CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- The Vermont Catamounts picked up their first wins of the 2009 baseball campaign, taking three out of four last weekend, and several Catamounts were rewarded for their performances. Sophomore shortstop Matt Duffy (Milton, Mass./St. Sebastian's) received Player of the Week honors, and teammate Mike McCarthy (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall), a freshman catcher, earned the Rookie of the Week nod. UMBC junior hurler Kevin Clark earned Pitcher of the Week for two great outings last week.
Duffy continued his torrid pace, now hitting .600 on the season, by going 10-for-18 with two doubles, two homers and five RBI as Vermont took three of four at Hofstra last weekend. He also recorded a .579 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage in the four-game series. Duffy went 4-for-5 in each game of UVM’s sweep of the Pride Saturday including two homers in the nightcap, and hit safely in all four games. Duffy, a member of the all-rookie team a year ago, is receiving his first career player of the week award.
Clark started two games for the Retrievers last week, including a seven-inning, five-strikeout outing against NJIT as part of a 5-0 shutout on Thursday. The junior also started against North Dakota State of the Summit League on Monday, earning the win as the Retreivers won 13-3. For the week, Clark finished 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA and six strikeouts over nine innings pitched.
McCarthy had a solid weekend hitting .313 (5-for-16) in four games with two home runs, six RBI and a .688 slugging percentage. The rookie catcher went 3-for-5 including going deep twice in Vermont’s 17-5 rout of the Pride in Saturday’s opener. McCarthy also came around the bases to score four runs for the Catamounts.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (2-13 overall record, 0-0 America East record) was on the road with a
three-game series at UNC Greensboro...
The Great Danes dropped all three games with scores of 4-3 on Friday, 7-3 on
Saturday and 10-6 in the finale on Sunday... Senior centerfielder Dave West (Toms River,
N.J./Toms River North) recorded a .375 average over the three games... West
finished with three hits and two RBI... Junior Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) hit .333 for
the weekend, finishing with four hits, including one double and one triple... He
also scored four runs and drove in two more... Senior shortstop Sean Donovan (Pleasant Valley, N.Y./Arlington) also batted .333
for the series, knocking out three hits, scoring two runs and recording three
RBI... On the mound, sophomore Dave Kubiak (Southold, N.Y./Southold) tossed six
innings in the first game on Friday... Kubiak struck out three while allowing
just two earned runs in his performance... Senior lefty Dave Noble (Bronx,
N.Y./Regis/St. Francis, NY) tossed two innings of relief, fanning one... Senior
Sean Gregory (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip)
recorded six strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work in the series finale... Gregory
leads the staff with 16 strikeouts on the season.
Binghamton (6-7, 0-0) won three of four
games at Lehigh and have now won five of its last six games... Senior closer Greg
Lane (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton/Hofstra) saved two of the three wins. Lane struck out the final Lehigh batter with
the bases loaded to close out the 6-3 win in the finale... Junior starter Murphy
Smith (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa HS) had another strong outing, earning
his third win (3-1) with a nine-inning effort.
Smith scattered seven hits and one earned run, struck out six and walked
one... Sophomore James Giulietti (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview-JFK) earned his first
win of the season with six solid innings against Lehigh. Giulietti allowed five singles and one earned
run, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter... Offensively, sophomore center
fielder Corey Taylor (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) hit .400 in the series (6-for-15)...
Senior third baseman Kyle Klee (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) drove in
four runs and has a team-best eight RBI in 13 games this spring... The Bearcats
play four games this weekend as part of the America East-Northeast Conference
Challenge.
The
Hartford baseball team (1-10, 0-0) closed out its week long furlough in the
Sunshine State with back-to-back losses to ranked opponents ... The Hawks
finished the trip 1-6 overall, picking up their first win of the season against
Central Florida last weekend ... In the final four games, part of the RussMatt
Central Florida Invitational, the Hawks dropped a 7-6 decision to Jacksonville
State, a 10-1 decision to Indiana, fell 7-3 to #19 Illinois and then had its
comeback cut short against #22 Ohio State, falling 9-8 ... Against the
Buckeyes, the Hawks trailed 9-1 heading into the eighth inning and battled for
four runs in the eighth and then put together a three run ninth, before Ohio State
closer Jake Hale forced Rodger Wilmot
(Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township) into a ground out to end the game ... For the
week, Andy Drexel (Pequea, PA/Penn
Manor) and Mike Amendola (North
Babylon, NY/SuffolkCC) led the Hawks at the plate. Drexel finished the week
batting .545 with six hits in 11 at bats ... He also had three RBI and scored three
runs, while walking on three plate appearances ... Amendola led the team with
four RBI, while batting .462 for the week with six hits in 13 at bats with two
runs scored and two of his hits going for extra bases, a double and a triple ...
The Hawks return to West Hartford, CT for five scheduled home games this week ...
They are schedule to open at home against Boston College on Tuesday at 3:00
p.m. and then face Massachusetts on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. ... Hartford will
welcome Central Connecticut on Friday at 3:00 p.m. and Sacred Heart on Saturday
at 12:00 p.m. for a double header, before closing out the week with a
third-straight NEC opponent, at Quinnipiac on Sunday at 12 p.m.
Maine (12-9, 0-0) played its first home games of the
2009 season when it hosted Sacred Heart this weekend... The Black Bears have a
new FieldTurf surface on Mahaney Diamond... It is believed to the earliest that
Maine has ever played home baseball games... The Black Bears split a pair of
doubleheader with Sacred Heart... The Black Bears dropped both games the first
day, before rebounding to take both games on Sunday... Rookie Taylor Lewis
(Montville, Conn./Montville) tied a Maine record with two triples in Maine’s
11-2 win over Sacred Heart on Sunday... His second triple of the game was a bases
loaded three-run triple... Sophomore pitcher Matt Jebb (Toronto, Ontario/St.
Michael’s College) improved to 3-0 on the season with a victory on Sunday over
the Pioneers... The three wins are one more than he posted in his rookie season...
Senior pitcher Alejandro Balsinde (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) has
appeared in 10 of Maine’s 21 games this season on the mound... Maine had three
relief pitcher combine for four appearances and 7.1 innings pitched on the
weekend and they did not allow a run... Senior second baseman Danny Menendez
(Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) had a pair of steals on the week and leads
the team in stolen bases with nine... Maine has just two players in Billy Cather
(Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) in center field and Tony Patane (New
Milford, Conn./UConn Avery Point) at shortstop who have started all 21 games
for the Black Bears this season... Maine travels to Wagner for four games next
weekend.
The UMBC (4-8, 0-0) baseball team concluded its
Spring Break trip to Florida with a 3-4 record
with wins over North Dakota State, NJIT and Long Island...
Senior Shawn Retz (Baltimore,
Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.)
led the Retrievers, hitting .522 on the week with six runs scored and a .783
slugging percentage... Junior Kevin Clark (Alexandria,
Va./Hayfield/Catonsville C.C.) won two games on the mound, allowing just one
run in nine innings pitched with six strikeouts. Clark combined with freshman
Steve Miller (Newark, Del./Dickinson) for a 5-0
shutout win over NJIT on Thursday, the first UMBC shutout since March of 2007...
Senior catcher Tom Meaney (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem) powered the Retriever
offense, hitting .350 with three home runs and 12 RBI on the way to a .900
slugging percentage... The Retrievers travel to Mount St. Mary’s and MarylandFairfield in a three-game
series over the weekend. Tuesday and Wednesday, before hosting
The Seawolves (5-8, 0-0) dropped a non-conference game
to Seton Hall on Tuesday before taking three of four from visiting Le Moyne
over the weekend ... the four-game series against the Dolphins was the Seawolves
first home games of the season ... the Seawolves scored six runs in their final
two at-bats to rally for an 8-4 victory over Le Moyne in the first game of the
doubleheader on Saturday ... Senior Michael Tansey tied the game at four in the
fifth with a two-run home run ... Tansey now has a team-high four home runs on
the season ... freshman Nick Tropeano picked up the victory in the Seawolves 3-2
win over the Dolphins in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday as he
allowed just two runs in 7.0 innings of work ... Tropeano struck out seven and
did not walk a batter ... Jeremy Nowak picked up his first save of the season in
the second game on Saturday as he hurled 2.0 scoreless innings ... SBU won the
first game of the Sunday doubleheader, 8-3 ... Junior Matt Harloff picked up the
victory as he allowed just one run in 3.2 innings of relief ... Stony Brook
dropped the final game of the series to Le Moyne, 10-7 ... the Seawolves scored
five runs in the fourth inning after two were out ... Brian Witkowski hit a grand
slam in the inning and Chad Marshall followed with a solo shot, the first home
run of his career.
Vermont
(3-12, 0-0) broke into the win column by taking three out of four at CAA rival Hofstra last
weekend ... The Catamounts banged out season-highs in runs and hits (20) in
taking Saturday's opener 17-5 and then won game two, 11-3. The two teams split
Sunday with UVM winning 4-2 in eight innings before falling 3-2 in 10 frames
... Matt Duffy (Milton, Mass./St.
Sebastian's) continued his hot start by going 10-for-18 (.556) with two
doubles, two homers and five RBI in the four games ... He twice went 4-for-5 in
Saturday's sweep to cap a tremendous four-game stretch where he went 17-for-19
with two walks ... Mark Micowski
(Haddam, Conn./Xavier) extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a .444
weekend ... Ethan Paquette (West
Burke, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) hit .438 with three doubles, two homers and
seven RBI in four games ... Vermont hit eight homers in the four games against
the Pride with Brad Currier (Essex
Junction, Vt./Essex) hitting the Cats first grand slam of the year Saturday ...
Freshman Mike McCarthy (Wallingford,
Conn./Lyman Hall) went deep twice in Saturday's opener ... Senior
lefties Joe Serafin (Tariffville,
Conn./Simsbury) and Justin Albert
(Hull, Mass.Hull) both went the distance in earning their first victories of
the campaign ... Albert went eight innings Sunday giving up eight hits and a
walk while striking out three ... UVM heads to Connecticut for four games this
weekend. It faces Sacred Heart Friday at 3 p.m. at St. Joseph's High School in
Trumbull, is at Quinnipiac for a doubleheader Saturday at noon and plays a
single game against Central Connecticut at Beehive Field Sunday at noon.