While the pros are just now getting into the swing of things, Gotham's College ballplayers are getting into mid-season form, as jut about everyone is getting into their conference play - and rivalries.
This week's action was a true "Beast of the Week" emerge out on Long Island, and a team out in New Jersey win every day it played...
Beast of the Week: Anthony Sarno (Hofstra) - Sarno was the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week after the slugging outfielder/designated hitter went 11-for-21 with 15 RBI in five games for Hofstra, including a pair of five RBI games. Sarno had four home runs on the week, which leads the Pride offense. The outburst raised Sarno’s numbers on the year to .323, with four home runs (all last week) and 18 RBI (second on the team, and 15 last week.)
Pitcher of the Week: Corey Young (Seton Hall) - Young tossed a complete game two-hitter against Big East rival Pittsburgh, propelling the Pirates to a 3-0 win and a sweep of their three game set.
Freshman of the Week: Kevin McKague (Army) - Kevin McKague showed why he is one of the reasons that Joe Sottolano is so high on his team’s freshman class. The first baseman/pitcher went 10-for-20 with eight RBI, during the Cadets 19-8 win over Columbia and split with Holy Cross. He also threw a perfect inning in relief, striking out all three Lions batters that he faced.
Team of the Week: Monmouth - The region’s busiest team was its best, as the Hawks finally got a chance to get to play every day, and all they did was win. After non-conference wins over Princeton and Rutgers, the Hawks manhandled Sacred Heart, three three shutouts (12-0, 12-0, 17-0) and winning the series finale in 11 innings.
The Hawks ran their win streak to 10 games.
Opening with an 11-8 win over Princeton, the Hawks then defeated
Rutgers, 6-5, before heading into Northeast Conference play. Three
straight shutouts, and a 5-4 11 inning victory got the Hawks headed to
the top of the NEC, with a sweep of struggling Sacred Heart.
Shutouts by Ryan Buch and Matt Marc Auerele, and a combination shutout
by Brad Brach and Andy McDonnell were part of 24+ inning scoreless
streak against the Pioneers. The entire lineup feasted on Sacred
Heart’s pitching staff, 47 runs in four games.
Kyle Higgins (14-for-28, 10 runs scored, 6 RBI), Nick Pulsonetti
(8-for-26, 9 RBI) and Andy Meyers (9-for-25, 8 RBI) led the attack.
Division I Recap Presented By
Army (3-2, 18, 3-5 Patriot League) - Army’s pitching snapped back into place this weekend, as they split with Holy Cross, and had three straight outstanding efforts on the mound. Matt Fouch earned the Cadets the split with seven innings of two-hit ball, allowing the Crusaders just one run. His effort followed a heart-breaking 2-1 loss in the opener of Sunday’s doubleheader, with Drew Clothier picking up the hard-luck loss.
In the opening doubleheader, Ben Koenigsfeld and Kirk Porter combined for the shutout, as the freshmen limited Holy Cross to six hits. In the opener, ace Cole White, recovering from a shoulder injury, continued to struggle, picking up the loss in a 9-0 decision.
In the opening game of the week, the Black Knights bats came alive, as Kevin McKague had four hits and three RBI, and pitched a perfect inning of relief, in a 19-8 victory. Clint Moore, Andy Ernesto and White each had three hits and combined for eight RBI.
Columbia (3-2, 10-17, 6-2 Ivy) - After Tuesday’s 19-8 loss to Army, no one thought a wrap-up of Columbia’s week would have good things to say about the Lions pitching. But in sweeping Harvard (2-0, 10-2) and winning the first game of their doubleheader with Dartmouth, the Lions pitching staff came up big when challenged.
Joe Scarlatta started the streak, with a two-hit shutout over the Crimson, in a 7-inning game. Geoff Whittaker followed that up with an effort that saw Harvard’s bats shut down for the second time, allowing two runs in six innings in picking up the win in a 10-2 victory.
Against Dartmouth, Jon Bauman bounced backed from his start against Army with a complete game, five hitter, winning 7-1. Despite the loss in the nightcap, 9-3, the Lions sit atop the Gerhig Division with a 6-2 record.
Fairfield (3-2, 8-18, 6-3 MAAC) - The Stags best week of the season. After dropping a 13-inning 10-9 decision to Fordham, and a 13-4 loss to Connecticut, the week took a sharp turn for the good, as they swept MAAC foe St. Peter’s in a three game set in Jersey City.
Peter Allen’s walk in the 11th won the series opener, as Dan Ubanovich picked up his third victory of the season,with two scoreless innings of relief. After a 10-2 victory in game two, the Stags swept the series, taking advantage of an unearned run early in the game, and a complete gem by Doug Cialella (five hits allowed, one run) to move go 6-3 in the conference.
Fairleigh Dickinson (1-3, 5-20, 1-2 NEC) - A tough 1-0 loss in 11 innings was the high point of the FDU week, as the Knights dropped a non-league game to Seton Hall and two of the three to NEC rival Mount St. Mary’s.
The Knights wasted a stellar pitching effort from Nicholas Melchiorre, as the sophomore was perfect through four innings, and limited Mount St. Mary’s to two hits in seven innings, fanning five.
Fordham (2-3, 15-13, 3-6 A10) - A pair losses in Philadelphia to Atlantic-10 rival St. Joseph’s capped a 2-3 week for the Rams, that saw them drop into the bottom half of the A-10 standings. Ace Tom Davis rounded back into form, limiting the Hawks to one run and seven hits in eight innings, but that was the lone high spot of the week. A 10-9 victory over Fairfield took 13 innings, while Fordham also lost to independent NY Tech on the road on April Fool’s Day, something they did not find funny.
Hofstra (3-2, 11-21, 1-14 Colonial) - A good week for The Pride, led by the performance of reliever Brady Fontaine and designated hitter Anthony Sarno saw the Pride post a 3-2 record, winning a pair of non-conference tilts, and picking up their first CAA win of the season.
Fontaine, a reliever, appeared twice, picking up the win with four innings of two run relief against Stony Brook, He also went 7 innings of relief against Delaware, in an 8-6 loss, coming in during the first inning, allowing just six hits and one run, keeping Hofstra in the game.
Offensively, Sarno was on fire all week, starting with the Pride’s 9-2 win over St. Peters, as he supported Ryan Radke’s eight innings of four hit pitching with a pair of hits and two RBI. In the 8-4 win over Stony Brook, he again had two hits, and five rbi on the day. In Rob Kumbatovic’s 10-1 victory over Delaware, Sarno once again swung the big stick, with four hits, including three home runs, and five RBI on the day.
Iona (0-4, 1-23, 1-8 MAAC) - Even four RBI by first baseman Chris Griffen was enough for the Gaels to stop their losing ways, as Sacred Heart defeated Iona, 14-10, in a non-conference match-up of two struggling teams on Wednesday. The rest of the week saw the Gaels losing streak hit 10, as they were swept by Marist in conference play.
Long Island University (0-5, 8-17, 0-4 NEC) - A severe reversal of fortunes for the Blackbirds, who, after being rained out of weekend series with IUPU-Fort Wayne, lost all five games they played this week, including a four-game set with Wagner. LIU opened the week with a 17-11 loss to St. Peter’s, and then the offense went cold, being held to just seven runs in four games by Wagner.
Manhattan (2-1, 11-12-1, 3-2 MAAC) - Weather limited the Jaspers to just three games on the week, two within the MAAC. After a 15-0 win, at Wagner, the Jaspers split the first two games with Siena, in Riverdale.
Siena drew first blood in the series between the MAAC favorites, winning a wild 16-10 game with eight runs over the final three innings. The nightcap went to the Jaspers, 10-3, in seven innings.
Brian Pendergast limited the Saints to just three hits and three runs, two earned, in picking up the complete game victory.
Marist (4-0, 10-12, 5-4 MAAC) - A perfect week for the Red Foxes, who defeated NY Tech, 6-5, as a prelude to a three-game sweep of Iona in MAAC play over the weekend. Josh Rickards improved to 2-3 in the opener, allowing the Gaels just five hits and one run in pitching a complete game.
Saturday’s doubleheader saw the Red Foxes win the opener, 2-1, in seven innings, as BJ Martin and Sean McKeown combined for the win. Richard Curylo’s RBI single in the fourth proved to be the difference. The nightcap saw Ricky Pacione’s RBI triple in the top of the ninth give the Red Foxes a sweep of the doubleheader and the series.
New Jersey Tech (0-3, 2-22) - The miseries of an upgraded schedule continue to hit NJ Tech, as they struggled through a trip to Maine that saw them outscored 45-5 in a three game set, a pair of losses to Maine (15-3, 19-0) and a loss to fellow independent, NY Tech (11-2). The Highlanders have given up 304 runs in 24 games, while scoring only 100. Like the counterparts in men’s basketball, the welcome to Division I has not been smooth.
New York Tech (2-2-1, 7-10-1 Independent) - They say pitching is key, and the Bears proved it this week, going 1-2 in three nailbiters, before opening up offensively on NJ Tech, in an 11-2 victory. Denton Neill’s home run in the bottom of ninth gave the Bears a 6-5 win over Fordham to open the week. Two one-run losses followed, as NY Tech dropped a 5-4 decision to St. John’s and 6-5 contest to Marist. Preston Wasmund then lost five shutout innings to the weather, as rain postponed the Bears contest with Maine after five innings, with no score for either team.
Princeton (2-3, 12-14, 4-4 Ivy) - An up-and-down week for the Tigers, as they split doubleheaders with Yale (3-2 loss, 8-5 win) and Brown (2-1 loss, 14-11 win) and lost to Monmouth in a cross-state game early in the week. David Hale fell to 2-2 with the loss to Brown, despite limiting the Bears to only two unearned runs in six innings.
Quinnipiac (0-5, 5-15, 0-4 NEC) - The Bobcats continue to struggle through a down season, losing all five games during the week. After a 19-13 loss to cross-state rival Yale, Quinnipiac lost four close games to Central Connecticut State, 3-2 in 11 innings, 5-2, 5-3 and 6-1
Rider (2-3, 13-13, 4-5 MAAC) - The Broncs lost two of three to Canisius in conference play over the weekend, earning a 7-6 win in the opener, before dropping 6-3 and 9-7 decisions. The week started with a loss to Seton Hall, 12-3, and a win over Temple, 14-8.
Rutgers (0-4, 8-18, 2-7 Big East) - A rough week for the Scarlet Knights, who coming into the season were short on pitching, traveled to Notre Dame without two of their original three conference starters in the rotation. Without Casey Gaynor and Steve Holt, the Fightin Irish were able to hand Rutgers three straight defeats, running the Scarlet Knights losing streak to five games. Replacement starters Kyle Bradley (0-1, 4 IP, 5R, 4ER) and Ryan Beard (0-3, 2.1, 7ER) picked up the losses in their first Big East starts of the season.
Sacred Heart (1-4, 2-23, 0-4 NEC) - In a battle of teams struggling through tough seasons, the Pioneers won a 14-10 decision over Iona, before dropping four games by a 46-4 combined score to Monmouth.
Saint Peter’s (1-4, 12-14, 4-5 MAAC) - Swept by Fairfield in MAAC play, the Peacocks were able to split a pair of non-conference games, losing to Hofstra 9-2, and defeating Long Island, 17-11, in a wild mid-week game. The game was extremely sloppy, as the victorious Peacocks made seven errors, LIU four.
Seton Hall (5-0, 18-12, 8-4 in Big East) - The Pirates are Young, in more ways than one. Corey Young, the Pirates top returning pitcher threw a two-hit, 10-strikeout complete game shutout in Saturday’s Big East victory over Pittsburgh, a win that not only propelled them to a series sweep, but pushed the Pirates near the top of the Big East, greatly improving their chances for the post-season.
Wins over Garden State rivals Rider (12-3) and FDU (9-4) midweek helped the Pirates hit their high-water mark, six games over .500 for the season.
In the opener against Pitt, Joe DiRocco tossed six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and five walks, with Sean Black and Matt Singer tossing three scoreless innings of relief, as the Hall shut out the Panthers, 1-0, with Matt Smedberg picking up the only RBI of the game.
Stony Brook (4-1, 14-11, 4-0 America East) - A fruitful week for the Seawolves started on rough seas, a loss to Hofstra, 8-4, midweek, and a wild opening game to their America East schedule against Binghamton.
The Seawolves used a four-run rally in the bottom of the eighth to reclaim the lead in a wild 11-9 game against Binghamton that saw Stony Brook blow a 7-1 lead after seven innings, allowing 8 runs in the bottom of the eighth. After Rob Dyers tied the game with a two-run homer, the Seawolves took the lead on Chad Marshall’s third hit of the day, a run-scoring single.
The excitement continued in the second game of the doubleheader, as Stony Brook rallied for two runs on back-to-back homers from Jeremy Nowak and Nick Thode, for a 5-4 victory. Gary Novakowski picked up his third win of the year, while Nowak picked up his fifth save.
Sunday’s opener was another one-run affair as seven run third inning gave the Seawolves all the scoring they would need in a 7-6 victory. Mike Errigo, the America East Pitcher of the Week, earned his hardware, going 8.1 innings, allowing two runs, in a 5-2 win to sweep the series.
Nowak, the America East Player of the Week, hit .588 for the week, with four doubles, a home run, and eight RBI, plus three saves on the mound, giving him six for the season.
St. John’s (3-1, 22-6, 7-2 Big East ) - A successful trip to Louisville has St. John’s near the top the Big East, as the Red Storm defeated highly regarded Louisville in the first two games of their three-game Big East set. After a 5-4 win over NY Tech to start the week, the Red Storm opened with a 13-4 win, as Scott Barned picked up the win. Saturday’s 6-3 victory saw closer Colin Lynch pick up his eighth save of the season.
The Cardinals were able to salvage a 10-3 victory in the finale, but despite the loss in Sunday’s game, the Red Storm remained #22 in Collegiate Baseball’s latest poll.
Wagner (4-1, 11-12, 4-0 NEC ) - After a slow start to the week with a 15-0 loss to Manhattan, the Seahawks swept Long Island in Northeastern play. Joe Jamison drove in four to lead the Seahawks and ace Joe Testa to an easy 16-5 win.
Two shutouts, a combined three hitter by Kyle Morrison and Andrew Huebner, gave Wagner a 3-0 victory in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader. Sunday’s twin bill saw
Matt Watson team with Huebner for a 2-0 victory, in the opener, and three pitchers combined to limit LIU to four hits in a 4-2 victory.
New Jersey Athletic Conference Update Presented By
Kean (3-1, 21-6, 6-2 NJAC) - Last week's "Beast of the Week" Derek Gianakas continued to tear the cover off the ball, as Kean went through another perfect week. The senior outfielder went 9-for-16 with a pair of doubles, three home runs and seven RBI in a 3-1 week for the Cougars. Splitting a doubleheader with Richard Stockton over the weekend, the Cougars also won a pair of NJAC games earlier in the week, defeating William Paterson, 12-8, and New Jersey City, 4-1.
Montclair State (2-2, 10-9, 4-2) - The Red Hawks continue to tread water, as another 2-2 week keeps MSU near the .500 mark. After defeating Eastern Connecticut (7-6) to start the week on Monday, the Red Hawks were upended by Rutgers-Newark on Thursday, 9-3, and split a doubleheader with Ramapo on Sunday, taking the opener, 15-9, but losing the nightcap, 4-1.
Catcher Jeff Miller was 8-for-13, driving in seven runs, and getting hits in all four games.
New Jersey City (1-4, 9-17,1-6) - A rough week for the Gothic Knights, who defeated John Jay,15-3, to start the week. After a 12-10 loss to Manhattanville, the NJCU went 0-3 in the conference losing to Kean 4-1, and TCNJ 21-0, 20-0.
Ramapo (2-2, 12-11, 1-5) - The Roadrunners split with Montclair State over the weekend in NJAC play, and lost a 4-3 decision to Rowan earlier in the week. A 26-2 win over CCNY in non-conference play rounded out the week.
Rutgers-Newark (3-0, 11-12, 4-4) - Gerard Russomano’s double in the top of the 17th inning propelled Rutgers-Newark to a 8-6 victory, and a sweep of their doubleheader on Saturday, finishing a perfect week for the Raiders. Matt Connors continued his hot hitting, going 8-for-15 for the week, driving in three.
The College of New Jersey (4-0, 19-3, 6-1 NJAC) - A perfect week for the Lions, who exhausted scoreboard operators with their offensive output. After a pair of non-conference wins over Albright (7-5) and Moravian (7-0), the Lions wore out New Jersey City, 21-0, 20-0 on Saturday. Bob Buskett and Mike Oliver each picked up their fourth wins, with Oliver tossing a complete game, and Buskett going eight scoreless.
If the offensive trio of Bill Kropp (7-for-16, 7 RBI), Rich Gawlack (7-for-15, six runs) and Vince Mazzacaro (10-for-18, 6RBI, 6 runs) were not enough, NJAC freshman of the week Matt Giermanski went 4-for-9, with a home run and seven RBI in some rare playing time.
William Paterson (2-2, 15-8, 5-2 NJAC) - Despite the efforts of shortstop Dan Limone, the Pioneers split the week, picking up a win over Staten Island, 10-8, splitting a doubleheader with Rowan (0-5, 12-5) and losing a single game to Kean.
Limone batted .643 last week with five runs scored, six RBI, and five stolen bases. He was 3-for-3 with a RBI, two runs and two stolen bases in a 10-8 win against Staten Island April 2, followed by a 2-for-3 performance with three RBI, a double and a steal in a 12-8 loss at Kean. Limone finished the week with a 3-for-5 performance at Rowan April 5, adding three runs, two RBI and two steals in a 12-5 win
