American East Conference

Stony Brook to Host Baseball Tournament Next Week

5/15/2008 4:00:00 AM

America East Communications

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- By virtue of its 7-2 win over Albany on Friday afternoon, the Stony Brook Seawolves will host the 2008 America East Baseball Championship on May 22-24 at Farmingdale State College in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Stony Brook, Binghamton and UMBC have all clinched spots in the double-elimination tournament, while Vermont and Hartford will play for the fourth and final spot. Vermont just needs to win two games of the four-game regular season series against the Hawks this weekend, while Hartford will need to take three out of four away from the Catamounts to make their first appearance in the post-season since 1996. The Hawks defeated the Catamounts earlier on Thursday, 2-0, in the first game of the series.

The seeds will be determined after the final regular season series conclude on Sunday, May 18.

The one and four seeds will play against one another in game one on Thursday, while the two remaining seeds will play later that night for the right to move into the winners' bracket. One team will be eliminated on Friday in the match-up between Thursday's losers, while the champion will be crowned on Saturday, or Sunday if a seventh game is necessary. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Baseball Championship.

This is the second straight year that Stony Brook has hosted the America East Championship at Farmingdale State College. In 2007, Albany won three straight games, including two in dramatic fashion over top-seeded Binghamton, to capture its first-ever America East Baseball Championship. In a game that will go down as one of the best pitcher’s duel in America East Championship history, title game starters Cory Warring (Albany) and Jeff Dennis (Binghamton) were stellar on the hill.

Tickets, to go on sale once the seeds are finalized, will cost $7 for adults and $2 for children under 14 and students with valid America East school ids.