CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- With one more week remaining, this past weekend's conference series determined the field for the 2012 America East Baseball Championship on May 23-25. Stony Brook University clinched the regular season crown for the second consecutive season after the Seawolves took all three games against conference foe UMBC behind this week's Player and Rookie of the Week Steve Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y./St. Dominics). University at Albany also swept a conference series with junior righty Austin Chase (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) picking up Pitcher of the Week honors.
Goldstein led the Seawolves to a weekend series sweep of UMBC with an .818 batting percentage (9-for-11) and a 1.545 slugging mark. The rookie left fielder clubbed three doubles, a triple and a home run while scoring four runs and driving in seven.
In Saturday’s come-from-behind 6-5 win, Goldstein went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a triple. In the second game of the doubleheader, he went 3-for-4 with two runs, a career-high five RBI, a double and a three-run home run. Goldstein also stole a base. The freshman finished with a 4-for-4 effort in Sunday’s series finale, including a run, two RBI and two doubles in another one-run victory, 7-6.
Goldstein owns a .371 batting average, 27 RBI and 29 runs in 41 games this season.
Chase threw a complete, seven-inning game against Binghamton in the first half of Sunday’s doubleheader without allowing an earned run. The junior scattered five hits and did not issue a walk while striking out four. The only opposing run to cross the plate came in the top of the first inning after a fielding error, but Chase responded by completing a 1-2-3 inning in the second frame.
Chase picked up his third win of the season in the 4-1 victory, lowering his ERA to a team-best 4.22 in 70.1 innings this season, the most of any pitcher on the Albany staff. In conference games, Chase ranks third in the league with a 2.75 ERA.
Stony Brook will host next week's four-team, double-elimination tournament at Joe Nathan Field on the Long Island campus. Albany, Maine and Binghamton have all also clinched berths to the tournament field.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (20-29-1, 14-7 AE) swept Binghamton in a four-game America East Conference series over the weekend... Sophomore first baseman Josh Nethaway (Fonda, N.Y./Fonda-Fultonville) led the Great Danes, hitting .455 on the week, knocking out 10 hits, including three doubles, while recording a team-best five RBI... Freshman Gordon Madej (Santa Clara, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) hit .353 on the week, starting all five games at shortstop. Madej hit one of three home runs on the week for the Great Danes, and was 1-for-1 on stolen base attempts... Junior Austin Chase (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) threw a seven-inning complete game on Sunday, scattering five hits and allowing just one unearned run while fanning four... Senior Ryan White (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) earned two saves on the week, allowing just two hits in 3.1 innings of work... Senior Zach Kraham (Ghent, N.Y./Chatham) struck out a staff-high seven in 5.1 innings on Saturday... The Great Danes will host Hartford in the final regular-season series on Friday and Saturday.
Binghamton (19-24, 10-9 AE) dropped all four games at Albany but still secured the program’s sixth straight America East tournament berth... The Bearcats have lost six of their last seven and have slipped to fourth place in the conference standings with three games remaining... At Albany, Binghamton dropped a one-run game and a pair of tight two-run affairs, stranding 32 runners in the four-game set... Senior left fielder Dave Ciocchi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) belted two home runs and drove in six to pace the offense. Ciocchi raised his season totals to four homers and 29 RBI... Freshman first baseman Brian Ruby (Endwell, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) hit .438 with three RBI in the series. Ruby had a .471 on-base percentage and also stole three bases... Binghamton’s pitching staff, which entered the series holding conference opponents to a .257 average (3.17 ERA), was roughed up for 30 runs (7.59 ERA)... The Bearcats will look to continue a win streak against UMBC and capture some momentum heading into the conference tournament, where the 2-3-4 seeds have captured eight of the last nine titles with the only exception being the 2009 Bearcats, who won both the regular season and postseason crowns. Binghamton has won 18 straight games against the Retrievers heading into their three-game set in Baltimore on Friday and Saturday.
The Hartford baseball team (15-38, 6-15 AE) finished a three-game weekend series with the Maine Black Bears 1-2 overall, winning the final game of the set on Sunday afternoon in walk-off fashion… The Hawks opened the series with a 6-3 loss after allowing a three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning… After the Black Bears took a one-run lead in the sixth inning, the Hawks used a lead off hit to tie the game and had a runner on third with one out and were unable to convert… Senior Alex Bulger (Plainville, Conn./Plainville) led the Hawks in the first game going 3-of-3 with an RBI… In the second game, the Hawks were held to just three hits with the lone run coming in the fourth inning with sophomore Brian Hunter (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) driving in Simon Kudernatsch (Czech Republic/Prague West)… In the final game, the Hawks led through much of the game with the Black Bears managing one lead early and two ties, including one in the top of the ninth after scoring two runs… The Hawks managed the victory by using a bases loaded infield groundout to score Brian Estevez (Riveredge, N.J./St. Joseph Regional), with Hunter knocking in the game-winning run… Senior Andy Drexel (Pequea, Pa./Penn Manor) led the Hawks for the weekend, finishing with a 3-of-4 performance with five RBI in the final game of the series… The Hawks close out the 2012 schedule with a three-game series at Albany this coming weekend… Hartford and Albany will open with a doubleheader on Friday (noon) and a single contest on Saturday (1 p.m.) at Varsity Field.
The University of Maine baseball team (25-22, 11-7 AE) took two of three games at Hartford over the weekend... Maine won the first game in extra innings after a three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning from junior shortstop Michael Fransoso (Portsmouth, N.H.)... Fransoso also belted a three-run home run in the second game of the doubleheader against the Hawks on Saturday... Fransoso was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen bases on the weekend. He leads the team, having stolen 18 bases on the season... Troy Black (Mississauga, Ontario) was also 3-for-3 in stolen bases on the week. He ranks second on the team, having stolen 15 bases... Maine committed just one error in 97 chances on the weekend for a .990 fielding percentage... Sophomore Shaun Coughlin (Northford, Conn.) pitched his third complete game of the season on the weekend. He allowed just one run on three hits on Saturday in Maine’s 7-1 win over Hartford. He struck out eight batters in the game which was a season high and tied his career high... Maine has 90 doubles on the season, one more than it finished with during the 2011 season... Alex Calbick (Burnaby, British Columbia) hit .545 on the weekend with three doubles and a .818 slugging percentage... Maine hosts Boston College on Tuesday afternoon at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, home of the Double AA Portland Sea Dogs... The Black Bears then finish the 2012 regular season hosting Stony Brook for a four-game series next weekend.
After its midweek game with Towson was washed out, UMBC (10-39, 2-19 AE) dropped all three games at Stony Brook this weekend… In game one, UMBC tied the score at five in the top of the sixth on a solo home run by senior Brian Klukowicz (Clifton, N.J./St. Peter’s Prep), but the Seawolves scored one in the bottom of the seventh for the walk-off win… In the second game of the doubleheader, Stony Brook pounded out 22 hits en route to a 21-8 win… In Sunday’s finale, the teams traded the lead back and forth with UMBC claiming the upper hand in the top of the eighth 6-5 as senior Curtis Schickner (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep) came into score on a sacrifice fly by classmate Max Himmelstein (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown)… Stony Brook scored two in the bottom half though, and the Retrievers stranded the bases loaded in the ninth as the Seawolves held on… Klukowicz hit .400 (4-for-10) on the weekend with two home runs, five RBI and five runs scored. He leads the team in average (.371), home runs (9) and RBI (47) this season… The Retrievers have stolen 51 bases this season, which ranks fourth most in a single season in school history, matching the team’s output in 1988… The Retrieves finish the regular season at home with a three-game series against America East rival Binghamton… The series at the Baseball Factory Field starts with a doubleheader on Friday and finishes with the finale on Saturday.
The Seawolves (39-11, 17-3 AE) swept UMBC over the weekend, clinching the America East regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming America East tournament... Stony Brook has won 15 of 16 and 25 of 28... The Seawolves are one win from becoming just the third team in America East history with back-to-back 40 win seasons... Freshman Steven Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y.) hit .818 with seven RBI for the weekend. He went 3-for-4 with five RBI in the 21-8 win over UMBC on Saturday and then followed that up with a 4-for-4 performance in the series finale on Sunday... Junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) had eight hits in the series and now has 75 for the season. He is just six hits shy of breaking the school record for hits in a season set last season by junior Willie Carmona (Hempstead, N.Y.).