CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Three baseball players earned weekly awards from the conference office Monday after key performances in weekend league series. University of Vermont sophomore shortstop Matt Duffy (Milton, Mass./St. Sebastian's) continue his torrid pace at the plate to nab his third Player of the Week award of the season. University at Albany senior right hander Sean Gregory (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) came up with a win and a save against a high-octane offense to claim Pitcher of the Week status, and UMBC catcher Max Himmelstein is the recipient of the Rookie of the Week honor for the first time this season.
Duffy, the league’s leading hitter, hit .619 (13-for-21) last week with two doubles, three homers and seven RBI. He also had a .692 on-base percentage, a 1.143 slugging percentage and he scored nine runs. In the weekend series against America East rival Maine, the best pitching team in the league, Duffy hit .500 (6-for-12) with a double and a homer as the Catamounts split four games. The sophomore went 3-for-3 with a home run in Sunday’s key 6-3 win.
Gregory allowed just one run in 7.1 innings pitched over three appearances last week. The senior right hander went 1-0 and picked up a save while striking out a pair. Gregory earned his win in Sunday’s America East Conference finale 9-4 win over Stony Brook. He tossed 5.1 innings in relief, allowing just one hit against the top offensive team in league-play. Gregory also saw two-thirds of an inning against non-conference opponent Le Moyne on Tuesday. He is now 5-2 on the season with four saves, a team-high 41 strikeouts and a 4.74 ERA.
Himmelstein led the Retrievers in hitting this past week, hitting .474 with eight RBI. The freshman hit his first grand slam of his career in the first game Sunday against Hartford. Himmelstein had a hit in all five games this week, including a 3-for-4 effort in the second game on Saturday, a 7-4 win. The rookie also came in to score four runs, while recording nine hits. His effort led UMBC to a 4-1 week, nearly doubling their season win total in a matter of six days.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany
(17-23, 9-7 America East) split a weekend series with Stony Brook after defeating Le
Moyne in non-conference action on Tuesday... The Great Danes recorded an 8-6
comeback victory over the Dolphins... Freshman Mike Tirri (Lake
George, N.Y./Lake George) hit a two-run single in the bottom of
the sixth to spark the late-inning comeback... Senior
catcher Ryan Gugel (Batavia,
N.Y./Batavia/Genesee C.C.) went 2-for-4 with two hits, including a double,
scoring one run and driving in two more to lead UAlbany to a 5-4 first-game win
over Stony Brook on Saturday... Senior right hander Sean Gregory (West Islip, N.Y.)
earned the win on the mound, throwing 5.1 innings in relief and allowing just
one hit to lead UAlbany to a 10-7 comeback win over Stony Brook in the second
game on Sunday... Gregory finished with a 1-0 record and a save, allowing just
one run in 7.1 innings of work... Senior Gary Pitcheralle (Mechanicville,
N.Y./Mechanicville/Alfred State) hit .353 for the week with six hits, including
two doubles and one home run. He scored five runs and drove in another three,
while also going 2-for-2 with stolen base attempts... Junior Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie
Central) hit .368 with seven hits, including a double, and went 4-for-4 on
stolen bases... Junior Pete Eichner (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) recorded five
hits and five RBI, hitting two doubles and one home run for the week... UAlbany
hosts Manhattan on Wednesday before welcoming Maine to Varsity Field
in a four-game America East Conference series.
Binghamton (20-15, 8-2) went 4-1 on the week and moved
back into first place in the conference.
The Bearcats have won 11 of their last 13 games... Junior second baseman
Jim Calderone (Homer Glen, Ill./Brother Rice HS/Oakton CC) led an offensive
barrage against NJIT as Binghamton outscored the Highlanders 45-7 in a
four-game sweep. Calderone, batting
leadoff and second in the lineup, had an on-base percentage of .619 for the
week and a slugging percentage of 1.056.
He broke the school record for RBI in a game with eight in game two
against NJIT. In that game, Calderone
went 4-for-5 with a solo home run, an RBI triple, a grand slam and finally a
two-run single... Sophomore outfielder Corey Taylor (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal)
extended his school record for consecutive games with an RBI to 11 before the
streak was snapped Sunday. Taylor batted
.500 on the week with two home runs and eight RBI in five games. He now has 10 home runs this spring - fourth
best in school history... Junior left fielder Joe Charron (Schaghticoke,
N.Y./La Salle Institute) also belted two home runs and drove in eight runs in
the five games... The Bearcats amassed eight home runs during the week and are hitting
.313 as a team... Junior ace Murphy Smith (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) improved to 6-1 with six shutout
innings against NJIT. Smith lowered his
conference-best ERA to 2.50. Freshman
reliever Alex Adami (Thornwood, N.Y./Iona Prep) was solid in two
appearances. He started the mid-week
game at Army and allowed just one hit in three scoreless innings. Adami then struck out three in two scoreless
innings of relief against NJIT. In his
last eight appearances, has allowed just two earned runs in 11.2 innings (2.59 ERA) with nine strikeouts and four walks... Junior
shortstop Jeff Abrams (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) hit .571 with a .647
on-base percentage during the week.
Abrams set the school record with three doubles in a single game.
The Hartford baseball team (10-24, 2-8) went 2-3 in five games last week ... The
Hawks opened the week with a 7-6 12th inning win over the Yale
Bulldogs in a Thursday afternoon game ... Hartford trailed the Bulldogs
throughout the game, sending the game into extra innings with a single run in
the ninth inning, made possible by two errors ... The Hawks then won in the 12th
inning due to an infield throwing error
that allowed a runner to score from first base ... The Hawks then traveled to
UMBC for their first conference games in two weeks, the Retrievers won the
series 3-1, taking the first three games from Hartford ... The Hawks' only win in
the series came in the final game ... The only game in the four-game series with
UMBC that the Hawks did not battle from behind throughout the game was the
final game ... Hartford scored three first inning runs and then allowed the
Retrievers to tie the game and take their first lead with single runs in each
of the first four innings ... Hartford then regained the lead, only to be tied on
one more occasion before an eighth inning run secured the win for the Hawks ...Tthe two wins this week went to Cory
Beahm (Burtonsville, Md./St. John’s HS) against Yale and Bob Rogers (Fairfield, Conn./Avon Old
Farms) against UMBC ... At the plate, the Hawks were led by Drew Sgro (Bristol, Conn./Siena) who finished the week 4-for-9 with
two RBI, playing in four games ... Andy
Drexel (Pequea, Pa./Penn Manor) and Matt
Walker (East Lyme, Conn./Catawba College) also hit well for Hartford ...
Drexel hit .375 for the week (6-of-16) with three RBI, while Walker hit .353
(6-fo-17) with two RBI ... The Hawks will play a single mid-week game at
Dartmouth on Tuesday afternoon (3:00 p.m.), before heading to Burlington, Vt.
for a four-game series with the Catamounts beginning on Saturday.
The
University of Maine baseball team (26-15, 9-3) split a pair of
games with Vermont on the weekend... Rookie pitcher Pat Quinn (Quaker Hill,
Conn./Waterford) pitched a complete game one-hitter in Maine’s 5-1 victory over
Vermont on Sunday in the first game... Allowed just one unearned run... Took a
no-hitter into the fourth inning before the Catamounts were able to get their
lone hit... Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) entered the week tied
for the national lead in sacrifice bunts with 14, which is believed to be a
school record... Menendez added two to his total on the weekend and currently has
16... Maine is currently hitting .335 on the season, just shy of the school
record for batting average of .337 set in 1986... Sophomore Kevin Scanlan
(Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) struck out his 100th career batter
on the weekend... Kevin McAvoy (Brewer,
Maine/Brewer) hit a pair of home runs on the weekend and leads the Black Bears
with seven home runs... The Black Bears finished the week with 15 extra-base
hits... Maine was second in the nation last week in double plays... The Black Bears
turned four on the weekend and currently have 55, nine shy of tying the school
record of 64 double plays... Ian Leisenheimer (Middle Village, N.Y./Holy Cross
High) currently has an 11-game hitting streak, one shy of tying his career-high
12-game hitting streak from earlier this season... Menendez stole two more bases
on the weekend and now has 28 on the season, seven shy of tying the school
record of 35... Maine will play six games this upcoming week.
The UMBC (9-27, 4-12) baseball team had
its best week of the season this past week, going 4-1... Freshman Max Himmelstein
(Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) led the
Retrievers in hitting this past week, hitting .474 with 8 RBI. The freshman hit
his first grand slam of his career in the first game Sunday against Hartford... Seniors Shawn
Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.)) and Tom
Meaney (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem) combined for 12 extra-base hits and five home
runs on the week... On the season, Retz is hitting .423 with nine home runs to
lead the Retrievers... Junior pitcher Kevin Clark (Alexandria,
Va./Hayfield/Catonsville C.C.) pitched a gem
in the first game Sunday against Hartford,
allowing just three hits in his first complete game as a Retriever... The
Retrievers play host to George Mason on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before hosting Binghamton in a four-game
series this coming weekend.
The Seawolves (20-18, 9-7) went 3-2 on the week, defeating
Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday before splitting a four-game series with Albany
over the weekend ... seven Seawolves pitchers combined on a six-hitter to lead Stony
Brook to the 5-1 victory over the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights ... the Seawolves
then dropped a 5-4 decision to Albany in the opening game of the weekend series
on Saturday ... SBU won the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader, 16-3 ... Stony
Brook pounded out 20 hits in the victory, its second highest total of the
season ... senior Mike Errigo picked up the victory for Stony Brook, allowing
just two runs on six hits in 7.0 innings of work ... Errigo walked just one and
struck out a career-high 11 ... SBU then won the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader,
defeating the Great Danes 4-1 ... Freshman Nick Tropeano
hurled a three-hitter to pick up his
team-high fifth victory of the year in the win ... The right hander
allowed just one run in the seven-inning game and struck out a season-high
eight while walking just one ... Tropeano allowed just one base runner over
the final four innings ... Albany won the final game of the series, 10-7 ...
sophomore Chad Marshall hit .432 (7-for-16) with seven runs scored in the
four-game set against Albany ... Thode hit .500 (6-for-12) with two home runs and
five runs scored against the Great Danes.
Vermont (12-25, 5-7) capped a six-game week with a key split of a four-game conference
series at league-leading Maine
... The Catamounts hit eight homers in the six games and now have 33 so far
this season, four off the school-record set in 2003 ... Sophomore shortstop
Matt Duffy (Milton, Mass./St. Sebastian's) continued his torrid pace at the
plate going 13-for-21 (.619) with 3 HR and 7 RBI ... He leads America East with
a .455 average, 11 homers and a .836 slugging percentage ... Duffy's 11 homers
tie for the second-most in a single-season at UVM and are two behind Kyle
Brault's school-record set in 2004 ... Duffy hit .500 with a homer and two RBI
in the Maine series and is hitting .500 with 5 HR and 16 RBI in 12 conference
games Senior starting pitchers Justin
Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) and Keith Rakus (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield
Academy) both had solid outings in defeating the Black Bears, the top hitting
team in America East ... Albert went the distance for the fifth time this
season, second in a nine-inning tilt, while striking out a career-high 11 in
Saturday's 5-4 win at Maine ... Rakus went eight strong innings in Sunday's 6-3
win allowing only six hits and three earned runs ... The first career homer for
freshman Dave Soltis (Plainville, Conn./Plainville) was a ninth-inning
game-winner in Saturday's 5-4 victory at Maine ... Vermont is at UMass
Wednesday and hosts Siena Thursday before taking on Hartford in a four-game
conference series this Saturday and Sunday ... Thursday's tilt with the Saints
opens an 11-game homestand at Historic Centennlal Field.