CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- America East Player of the Week Michael Fransoso (Portsmouth, N.H./Portsmouth) and Pitcher of the Week Mike Connolly (Middleborough, Mass./Bridgewater) fueled the University of Maine to a four-game weekend sweep. Meanwhile, University of Hartford's Brady Sheetz (Eight Four, Pa./Peters Township) earns the Rookie of the Week.
Fransoso, junior shortstop, led Maine with a .471 batting average in a weekend series sweep at Norfolk State while also posting a .647 slugging percentage and a .591 on-base mark. He scored a team-high seven runs and stole four bases in five attempts in the four-game weekend. Fransoso drew five walks without striking out, slapped three doubles, and drove in a run.
Connolly played a part in two decisions over the weekend, picking up a win and a save in two relief appearances without letting up a run. He pitched 5.1 innings of relief in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader that went 11 innings and picked up the win allowing just two hits and striking out four batters. Connolly then went 2.2 innings of relief in the nightcap, allowing just two hits and earning the save.
Sheetz led the Hawks to a 3-2 week with a team-high .455 batting average with five hits in 11 at bats. The rookie, who started three games at first base, scored six runs, drove in two more, and finished the week with a perfect fielding percentage with 11 putouts and two assists with no errors.
Conference play gets underway this weekend with three conference series. Maine begins its league title defense as it heads to UMBC for a four-game set, Stony Brook and Binghamton meet up in Long Island for a three-game series, and Albany will travel for three games Saturday and Sunday against Hartford. The top four teams will qualify for the double-elimination America East Championship May 23-35 with the top seed hosting the tournament.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (6-18-1) went 1-3-1 on the week, beating UMass in the weekend finale 9-4... Starter Zach Kraham (Ghent, N.Y./Chatham) recorded the best performance on the mound, going five innings against the Minutemen, scattering just three hits while striking out six opposing batters... Senior Travis Wilson (Stillwater, N.Y./Stillwater) earned the lone win on the week after a one-inning outing against UMass on Sunday... Senior Austin Chase (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) struck out a staff-high seven batters in a start against Cornell on Tuesday, going 8.2 innings... Freshman Joey Tracy (Elmont, N.Y./St. Mary’s) led the Albany offense with a.350 average and a team-best seven hits... Sophomore Josh Nethaway (Fonda, N.Y./Fonda-Fultonville) led the team with two doubles on the week... Junior Nolan Gaige (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) recorded four hits and was a perfect 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts... Albany will continue non-conference play with a mid-week game at Hofstra on Wednesday, before kicking off the America East slate at Hartford over the weekend.
Binghamton (8-10, 0-0 AE) went 2-2 during the week, splitting doubleheaders at Bucknell and Siena. The Bearcats will finish a three-game set at Siena with a single game Monday afternoon... At Bucknell, Binghamton suffered its second-straight one-run defeat in the opener before posting a 10-4 win in the nightcap... At Siena on Sunday, the Bearcats dropped game 1 by a 6-4 count before rebounding to gain the split with a 6-3 victory... Sophomore second baseman Daniel Nevares (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico/Montverde Academy) went 6-for-11 in the four games (.545) to pace the offense... Junior catcher Mike Danaher (Apalachin, N.Y./Vestal) hit .400 and drove in five runs in his two starts... Binghamton sent 11 different pitchers to the hill in the four games with just two logging more than three innings... Sophomore Jack Rogalla (Oak Park, Ill.Oak Park River Forest) improved to 2-0 with three strong innings in Sunday’s win at Siena. Rogalla allowed just one run on one hit in his three-inning stint... Freshman starter Anthony Grillini (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) earned his first collegiate win with five solid innings at Bucknell. Grillini scattered five hits and two runs... During the week, Binghamton scored 12 runs in the sixth and seventh innings... Senior ace Mike Augliera (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) tossed three predetermined innings against Siena. Augliera entered the week leading the entire country in fewest walks (1) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (30-to-1)... Binghamton has five games this week, including a Wednesday matchup at Big Ten member Penn State and then the conference-opening three-game set at rival Stony Brook this weekend.
The Hawks (7-18, 0-0 AE) finished a five game week with a 3-2 record and scored the first series victory of the season taking two of three from NJIT over the weekend... After opening the week with an 11-6 loss at Connecticut on Tuesday afternoon, the Hawks returned home for four-straight home games, winning the first over in-state rival Fairfield 9-1 on Wednesday afternoon... The Hawks then welcomed the NJIT Highlanders for a three-game series that spanned Friday and Saturday, sweeping a Friday doubleheader (3-2 and 11-10) before dropping the series finale by a 9-6 decision... For the week, senior Simon Kudernatsch (Czech Republic/Prague West) led the Hawks starters with a .421 batting average, a team-best eight hits (19 at bats) and tied for the team high with five RBI... He also finished the week with a .632 slugging percentage with two of his eight hits going for extra bases, a double and the only home run of the week for Hartford... On the mound, reliever Freddy Andujar (Holyoke, Mass./Holyoke) led the way scoring two victories, both against NJIT... Andujar pitched in three games for a total of 4.1 innings of work and allowed two earned runs on three hits, while recording six strikeouts... The Hawks will play a single non-conference game on Tuesday at Holy Cross (5:00 p.m.) before returning to West Hartford for the America East opening series against the Albany Great Danes... The Hawks and Great Danes will open the series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and close out the weekend with a single game on Sunday, also starting at 1:00 p.m.
Maine (11-14, 0-0 AE) went 4-0 on the weekend after sweeping a series at Norfolk State... The four game winning streak is the longest for the Black Bears this season... Maine, which has played all 25 of its games this season on the road or at neutral sites, will play its home opener this week when it hosts Husson University on Wednesday afternoon... The Black Bears committed just two errors in 149 chances last week for a .987 fielding percentage... Michael Fransoso (Portsmouth, N.H.) led the Black Bear offense as he hit .471 with seven runs scored and three doubles... Sophomore Mike Connolly (Middleborough, Mass.) pitched in both games of the doubleheader on Saturday. He picked up the win in the first game in extra innings and earned the save in the second game... He did not allow a run in eight innings on the mound... Maine stole 10 bases on the week... Fransoso was 4-for-5, while Troy Black (Mississauga, Ontario) finished the week 3-for-3... Alex Calbick (Burnaby, British Columbia) belted his first home run of the season over the weekend at Norfolk State... Fran Whitten (Westborough, Mass.) had three doubles in Maine’s 16-5 win in the series opener against Norfolk State. He has seven doubles on the season, one behind Fransoso and Calbick who lead the team with eight... Maine swings into America East play next weekend when it travels to UMBC for a four-game series.
UMBC (7-16, 0-0 AE) returned from New Orleans and went 1-4 this week with four of the games being played on the road... The Retrievers won the first game of the set 7-3 at Mount St. Mary’s on Tuesday... Senior Brian Klukowicz (Clifton, N.J./St. Peter’s Prep) went 2-for-4 against the Mount and hit a three-run homerun in the fifth to break open a 2-1 game. The senior outfielder drove in four runs and scored three as well for the Retrievers... Freshmen Vince Corbi (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) and Ian Glassman (Basking Ridge, N.J./Rutgers Prep) each picked up two hits against Mount St. Mary’s as well... Returning home, UMBC fell 6-4 to George Washington on Wednesday... Over the weekend, the Retrievers lost all three games at Longwood... Klukowicz leads the team with a .442 average (23-for-52) this season with three doubles, two triple and two homeruns... Classmate Curtis Schickner (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep) is also above .300 early in the season (.302)… UMBC takes on Georgetown in Washington, D.C. before coming home to open the 2012 conference season with a four-game series with Maine on Friday and Saturday.
The Seawolves (6-18, 0-0 AE) swept a doubleheader from New York Tech on Sunday in their only games of the week... Senior right-hander Tyler Johnson (Chatsworth, Calif.) threw 5.0 shutout innings to pick up the victory in the 6-0 game one victory. It was the 26th career victory for Johnson, setting a new program record for all-time wins... Jon Lewis ‘05 previously held the record... Johnson has allowed just two earned runs in 27.0 innings this season... The Seawolves then cruised to a 10-1 victory in the second game... Senior right-hander Evan Stecko-Haley (Coral Springs, Fla.) picked up his third victory of the season with 4.0 shutout innings of relief. He did not walk a batter and struck out six... Freshman Steven Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y.) went 3-for-6 in the doubleheader... Junior William Carmona (Hempstead, N.Y.) had a hit in each end of the doubleheader and now has a 17-game hitting streak.