CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University of Maine's Taylor Lewis (Montville, Conn./Montville) and Jeffrey Gibbs (Toronto, Ontario/Birchmount Park), and University of Hartford's Steve Sobocinski (Waldorf, Md./McDonough) laid claim to the America East baseball player, rookie and pitcher of the week honors, respectively, for the week ending March 28.
Lewis hit .429 for the Black Bears in four games against Lehigh. The sophomore centerfielder had a .467 on-base percentage and a .714 slugging percentage, while scoring five runs, clubbing a double and a homer, and driving in three runs. Lewis scored three runs in the series finale against the Mountain Hawks, and drove in two more for the game. He was a perfect 3-for-3 on the base paths, including two stolen bases in game one of Sunday’s doubleheader. In Saturday’s nightcap, Lewis went 3-for-4 with a run scored. In the outfield, he recorded 12 putouts, third-most on the team for the series, without an error for a 1.000 fielding percentage. Lewis leads the league in runs, hits, RBI and triples, and is third with a .389 batting average.
Sobocinski pitched a complete game shutout to give the Hawks a 2-0 victory over Sacred Heart and a clean sweep of the doubleheader against the Pioneers on Friday afternoon. The shutout was the Hawks’ first since 2008 and the first complete game of Sobocinski’s career. He struck out six Pioneers at the plate, and allowed just three hits and two walks. Sobocinski didn’t allow a hit after the third inning and struck out the side in the seventh inning to close out the Hartford victory.
Gibbs, who also won Rookie of the Week laurels to begin the season on March 1, pitched a complete seven-inning game in Maine’s 8-1 win over Lehigh. In the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, the freshman allowed just one hit in the seven innings on the mound. The lone hit of the game against him was a solo home run. Gibbs, the America East leader in strikeouts, went on to fan five batters in the winning effort.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (1-16, 0-0 AE) played a four-game series at Loyola Marymount over the weekend… The Great Danes dropped all four contests… LMU took a 4-1 decision on Friday, then posted 11-6 and 12-3 victories in Saturday’s doubleheader… The Lions defeated UAlbany, 7-4, on Sunday… Senior Brendan Rowland (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) led the Great Danes over the weekend with a .438 average… Starting all four games in centerfield, Rowland recorded seven hits, including a double, and scored three runs… He also went 2-for-3 on stolen base attempts… Kyle Crean (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) and Pete DiResta (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) both finished with .333 averages on the weekend… Crean recorded four hits, including a triple, and drove in three runs… DiResta recorded three hits in three games played… Dave Kubiak (Southold, N.Y./Southold) recorded a strong seven and a third inning appearance on the mound on Friday, striking out three opposing batters… Greg Lutton (New Haven, Vt./Mt. Abraham/Vermont) made two appearances out of the bullpen… The Great Danes will return to action on Monday, visiting Cal State Northridge, and will end their California trip with a date against Santa Clara on Wednesday.
Binghamton (6-10, 0-0 AE) took two of three games from Centenary to begin a seven-game spring break trip to Louisiana… The Bearcats swept a doubleheader for the first time this spring before dropping the final game of the series… Junior lefty James Giulietti (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview-JFK) had another outstanding start, gaining his second win with a combined shutout. Giulietti tossed seven scoreless innings, scattering eight hits, with six strikeouts and just one walk. Already leading the conference and ranked 32nd in the country in ERA, he lowered that number to 1.19. Giulietti was masterful at closing out innings, utilizing double plays to work out of jams in the first, fourth and fifth innings. He also struck out the final batter in the second, third and seventh innings with runners on base, stranding six runners in the process… The Bearcats hit .330 in the series and 10 different players drove in runs… Junior center fielder Henry Dunn (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) hit .400 (6-for-15) with four RBI in the three games. Dunn stroked a pair of doubles to boost his team-high season total to seven… Junior outfielder Corey Taylor (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) belted his fourth home run of the season and had four RBI in the three games… Junior shortstop Jeff Abrams (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) had a home run and a double in nine at-bats (.889 slugging) and drove in three runs in two games… Binghamton faces the highest-ranked and most decorated opponent in its Division I tenure when it meets defending NCAA champion and fourth-ranked LSU on Wednesday. The Tigers went 56-17 last spring en route to the program’s sixth College World Series crown. LSU returns 17 letterwinners from that team and is 20-3 this season.
Hartford (5-10, 0-0 AE) picked up two wins on the week when they swept a doubleheader from Sacred Heart thanks to complete games from Chris Greiner and Steve Sobocinski… Sobocinski, pitching game two of the doubleheader, tossed a three-hit shutout for the Hawks’ first shutout since 2008… Mike Aldrich drove in both runs in the 2-0 victory in game two, plating Andy Drexel with an RBI double in the second and launching his first career home run in the fourth … Hartford won its third game of the season on its last at bat in game one, scoring four runs in the seventh to overcome a 4-1 deficit… Drexel drove in the game-winning run with a drive to the gap in right-center, his first hit of the day after three strikeouts… Hartford dropped a slugfest to Fairfield the day before, falling 24-16… Amendola and Drexel had back-to-back home runs in that game… Amendola finished with three RBI while Aldrich drove in five… Wrapping up the week, Hartford got two solid starting pitching efforts from Mike Thatcher and Brian Rice in a doubleheader with Harvard, but could not get a win… Thatcher took a no-hitter into the fifth inning of game one before Harvard got on the board.
Maine (10-13, 0-0 AE) took three of four games from Lehigh over the weekend… It was the home opener for the Black Bears at Mahaney Diamond this season… Maine rookie pitcher Jeffrey Gibbs (Toronto, Ontario/Birchmount Park) pitched a complete game in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday… He allowed just one hit on a solo home run in the game… He struck out five batters in the game… Maine had 16 extra base hits in the four games against Lehigh, including 12 doubles… Maine had five double in each game of the doubleheader against the Mountain Hawks on Sunday… Junior Matt Howard (Weston, Mass./Weston) made his first two starts since his freshman season and responded by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI on Sunday… Recorded his first career triple on the day… Maine was a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen bases on the weekend… Taylor Lewis (Montville, Conn./Montville) leads Maine with a .389 batting average… He has a team-best 11 multi-hit games… Maine has turned 28 double plays in 23 games this season… Maine has scored 157 runs, while allowing 156… The Black Bears travel to New Jersey Institute of Technology for a four game series on April 2 and 3.
UMBC (4-12, 0-0 AE) went 1-4 last week, with its only win coming in a three-game series at Navy... Sophomore Michael Pesci (Parsippany, N.J./DePaul Catholic) hit a solo home run and sophomore Max Himmelstein (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) hit a sac fly to lead the Retrievers to a 2-1 win Saturday against the Midshipmen... Himmelstein led UMBC from the plate last week, hitting .429 and driving in four runs... Sophomore Curtis Schickner (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep) continues to lead the Retrievers with a .400 batting average on the season... Senior Ed Bach (Columbia, Md./Atholton) now has 164 career strikeouts and sits seventh on the UMBC all-time list and is fifth in innings pitched with 254.2. The Retrievers return to action this week Tuesday when they play at Mount St. Mary’s before travelling to George Mason Wednesday and Longwood for a double header Friday... Head coach John Jancuska will become the first active coach of any sport in Retriever history to be inducted into the UMBC Hall of Fame Saturday evening in Baltimore.
The Seawolves (7-10, 0-0 AE) went 2-2 on the week… The Seawolves opened the week with a come-from-behind 7-6 extra-inning win over Fordham on Tuesday… The Seawolves trailed 6-4 with a runner on first and two outs in the ninth… But SBU tied it on a run-scoring single from freshman William Carmona and a passed ball that allowed freshman Vincent Caesar to score… Sophomore Pat Cantwell then drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th with an RBI double… SBU then opened its six-game seven-day road trip to California with a 7-4 win over Pepperdine on Friday in the first contest of a three-game series… Sophomore Tyler Johnson earned the win, allowing just five hits in 8.1 innings… The Seawolves scored four runs in the first highlighted by a two-run single from senior Rob Dyer… SBU eventually led 7-0 before Pepperdine scored four runs in the ninth… It was the fourth straight win for the Seawolves… SBU’s win streak was snapped with a 3-0 loss to Pepperdine on Saturday… Sophomore Nick Tropeano allowed just three runs in his 6.2 innings of work… The Seawolves also dropped the series finale to Pepperdine on Sunday, 4-2… Freshman Adam Brown allowed two earned runs in 6.0 innings… Senior Chris Maier hurled 2.0 innings of scoreless relief… He has not allowed a run in his last three relief appearances… Junior Stephen Marino hit .500 (6-for-12) including three doubles in the three-game set against Pepperdine… He also drove in three runs.