CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The first of 10 weekends of America East Conference baseball action
begins on Saturday with six teams taking the field, including the top-two teams
in the coaches' preseason poll squaring off to open the league season.
Maine (9-11) at Stony Brook (4-10)
Sat., March 16, 12 p.m. -
Tommy Lawrence (Maine) 1-2, 3.76 ERA vs.Brandon McNitt (Stony Brook) 1-1, 4.30
ERA
Sat., March 16, 3 p.m. - AJ
Bazdanes (Maine) 2-1, 3.51 ERA vs. Frankie Vanderka (Stony Brook), 1-2 2.28 ERA
Sun., March 17, 12 p.m. - TBA
(Maine) vs. Daniel Zamora (Stony Brook) 0-3, 6.16 ERA
Reigning champion Stony Brook
is off to a slow start after playing a difficult early season schedule, but has
won four of five after losing its first nine games. Frankie Vanderka is coming
off a no-hitter in his last outing and is probable to start game two of the
series.
Maine has already play 19
non-conference games, going 9-10 in the early stages. The Black Bears are first
in the conference in hitting with a .286 team batting average and first in team
ERA at 4.03. Maine has been the most active team on the basepaths, with 34
steals on 44 attempts this season.
Albany (3-7) at Hartford (0-12)
Sat. March 16, 12 p.m. -
Kasceim Graham (Albany) 2-1, 5.40 ERA vs. Kyle Gauthier (Hartford) 0-2, 6.28
ERA
Sat. March 16, 3 p.m. - Derek
Zielinski (Albany) 1-3, 6.23 ERA vs. Brian Hunter (Hartford) 0-3, 7.24 ERA
Sun., March 17, 12 p.m. - TBA
(Albany) vs. Sean Newcomb (Hartford) 0-2, 10.24 ERA
Albany enters the
weekend coming off a doubleheader sweep of NYIT at the beginning of the week.
The Great Danes are third in the conference in batting, hitting .230 as a team
and scoring 35 runs through 10 games.
Hartford is in
search of its first win of the year this weekend. Freshman Chris DelDebbio has
been impressive in his rookie campaign, batting .341 which ranks seventh in the
league.
Binghamton (8-4) at UMBC (2-5)
Sat. March 16, 3:30 p.m. -
Jake Lambert (Binghamton) 2-0, 5.40 ERA vs. Mac Gill (UMBC) 1-0, 2.19 ERA
Live Stats
Sat. March 16, 6:30 p.m. -
Jack
Rogalla (Binghamton) 2-0, 2.81 vs. Bobby Applegate (UMBC) 1-1, 3.75 ERA
Live Stats
Sun. March 17, 1 p.m. - Jay Lynch (Binghamton) 1-1, 5.02 ERA vs. TBA (UMBC)
Live Stats
Binghamton is off to
the best start in the America East with an 8-4 mark. The Bearcats are second in
the conference in both hitting (.284 team batting average) and pitching (4.73
team ERA). Binghamton also leads the conference with a .968 fielding
percentage, committing only 13 errors on the year. Binghamton also boasts the
league's leading hitter in Jake Thomas, who is batting .410 with 14 RBI
entering conference play.
UMBC has played the
fewest games of any team in the conference, entering the weekend with a 2-5
record against a difficult non-conference schedule/. The Retrievers have one of
the top starters in the conference, as Mac Gill takes the ball in game one with
a 2.19 ERA, the best in the league for starters. UMBC also has one of the best
relievers in Mike Gomez who has two saves and has struck out seven batters in
eight innings with a 1.12 ERA.