? Albany won its first America East Baseball Championship with a 1-0 win over Binghamton in one of the best pitchers’ duels in conference tournament history. Cory Warrings, who pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings in the title game, was named the Most Outstanding Player. The Great Danes had advanced through the winner’s bracket, thanks to a two-out, five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning to shock the top-seeded Bearcats, 8-7, in the tournament’s first meeting between the two teams.
? Albany advanced to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship for the first time where the Great Danes dropped games to #15 Arkansas and #25 Creighton.
? America East Player of the Year Brendon Hitchcock, of Binghamton, was named to the ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-America third team.
? Binghamton’s Henry Dunn, Maine’s Myckie Lugbauer and Stony Brook’s Michael Stephan were named 2007 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-Americans as chosen by Collegiate Baseball.
? Stony Brook retired Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan’s (Class of ?97) number 22.
? Maine’s Brad Hertzler (15th round, Oakland) and Albany’s Tom Hill (24th round, Kansas City) were both selected in Major League Baseball’s 2007 First-Year Player Draft.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOK
Albany Great Danes
UAlbany (29-29, 13-11 America East) wrapped up the 2007 season at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional at the University of Arkansas... The Great Danes dropped a 9-0 decision to the host Razorbacks on the first day of play, and fell to 20th-ranked Creighton, 21-11, in the elimination round... Despite picking up his third loss of the season against Arkansas, senior right-hander John Naples (Troy, N.Y./Catholic Central) tied the single-season wins record with eight victories on the season... Senior third baseman Steve Wyland (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) wrapped up his career, earning spots on several all-time career charts... Wyland finished second all-time in games played (174), third in hits (211), fourth in runs scored (142) and at bats (607), and fifth in RBI (108) and career batting average (.347)... Senior catcher Tom Hill (Emerson, N.J./Emerson) became the fifth UAlbany player to be drafted in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, as he was chosen in the 34th round by the Kansas City Royals... Hill signed with Kansas City’s short-season “A” affiliate in Burlington, N.C... After setting a single-season record with 22 doubles as a senior, Hill finished his career at UAlbany ranked third all-time with 39 doubles and 19 home runs... Former UAlbany players Mark Suchowiecki (Hudson Valley Renegades), Justin Meagher (Texas Heat) and Shawn Ryan (Quebec Capitales) are continuing with their minor league careers... The Great Danes lost eight seniors to graduation, with six of those being starting position players and one being a starting pitcher... Wyland, Hill and Naples were joined by Al Barbatio (Utica, N.Y./Whitesboro), Leo Corvino (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia), Sean Doyle (Levittown, N.Y./Chaminade), Steve Sayre (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) and Chris Wood (Warsaw, N.Y./Warsaw Central).
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (28-19, 17-5 America East) went 2-2 at the America East tournament to finish runnerup - the program's best finish in six years of membership. Binghamton scored 29 runs in the four games but after playing back-to-back elimination games in the high heat, couldn't capitalize in the late innings of its 1-0 loss to Albany... Senior second baseman Matt Simek (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal), freshman center fielder Henry Dunn (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) and junior third baseman Ryan James (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) were selected to the all-tournament team... Simek led all hitters with a .474 average (9-for-19) and seven RBI. James hit .467 and Dunn hit .364... The Bearcats had to play the final game without No. 5 hitter Kyle Klee (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit). Klee had three hits and three RBI in the first three games of the tournament. Simek, a first-team all-star, closed out his career with a bang, jumping his season average up to .363 and ending with a 12-game hit streak. He had 46 RBI in 43 games this spring and ranked 35th in the country in doubles per game (0.4)... James ranked third in the nation in sacrifice hits (0.39) and hit .311 in his junior season... Senior first baseman Brendon Hitchcock (Laceyville, Pa./Wyalusing Valley), the AE Player of the Year, concluded his stellar career with 246 hits, 150 RBI, 48 doubles and a .360 career batting average - all tops at Binghamton. He ranked 74th in the country in toughest to strike out with just 13 Ks in 164 at-bats. Hitchcock also earned third team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors... Junior pitcher Zach Groh (Reading, Pa./The Perkiomen School) won his only tournament game to finish the season 7-1 with a 3.28 ERA. Groh, a two-time first team all-star, had 86 strikeouts (10.9/game), which ranked 18th in the nation. Opponents batted just .198 off Groh this spring... Sophomore pitcher Jeff Dennis (North Syracuse, N.Y./Liverpool) was the tough-luck loser in the final Albany game, allowing just three hits in six innings and striking out eight. Dennis lowered his ERA to a team-best 2.62, which ranked 63rd in the country... Senior Mike Van Gorder (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) pitched his final game for the Bearcats and got a no-decision in the tournament. He concluded his four-year career with a
15-5 record and 3.70 ERA (2nd best at Binghamton)... Senior shortstop and first-team all-star Justin Smucker (Bird-in-Hand, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) will depart holding career records for runs scored 154, triples (6) and games played (194)... Binghamton lowered its team ERA to a school-record 4.01, which ranks 51st in the country.
Hartford Notebook Coming Soon...
Maine Black Bears
Maine (22-31, 12-11 America East) wrapped up it season at the America East Tournament... Maine's senior class left its mark on the record books... Pitcher Greg Norton (South Portland, Maine/South Portland) broke the school record for career starts with his 50... He also tied the school record for career wins with 27... Norton finished third on the all-time innings pitched list with 298.1 and sixth on the all-time strikeouts list with 218... Joel Barrett (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) finished his career second on the all-time hits list with 283 and second on the all-time doubles list with 62... He finishes tied for fourth on the all-time RBI list with 172... Matt McGraw (Burlington, Ontario/Nelson) holds a share of school records for stolen bases in a game with three and triples in a game with two... Billy Cather (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) finished the season with a 16-game hitting streak... During that streak, he hit .426 for the Black Bears... Cather, along with teammate Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao/Peter Stuyvesant), was named to the America East All-Tournament Team... At one point during the tournament, Cather had hits in 7-of-8 at-bats... Cather also finished the season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, not committing an error in 100 chances in center field.. Maine also tied a school record for triples in a game this season with five against Monmouth on March 7... Five of Maine's 2007 opponents (Arizona State, Miami, New Orleans, Albany and Monmouth) earned NCAA Regional bids... For the second time in as many years and for the sixth time since 1999 Maine had a player named America East Rookie of the Year... This year freshman catcher Myckie Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) took home the honors.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (13-40, 4-20 America East) picked up their fourth conference win with a 7-3 decision over Stony Brook on Senior Day on Saturday, but also recorded their 40th loss, the first time in school history, in the series finale on Sunday... The Retrievers lost the series, 3-1, to the Seawolves falling on Friday, the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, and Sunday by scores of 10-6, 8-7, and 14-6... Earlier in the week the Retrievers lost a close one, 6-5, to Georgetown... Junior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) led the Retrievers on the week, batting .389 and slugging 1.076 while recording three home runs, six RBI, and three doubles... Senior Matt Buchholz (Millersville, Md./Old Mill) picked up the only win of the week for the Retrievers, pitching a complete-game victory on Senior Day against the Seawolves. Buchholz gave up just five hits and three runs in 7.0 innings of work while striking out five, amassing a 3.86 ERA... The Retrievers concluded their regular season with Sunday’s loss to Stony Brook and finish in seventh place in the America East Conference.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (31-24, 16-7 America East) dropped America East Championship games to Albany (5-2) and Maine (13-8) to close out the 2007 season... Heading into the tournament, the Seawolves went 3-1 on the week to cap their most successful America East regular season in program history. The 16 wins in America East play are a program best and the 31-22 overall record is the best since 2003... Rob Leonard (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh HS) hit five home runs, drove in 11 and slugged 1.375 to lead the Seawolves to a 3-1 week. Leonard upped his batting average to a team-best .341 and is hitting .422 with six home runs in America East play... Four year starter Chris Sipp (Wantagh, NY/MacArther HS) capped his regular season career hitting .500 with six runs scored and four driven in as the Seawolves took 3-of-4 from UMBC... Mike Stephan (Patchogue-Medford, NY/Patchogue-Medford HS) was hit by five pitches over the weekend. The redshirt freshman DH has been hit by a league best 22 pitches on the year. With his 26 walks and 22 HBP, Stephan leads the Seawolves with a .517 on-base percentage... Gary Novakowski (Prospect, Conn./Holy Cross) and Jon Kalkau (Bellmore, NY/Holy Trinity) are a combined 10-0 in conference play. Novakowski is a perfect 5-0 in league play with a 2.23 ERA. Kalkau is a perfect 5-0 with a 3.86 ERA and 26 strikeouts... Five of Stony Brook's starters are hitting over .300 in league play. Leonard, Stephan, Justin Echevarria (Uniondale, NY/Uniondale), Brian Witkowski (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) and Sipp have combined for 88 of Stony Brook's 130 runs (68 %) and have hit 12 home runs and driven in 71 versus America East squads.
Vermont Catamounts
Vermont (21-29, 10-13 America East) closed out the 2007 season... Five Vermont seniors wrapped up their careers in the Albany series, Bryan Rembisz (Clinton, Conn./Westbrook), Jim Chapman (Bourne, Mass./Kent’s Hill), Will Huntington (Montville, Conn./Montville/UConn Avery Point), Nick Gallipani (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) and Brandon Miles (Berlin, Conn./Taft). Four of the five received their degrees at UVM’s 203rd Commencement on May 20 and the fifth will finish this fall ... Rembisz, the 2007 winner of the J. Edward Donnelly Award given to UVM’s top athlete in the senior class, was one of the nation’s top two-way players this year seeing action in all 50 games on the mound and at second base. He hit a team-high .319 with 5 triples, 27 RBI and tied for the team-lead with 12 stolen bases. On the mound went 5-3 and led America East with a 2.05 ERA. In 70.1 innings, he struck out 79 and walked just 17 ... Rembisz ranked second all-time at Vermont in strikeouts (237), appearances (65) and innings pitched (246) while finishing tied for fifth all-time in triples (7) ... His 79 Ks in 2007 are the eighth-most in a single season at UVM and his 59 base hits tie for sixth ... Chapman completed his career second all-time at UVM in games played (187) and at bats (659), and ranked sixth in hits (183) ... Miles, who pitched in four of the last five games earning a win on May 19, finished third in pitching appearances with 61 ... One of the best defensive outfielders in the conference, Huntington raised his batting average to .294 as a senior after hitting .211 in 2006. He tied for the UVM lead this year in doubles (13) and stolen bases (12 in 14 tries) ... Sophomore LHP Justin Albert (Hull, Mass./Hull) finished the season with another quality start allowing five hits in 7.1 strong innings on May 19 in a game eventually won by the Catamounts, 2-1, in 10 innings. He lowered his his ERA to 2.21 overall and 1.65 in conference games, a huge improvement over his first season when he recorded a 11.69 ERA in 12 appearances ... Kyle Henry (Brattleboro, Vt./Bratteboro/Connecticut) hurled his America East-leading sixth complete game Sunday. He also led the Cats with 5 HR and 28 RBI and tied for the team-lead with 13 doubles ... Vermont returns 14 letterwinners in 2008 including LHP Joe Serafin (Tarrifville, Conn./Simsbury), a first-team America East All-Conference selection in 2006 who missed all but one game this year due to an injury.