CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- It was a deciding weekend in the America East baseball schedule and a trio of teams fought for and won the final three seeds for the 2009 America East Baseball Championship. A trio of individuals are also the final recipients of the weekly awards, led by Vermont junior first baseman Ethan Paquette (West Burke, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) as the Player of the Week. Maine sophomore Kevin Scanlan (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) took home Pitcher of the Week honors, while Binghamton first baseman Dave Ciocchi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) received the nod for Rookie of the Week.
Paquette batted .500 (10-for-20) with 13 RBI in six games last week including going .571 (8-for-14) with 2 home runs and 10 RBI in a four-game conference series win at first-place Binghamton to punch the Catamounts’ ticket to the America East Championship. Paquette hit four doubles, walked twice and scored six runs with a 1.000 slugging percentage. He homered in both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader sweep and drove in nine runs on the day. Paquette’s effort solidified Vermont as the four seed for the conference tournament and kept the Catamounts’ season alive.
Scanlan pitched a seven-inning complete game in Maine’s 7-1 victory over Stony Brook in the first game of the week, picking up the victory. He allowed just five hits and one unearned run while striking out a season-high six batters in the game and issuing just one walk. Scanlan then came in out of the bullpen in relief on Saturday and pitched a scoreless inning to earn a save in Maine’s 6-5 win in 10 innings. The sophomore finished the week with a win, a save and a 0.00 ERA, and ranks second in America East with a regular season ERA of 3.96.
In the four-game weekend series with Vermont last week, Ciocchi hit .538 (7-for-13) with an on-base percentage of .571. The rookie drove in five runs and score five more, while hitting three doubles and a pair of four-baggers. Ciocchi also drew a walk and struck out twice. In his first America East campaign, Ciocchi hit a league-leading .455 with 27 RBI in 20 games. He also won Player of the Week earlier this season on April 21.
The 2009 America East Baseball Championship starts Thursday, May 21 at Union-Endicott High School's Pete Sylvester Field hosted by Binghamton. The two and three seeds, Albany and Stony Brook, kick things off at 4 p.m., while top-seeded Binghamton and fourth-seeded Vermont play in the nightcap with first pitch slated for 8 p.m. The winner of the championship will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship. Live stats, boxscores and recaps will be available at the Baseball Championship Central at www.AmericaEast.com throughout the tournament.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany
(24-29-1, 15-9 America East) split a four-game series with Hartford over the weekend... After dropping two
games on Friday with scores of 9-3 and 8-6, the Great Danes rebounded with 15-3
and 10-6 victories on Saturday... With the first-game win on Saturday, UAlbany
clinched a postseason berth in the America East Tournament for the third time
in four years... The Great Danes finished in second-place in the conference
standings, their best-ever finish in the regular season... Senior Ryan Gugel (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) led
the team with five hits, including a triple and a home run, scoring five runs
and driving in six... He did not strike out in 13 at bats... Freshman right hander
Zach Kraham (Ghent,
N.Y./Chatham) earned the win on the mound in the Great Danes’ series finale
victory on Saturday... He went six innings, scattering three hits and striking
out two without issuing a walk... Junior right fielder Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie
Central) hit .500 for the week with eight hits, five runs scored and three RBI...
Senior centerfielder Dave West (Toms
River, N.J./Toms River
North) sparked the UAlbany offense in the first game on Saturday, hitting two
home runs in the fourth inning, including a grand slam... Freshman lefty Ryan
White (Saratoga Springs,
N.Y./Saratoga) earned the first win on Saturday, going six innings on the
mound, striking out three while allowing just two earned runs... UAlbany will
take on Stony Brook in the first round of the America East Conference
tournament on Thursday.
Binghamton (26-20, 13-7) posted a win in its four-game
set with Vermont and clinched the program's third consecutive America East
regular season title. It's the first
time a school has won three straight AE titles since former member Delaware won
five consecutive from 1994-98... The Bearcats will carry the No. 1 seed into
the upcoming conference tournament and will host the event for the first time
in school history... Binghamton has the best winning percentage in the seven
member programs in conference play over the last six years (78-50, .609)... In
the Vermont series, the Bearcats were two outs away from gaining at least a
split before squandering a seven-run lead in the ninth inning of Game 2. The Catamounts then played their way into the
tournament with two lopsided wins on Sunday.
The series loss was the first in two seasons for Binghamton, which
opened the 2008 season by losing four games to Stony Brook but then won eight
consecutive conference series' before splitting a four-game set at Maine two
weeks ago... Freshman first baseman Dave Ciocchi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John
Jay) had an outstanding series against Vermont, hitting .538 with five
RBI. Ciocchi finished his first America
East season by hitting .455 with 27 RBI in 20 games. Ciocchi ranks fourth in the conference in
overall hitting (.373)... Junior #1 Murphy Smith (Clifton Park,
N.Y./Shenendehowa) leads the league in wins (7), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (74)
and has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of more than 6-to-1... Junior second baseman Jim
Calderone (Homer Glen, Ill./Brother Rice/Oakton CC) wound up hitting .360
against America East opponents and has hit safely in11 of his last 12 games.
In the last 18 games, Calderone is hitting .433 with 15 RBI.
He leads the league with five triples... Sophomore outfielder Corey
Taylor (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) belted three home runs against Vermont and ranks
second in the AE in home runs (14) and fourth in RBI (47).
The Hartford baseball team (15-32, 7-15) went 2-2 in its final regular season conference series against the Albany
Great Danes ... The Hawks scored a sweep in the first day of the series, and then
dropped both of Saturday’s games to the Great Danes ... On the first day of the
series, seniors Ben Sobocinski and Weston Szymanski put up quality innings
on the mound, allowing the Hawks offense to do the work ... Sobocinski pitched
the first 5.2 innings of the opening game and allowed three earned runs on
three third, while also going 1-for-3 at the plate with three RBI ... Szymanski
followed that up with pitching his first complete game of the season for an 8-6
victory ... the sidearm hurler allowed six runs, all earned, on 12 hits with
three strike outs ... His counterpart at the plate, Sobocinski, was a perfect
4-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored in the second victory of the day ...
On the final day of the season, Sobocinski wasn’t going to rest, finishing both
games a com 4-for-9 with five RBI ... For the weekend, the Waldorf, MD native hit
.563 with nine hits in 16 at bats and knocked in a total of 10 runs.
The University of Maine baseball team (32-23,
13-11) saw its season come to an end this weekend after a split
with Stony Brook... Tony Patane (New Milford, Conn./New Milford) led Maine on the
week with a .417 batting average... He drove in a team-high eight runs and had a
pair of home runs... The Black Bears set several school records during the 2009
season... Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) set a school record
for stolen bases in a game with five and stolen bases in a season of 38... He
finishes his career six stolen bases shy of the school record for career stolen
bases of 69 set by Mark Sweeney... Menendez also set a school record with 20
sacrifice bunts in 2009... Menendez finished his career playing in 121 straight
games, the longest streak on the team... Menendez recorded his 200th
career hit on Saturday at Stony Brook and finishes his career with 202... He
joins teammates Kevin McAvoy (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) and Billy Cather
(Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) who each also recorded their 200 career
hits earlier this season... Maine as a team set a school record for double plays
with 71 on the season, smashing the old record of 64 set in 2005... Cather was
the lone Black Bears to start all 55 games on the season... Jarrett Lukas (Old
Town, Maine) and Menendez along with Cather were the lone Black Bears to see
action in all 55 games... Alejandro Balsinde (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus)
led the Black Bears in appearances on the mound with 23 on the season... Cather
finished second on the team in stolen bases with 16, giving him 60 for his
career.
UMBC (9-36, 4-18) concluded its season this
past Tuesday with a 10-3 loss to Georgetown. Senior Tom Meaney (Holbrook,
N.Y./Sachem) hit a two-run home run in his final at-bat as a Retriever,
finishing the season with nine long balls and 40 RBI, both career highs...
Senior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Eastern Tech/Catonsville C.C.) led the
Retrievers with a .383 batting average and 10 home runs... Senior Brad Brainer
(Chester, Md./Kent Island/Chesapeake JC) hit .343 and
led the team with 11 stolen bases from the lead-off position.
The Seawolves (29-21, 14-10) split a four-game series with
Maine in their final conference series of the season ... the Seawolves dropped
the opening game of the series on Friday, 7-1, before rallying to win the
second game, 7-6 ... senior Chad Rebecca hit a walk-off RBI single with one out
in the ninth to give Stony Brook the victory ... senior Rob Dyer and sophomore
Nick Thode each homered in the game ... the Seawolves then defeated the Black
Bears, 17-7, in the first game on Saturday ... Dyer hit a home run in each of his
first two at-bats ... it was the third two-home run game of the season for Dyer ...
Dyer finished the regular season with a career-high 14 home runs and RBI (47) ...
senior Jonathan Kalkau hurled 4.1 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the
victory ... Kalkau allowed just two hits, struck out five and did not walk a
batter ... sophomore Stephan Marino went 2-for-3 with a career-high four RBI
including a three-run home run ... Maine rallied to win the final game of the
series, 6-5 ... Thode hit .600 (9-for-15) in the four-game set against Maine and
has a hit in 16 of the Seawolves last 17 games ... the Seawolves have hit a
combined 16 home runs in their last two conference series ... the Seawolves are
one victory from winning 30 games for the third straight season and seventh
time under head coach Matt Senk.
Vermont (22-31,
14-10) closed out the regular season winning nine of its last 10
conference games including three of four at first-place Binghamton last weekend
to finish in a tie for third place ... The Catamounts scored 50 runs in the four-game set at
Binghamton and 23 of its 53 hits went for extra-bases ... In Friday's nightcap,
UVM trailed 8-1 in the ninth before scoring 10 times, seven with two outs, for
an improbable 11-8 win ... Matt Duffy
(Milton, Mass./St. Sebastian's) capped the comeback with a two-out three-run
homer, his 13th of the season to tie the school's single-season record. He also
has tied the UVM record with 52 RBI with 31 coming in league games ... Ethan Paquette (West Burke, Vt./St.
Johnsbury Academy) drove in nine runs in Saturday's twinbill with homers in
both games. He hit .500 and had 13 RBI in six games last week ... Joe Serafin (Tariffville,
Conn./Simsbury) hurled a complete-game 16-5 win in Saturday's opener for his
21st career victory to tie the Vermont program record. He also is now first
all-time with 259 career strikeouts ... One of the most improved pitchers in
the America East, Keith Rakus (West
Suffield, Conn./Suffield Academy) topped Binghamton Saturday to improve to 7-3
overall and 6-0 in conference play this season
... Mark Micowski (Haddam,
Conn./Xavier) also set a new UVM single-season record with 74 hits ... Justin
Milo (Edina, Minn./Edina/Cornell) drove in seven runs vs. Binghamton and
has 32 RBI in 30 games ... Vermont is
making its 12th appearance in the America East Baseball Championship and its
fourth in the last five years. The Catamounts will be bidding for their first
title.