CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- A trio of baseball players have been honored Monday by the league office for the week ending March 21. Stony Brook's Michael Stephan (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue) and Nick Tropeano (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) were named player and pitcher of the week, respectively, while University at Albany freshman second baseman Brian Bullard (West Nyack, N.Y./St. Joseph) claimed rookie of the week honors.
Stephan, a designated hitter, finished the five-game week with a .529 batting average, .636 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of 1.059. He scored six runs, batted in four more and drew three walks, while hitting three doubles and two home runs. Stephan went 2-for-3 with two doulbes and a run scored in the loss to Seton Hall on Tuesday. He then went 3-for-4, including two homers, in a win over Iona on Wednesday. He drove in four runs in that game in addition to scoring three runs. Stephan collected tow more hits against Central Connecticut on Friday.
Tropeano tossed a six-hitter, striking out a career-best 13 batters, to lead the Seawolves to a 3-2 win over Iona on Saturday. It was part of a 3-2 week for Stony Brook. Tropeano allowed just one earned run and did not walk a batter to finish with a 1.00 ERA. Only one of the six hits the sophomore righty allowed was for extra-bases.
Bullard led the Great Danes last week, batting .632 in five games played, starting all five games. He recorded 12 hits in 19 at bats, scored seven runs, drove in nine more, and finished with a .619 on-base percentage and a 1.053 slugging percentage. Bullard also tallied two doubles and two home runs on the week. His best performance of the week came on Saturday at St. John’s, as he recorded four hits, including a double and a homer, scoring two runs and driving in five additional runs for the Great Danes. He also tallied two hits, one being a double, scored two runs and recorded two RBI in Albany’s win over the Red Storm.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (1-12, 0-0 AE) made up games with NY Tech after missing last weekend’s series, added in a single game against Central Connecticut and played a three-game series with St. John’s… The Great Danes earned their first win of the season on Friday with a 9-6 win over the Red Storm… Freshman Brian Bullard (West Nyack, N.Y./St. Joseph) led the team, batting .632 with 12 hits and nine RBI… In five starts at second base, Bullard hit two doubles and two homers, scoring seven runs… Freshman Jeff Welsh (West Haverstraw, N.Y./North Rockland) hit .368 in five games played, with seven hits and two RBI… Senior Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) batted .304, starting all six games played last week… The centerfielder recorded seven hits, including one double, one triple and one home run, while also going 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts and drawing two walks… Junior righty Dave Kubiak (Southold, N.Y./Southold) earned the win on the mound against St. John’s… He struck out six opposing batters in 6.1 innings of work while allowing just two earned runs… Freshman Kevin Bartlett (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) earned the save in the game… He recorded a 1.69 ERA in two appearances last week, allowing just one earned run and striking out three in 5.1 innings of work… The Great Danes will host Marist in their home opener on Tuesday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m., before embarking on a trip to California, where they will play a four-game series at Loyola Marymount over the weekend.
Binghamton (4-9, 0-0 AE) split six games during the week, dividing a doubleheader with Cornell before back-to-back splits at Lehigh over the weekend… Senior second baseman Jim Calderone (Home Glen, Ill./Brother Rice/Oakton CC) hit a team-high .476 in the six games with an on-base percentage of .577… Sophomore first baseman Dave Ciocchi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) hit .440 with five RBI, including his first home run of the season. Ciocchi belted a three-run home run against Lehigh and is hitting a team-best .400… Senior outfielder Joe Charron (Schaghticoke, N.Y./La Salle Institute) and junior outfielder Corey Taylor (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) also drove in five runs apiece… Junior lefty James Giulietti (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview-JFK) had two strong starts, striking out nine at Lehigh in seven innings after blanking Cornell on two hits. Giulietti lowered his season ERA to 1.54 after first four starts and has 21 strikeouts in 23.1 innings. … Sophomore reliever Alex Adami (Thornwood, N.Y./Iona Prep) earned a win and a save during the week after striking out three in 3.1 innings of work… Freshman starter Jay Lynch (Exton, Pa./East West Chester) made two appearances – one start and one in relief. Lynch struck out the final batter with the bases loaded in the fourth inning to halt a Cornell rally. He then pitched an eight-inning gem at Lehigh, allowing three hits and no runs for his first collegiate win. Lynch struck out five, walked none and retired the side in five of eight innings… The Bearcats leave for a seven-game trip to the state of Louisiana where they will face defending NCAA champion LSU on March 31. Before that, Binghamton plays Centenary in a three-game set this weekend.
Hartford (3-6, 0-0 AE) went 1-4 over the second week of play, dropping the finale of its trip to Florida in a 12-8 loss to Akron, and falling in three of four games over the weekend against Yale … Andrew Siano’s three-run triple in the bottom of the tenth inning helped the Hawks complete an 8-7 come-from-behind win on Friday in the first game of a doubleheader for their only win of the week … Siano’s hit capped a five-run bottom of the tenth which followed a four-run top of the tenth for Yale ... Chris Greiner turned in the pitching performance of the week when he went seven innings, giving up just three runs in Friday’s victory … Mike Thatcher improved his record to 2-0 with the victory in relief … The game was the home opener for the Hawks … Hartford dropped its next three to Yale, including a doubleheader on Saturday in which it picked up just five total hits … The Hawks will now play eight games in the next eight days, six of which will be at home … Hartford opens that stretch with trips to Boston College on Tuesday and UMass on Wednesday before hosting Fairfield on Thursday, Sacred Heart for a doubleheader on Friday, Harvard for a doubleheader on Sunday and then UConn for one game next Monday.
The University of Maine baseball team (7-12, 0-0 AE)dropped four games at #18 Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon over the weekend… Maine dropped a close 2-1 decision to the Beavers on Sunday afternoon… Junior pitcher Matt Jebb (Toronto, Ontario/St. Michael’s College) pitched a complete game in which he allowed just two runs on eight hits while striking out four… It was the first complete game for the Black Bears this season… Rookie second baseman Michael Fransoso (Portsmouth, N.H./Portsmouth) continues to play well… He had a triple and a home run last weekend at Oregon State… Maine allowed just two runs to Oregon State on Sunday afternoon… It was the fewest runs that Maine has allowed in a game this season… Rookie pitcher Jeffrey Gibbs (Toronto, Ontario/Birchmount Park) struck out nine Oregon State batters in 6.2 innings on Saturday… Gibbs leads Maine with 31 strikeouts on the season… Maine returns home to host Lehigh for a four-game series at Mahaney Diamond in Orono this weekend… The two teams will play a single game on Friday starting at 4, a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 and a single game Sunday at 1.
UMBC (3-8, 0-0 AE) went 3-2 on the week, earning their first three victories of the season against Long Island, NJIT and North Dakota State… The Retrievers then faced off against two Big Ten opponents, falling to Indiana (11-5) and Northwestern (9-5) on Friday and Saturday, respectively… Sophomore Curtis Schickner (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep) led the Retrievers in hitting (.476), hits (10), runs (5) and doubles (3) over the five games and had a hit in each game, recorded three multi-hit games and had two three-hit days… Schickner leads the team in batting overall with an average of .467 and an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) of 1.095… Juniors Rich Conlon (Vienna, Va./James Madison) and Bryan Russo (Westbury, N.Y./Clarke) each lead the team with two home runs and 10 RBI… This week the Retrievers have five games against local rivals, including Tuesday at Towson, Wednesday at Maryland and a three-game series against Navy, that starts Friday at UMBC.
The Seawolves went 3-2 on the week and have won three of their last four… Stony Brook defeated Iona, 22-11, in its home opener on Wednesday at University Field… after falling behind 7-0 after an inning and a half, the Seawolves exploded for 10 runs in the second and seven third… Stony Brook hit nine home runs in the game… seniors Rob Dyer and Michael Stephan as well junior Chad Marshall hit two home runs… Dyer drove in six runs in the game and hit two home runs in the 10 run second… it was the Seawolves most runs since scoring 22 in a 22-7 win over Wagner on April 11, 2006 … SBU played its final three of the week at the Seton Hall Strike Out Cancer Tournament… the Seawolves dropped the first game of the tournament, 4-3, to Central Connecticut … but then beat Iona, 3-2, on Saturday… sophomore Nick Tropeano tossed a six-hitter… the right hander allowed just one earned and struck out 13… he did not walk a batter… freshman Adam Brown then led the Seawolves to a 4-2 win over Seton Hall on Sunday in the final game of the tournament… Brown also hurled a six-hitter… he allowed just one earned run on his way to his first collegiate win.