CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- With five teams still in the running to make the four-team America East Baseball Championship and four of them still jockeying for the top seed entering the final week of the regular season, three players were awarded for key weekend performances that helped keep their teams' playoff hopes alive. University of Vermont's Corey Moylan (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) earned Player of the Week honors, Binghamton's Mike Augliera (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) nabbed the Pitcher of the Week award and Maine's Ian Leisenheimer garnered Rookie of the Week accolades.
Moylan led Vermont to a four-game sweep of UMBC in conference action, batting .692 and slugging 1.154. The sophomore got on base at a .706 clip, and took advantage of the base paths, stealing five bases on as many attempts. Moylan recorded nine hits, scored seven times, and drove in six runs. In each of the first three games of the series, he jumpstarted the UVM offense by driving in the first run, twice in the first inning. Moylan drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly in the 3-0 win Saturday, then tripled and scored a late inning insurance run. In the final game of the series, a 7-4 victory, he went 3-for-5, with a double and a run in the eighth, opening up a one-run game.
In his only appearance of the week, Augliera fired a complete-game, two-hit shutout at Maine to give the Bearcats a key twinbill sweep. The only hits allowed were two singles, and the freshman set down the side in order five times. In his seven innings of work, Augliera recorded a season-high eight strikeouts and allowed just one walk. In this conference starts, Augliera is 2-0 with 15 strikeouts, one walk and a 3.79 ERA good for seventh in the conference. He becomes the fourth different Bearcat pitcher to earn the weekly accolade.
Leisenheimer hit .375 (3-for-8) on the week for Maine, earning his fourth rookie of the week award of the season. He scored a run and drove in a pair more in three conference games of a pivotal weekend series against Binghamton. Leisenheimer belted his fifth home run of the season in Maine’s 2-0 win over the Bearcats Saturday, and recorded a hit in each of the three games he played in. He ranks fifth in America East batting .400 in league games.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany
(22-26-1, 13-7 in America East) played five non-conference games last week... The Great Danes
visited Le Moyne on Tuesday, falling to the Dolphins, 14-6... UAlbany then played
host to New York Tech in a four-game series over the weekend... The Bears took a
15-5 win on Friday and a 14-7 victory on Sunday... The Great Danes claimed a 7-3
win in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader before the teams played to a
4-4 tie in eight innings in the nightcap, which was called due to
thunderstorms... Senior left fielder Gary Pitcheralle (Mechanicville,
N.Y./Mechanicville) hit .444 for the week, recording four hits, including a
double, scoring seven runs and driving in three more... Junior right fielder
Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central)
batted .417 with five hits and three runs scored, while senior catcher Ryan
Gugel (Batavia,
N.Y./Batavia) hit the team’s lone homer of the week, a three-run blast in
Saturday’s win... Senior right hander Sean Gregory (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) made three
appearances of one-inning each... He did not allow a hit, did not issue a walk
and struck out three... Junior Eric Cortland (Highland Mills, N.Y./Cornwall) also
recorded a 0.00 ERA in two appearances... He fanned three in 2.2 innings of work,
while scattering two hits without allowing a run... The Great Danes will return
to action over the weekend, visiting Hartford
for the America East Conference finale on Friday and Saturday.
Binghamton (25-17, 12-4) split a four-game set at
Maine to clinch the program's third straight postseason berth and fourth in the
last five years... The Bearcats can clinch their third consecutive regular
season title with three wins against Vermont in the final series of the year
this weekend... Binghamton has not lost a conference series since the opening
weekend of the 2008 season when the team dropped all four games to Stony Brook
- a span of 10 series'... The team was one strike away from dropping the first
three games at Maine when sophomore outfielder Corey Taylor (Vestal,
N.Y./Vestal) delivered a two-out, full-count RBI single in the seventh inning
to send the game to extra innings. In
the 11th frame, Binghamton pushed across the winning run on a suicide squeeze
bunt single by sophomore catcher C.J. Lukaszewski (Kingston,
N.Y./Kingston). The 1-0 bunt down the
third base line scored junior designated hitter Joe Charron (Schaghticoke,
N.Y./La Salle Institute), who had led off with a double down the left field
line... Senior closer Greg Lane (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton/Hofstra) pitched
3.2 innings of hitless relief to earn his third win of the season. In conference games, Lane is 3-0 with one
save and a 0.00 ERA in 10.2 innings... Freshman #4 starter Mike Augliera then fired a complete-game
two-hit shutout in the finale to give the Bearcats the series split. Augliera, who has lost two starts to bad
weather, improved to 2-0 with a 3.79 ERA against AE opponents. He struck out a season-high eight, walked just
one and retired the side in order five times... Junior second baseman Jim
Calderone (Homer Glen, Ill./Brother Rice/Oakton CC) hit .375 in the series with
two RBI... Freshman first baseman Dave Ciocchi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John
Jay) picked up another RBI and is hitting .434 with 22 RBI in 16 conference
games.
The
Hartford baseball team (13-30, 5-13) was 1-3 in four-game all in
conference play last week ... After having its midweek game against Central
Connecticut cancelled due to rain, the Hawks welcomed the Stony Brook Seawolves
to the Hartford Baseball Field for a four-game conference series ... The
Seawolves scored a sweep on the first day of action, winning the first game 7-2
and shutting out the Hawks 16-0 in the second game ... Hartford answered back by
winning the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader 4-3, before falling 17-1 in the
second game ... The only win on the mound for Hartford was recorded by rookie Cory Beahm, who pitched a complete game
in Sunday’s opener ... Beahm allowed all three runs, which were earned, on five
total hits, while striking out three batters and not walking one, using only 80
total pitches ... For the weekend, the Hawks were led by Jon Ricco who finished 4-for-7 for a .571 batting average ... Ricco
played in three of the four games, starting both of Sunday’s games ... Andy Drexel hit well among the players
who started all four games ... He finished the weekend with four hits in 13 at
bats for a .308 batting average ... He also knocked in three of the Hawks six
total RBI for the weekend ... The Hawks will play their final regular season
conference series on Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16 at the Hartford
Baseball Field ... Hartford welcomes the Albany Great Danes for doubleheaders on
Friday at 12 p.m. and Saturday at
1 p.m.
The University of Maine baseball team (30-21,
11-9) split four games with Binghamton over the weekend... The Black
Bears swept a doubleheader on Saturday, before dropping both games on Sunday...
Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) stole a pair of bases on the
weekend giving him 37 on the season... He broke Chad White’s school record for
stolen bases in a season of 35 set in 1993... Menendez has 62 career stolen
bases, seven shy of tying the school record for career stolen bases held by
Mark Sweeney... Menendez moved into seventh place on Maine’s consecutive games
played list on the weekend, having played in 117 straight games... Maine as a
team turned five double plays on the weekend... The Black Bears currently have 65
double plays on the season, a new school record... Maine broke the record of 64
set in 2005... Maine has stolen 70 bases on the season while its opponents have
swiped just 33... The Black Bears have belted 41 home runs on the season, while
allowing 24... Maine has won 30 games on the season, the 17th time in
school history that the Black Bears have won 30 or more games in a season...
Before the game on Saturday, Maine honored seniors Ryan Forrest (Highlands
Ranch, Colo./Creighton), Alejandro Balsinde (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus),
Billy Cather (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Acad.), Kevin McAvoy (Brewer,
Maine/Brewer) and Menendez.
UMBC (9-35, 4-18) dropped all five decisions
last week, one to Towson on Tuesday and four to America East foe Vermont over
the weekend. One of the Saturday games was rained out and made up early in the day on Monday, a 4-7 loss... Senior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western
Tech/Catonsville C.C.) is batting .392 with nine home runs, tops on the
team, while senior Tom Meaney (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem) leads the team with 14 doubles and 37 RBI... Freshman Max Himmelstein
(Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) has been solid in his opening
campaign, batting .313 with three home runs and 26 RBI... The Retrievers wrap up their
season Tuesday at home against Georgetown.
The
Seawolves (27-19, 12-8) opened the week with a victory over Marist before taking three of
four at Hartford over the weekend ... SBU
defeated Marist 2-0 on Wednesday ... sophomore Stephen Marino hit the first home
run of his career, a two-run shot, with two outs in the fifth for the only runs
of the game ... seven Seawolves pitchers combined on the shutout in the win over
Marist ... Freshman Tyler Johnson tossed a three-hitter in the Stony Brook’s 7-2
win over Hartford in the series opener ... it is the third complete game of the
season for Johnson ... senior Brian Witkowski hit two home runs and drove in the
three runs ... it was the second two-home run game of the season for Witkowski ...
Stony Brook then pounded out 21 hits in the 16-0 win over the Hawks in the
second game on Saturday ... senior Mike Errigo tossed a three-hit shutout in the
win ... the right hander struck out five and did not walk a batter ... Hartford won
the opener on Sunday, 4-3 ... senior Michael Tansey, sophomore Nick Thode and
junior Rob Dyer each hit solo home runs in the game ... the Seawolves won the
series finale against the Hawks, 17-1 ... junior Michael Stephan went 3-for-5
with a career-high six RBI ... Stephan hit a grand slam in the Seawolves
seven-run sixth ... SBU hit 11 home runs in the four-game series against the
Hawks ... Witkowski has now set career-highs in home runs (12) and RBI (36).
Vermont (19-28,
11-9) used strong starting pitching to take four games from UMBC
over the weekend at
Centennial Field ... The Catamounts have won six straight in league play to
move into a tie with Maine for fourth place with four games to go ... Seniors Justin Albert Keith
Rakus (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield Academy) and Joe Serafin (Hull, Mass./Hull), (Tariffville, Conn./Simsbury) led the way allowing just
one run in 23 innings (0.39 ERA). Catamount hurlers walked only two hitters and
struck out 16 in the three wins ... Albert tossed a four-hit shutout in
Saturday's 3-0 win allowing only one hit after the first inning ... In league
play, he is now 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA ... Rakus won his fifth straight start
hurling eight scoreless innings in Sunday's 12-0 win. He improved to 5-0 with a
2.27 ERA in conference games ... Serafin, who pitched a no-hitter in his first
start at Centennial Field as a freshman, allowed a first inning run on two hits
and then retired 17 of the last 18 hitters ... The victory was the 20th of his
career and he now has 255 strikeouts, three away from the UVM career mark ... Corey Moylan (Glenview, Ill./Glen Brook
North) hit .692 (9-for-13) in the UMBC series with a homer, seven runs scored,
five steals and six RBI. He had the game-winning RBI in the first three wins
and is now hitting .440 in league play ... Moylan's homer Sunday was the
Catamounts' 38th this season to set a new team home run mark ... Mark Micowski
(Haddam, Conn./Xavier) added another HR, a three-run shot Monday ... In
addition to the five UVM seniors, head coach Bill Currier was honored at
Saturday's Senior Day ceremony ... The
Catamounts host Bryant in a non-league twinbill Tuesday before heading to
Binghamton Friday and Saturday to close out the regular season.