just two of them earned. He also struck out eight batters and walked none, while giving up 12 hits. Among the other starters, Chris Greiner finished second. His only game was a no decision, in which he pitched six innings and allowed three earned runs on nine hits, while striking out seven. Among the relief pitchers, Justin DiConzo and Matt Govoni led the team, each pitching two scoreless innings in two appearances a piece. DiConzo allowed four hits and struck out one, while Govoni allowed no hits and struck out one. The Hawks will play one mid-week warm-up against Dartmouth on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. before heading to Maine for a four-game conference series beginning on Friday night.
The University of Maine baseball team (16-21-1, 4-8 AE) went 2-3 on the week... Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao/Peter Stuyvesant) had another outstanding week for Maine... He hit .389 and scored a team-high eight runs... Smith moved into second place on Maine’s all-time hits list with 284, passing Joel Barrett (2004-07) who finished his career with 283... Smith leads Maine with 49 runs scored... Smith also played in his 200th career game on Sunday against Stony Brook... Smith belted his team-high 11th home run of the season on Sunday... It is the most home runs in a season for a Maine player since Joe Drapeau hit 11 in 2003... Jarrett Lukas (Old Town, Maine/Old Town) had a hit in all five games on the week to extend his hitting streak to 12 games... He becomes the third Black Bear this season to have a hitting streak of 10 games or longer joining Myckie Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and Smith... Lugbauer hit his 18th double of the season against Stony Brook... He sits just four doubles shy of tying the school record of 22 doubles set in 1989 by Mark Sweeney.... Billy Cather (Worcester, Mass.Worcester Academy) has yet to make an error in his career... He is perfect in the field in 232 career changes... Maine has five players in Smith, Lugbauer, Cather, Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) and Tony Patane (New Milford, Conn./New Milford) who have each started all 38 games this season.
UMBC (16-23, 8-8 AE) swept its first-ever four-game conference series, as the Retrievers downed the Hawks in four games last weekend... The Retrievers started the week off on rocky ground, with an 11-3 loss to George Washington at home, but senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) highlighted the game as he became the first player in school history to record 700 career at-bats... Fowler also led the Retrievers in the series against the Hawks, batting .409 with nine hits, two home runs, and seven RBI... Junior Dan Blewett (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) and redshirt freshman Austin Drewyer (Ellicott City, Md./River Hill) combined for the win and save in the 13-9 decision over Hartford on Friday, with Drewyer tallying his first career save after pitching 2.2 innings in relief and allowing just one run in a game that saw four Retrievers homer... Junior Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland) also tallied the first of three triples over the course of three games on Friday... Saturday saw redshirt freshman David Divita (Mayfield Village, Ohio/Mayfield) earn the first win after pitching 2.2 scoreless and hitless innings in relief on the way to the nine-inning, 5-3 win, while senior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) earned the 5-2 win in game two, allowing just two runs on six hits while fanning eight batters... Fowler led the Retrievers, going 6-for-8 on the day with his second home run of the weekend... Delawter added his eighth home run of the season in the top of the 10th during the series finale on Sunday, which gave the Retrievers an 8-7 win over the Hawks... Drewyer notched another career first as he picked up his first collegiate win after pitching four innings in relief, allowing just three unearned runs and striking out the final two batters of the game... The Retrievers will endure a six-game homestand over the next eight days, beginning with a 7 p.m. contest against Towson on Tuesday and including their final home series against Albany this weekend, which begins with a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Friday.
The Seawolves (24-16, 11-5 AE) went 4-1 this week, defeating Hofstra in a mid-week game and then taking three of four at Maine ... SBU scored a season-high 18 runs in Tuesday’s victory over Hofstra ... Junior Brian Witkowski went 10-for-20 on the week, hitting three home runs, scoring 10 runs and posting an on-base percentage of .583 ... Sophomore Jeremy Nowak picked up the save in Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Maine and then started and picked up the victory in SBU’s 13-6 victory over the Black Bears on Sunday ... Stony Brook tied a season-high with 17 hits in Sunday’s win over Maine ... Sophomore Michael Stephan hit .444 (8-for-18) with three home runs and six RBI with an on-base percentage of .583 ... Sophomore Jordan Purington recorded two saves for the Seawolves this week ... SBU is 8-2 in its last 10 road games ... The Seawolves have double-digit hits in their last six games ... Stony Brook is 7-1 in one-run games after Saturday’s 5-4 victory over the Black Bears ... SBU is 15-0 when leading after eight innings.
Vermont (19-17, 6-6 AE) went 3-3 last week including a split of four games at America East rival Albany ... All three UVM wins last week were decided in its last at bat ... Vermont also went to extra innings three times picking up two wins ... Sophomore Justin Milo (Edina, Minn./Edina/Cornell) hit .565 (13-for-23) last week with five extra-base hits and seven RBI. He had a .957 slugging percentage and added nine walks for a .688 on base percentage. He hit .643 (9-for-14) in the Albany series ... Milo had two triples and with seven, he has tied Heath Squires '98 and Ethan Barlow '96 for the UVM single-season mark ... As a team, the Catamounts have 22 triples to set a new school single-season mark. The previous record of 18 was set in 1993 ... Junior LHP Justin Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) dominated Albany in a 3-1 nine-inning complete game victory Sunday. He scattered just six singles, walked just one and struck out a career-high 10 including four in the last two innings. The lone run he allowed was unearned ... Senior Kyle Massie (Rutland, Vt./Rutland) had two game-winning RBIs last week including one in the 3-1 win at Albany Sunday. Fifteen of Massie's 27 RBI have come in UVM's eight America East games ... Senior Miguel Magrass (West Roxbury, Mass./Salisbury) leads the Catamounts with 34 RBI and with 126 in his career, he is now third all-time at UVM ... UVM is at Connecticut Tuesday at 3 p.m. before returning home to face Massachusetts Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the first game of a nine-game homestand ... The Catamounts this weekend host second place Binghamton, Friday through Sunday, in a key America East series.