America East Baseball News & Notes

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For some schools, the conference baseball schedule began last weekend. Stony Brook and Hartford got started with the Seawolves earning a sweep over Maryland-Baltimore County. In the meantime, the Hawks took two out of three from UAlbany. Both wins came in walk-off fashion. This weekend, Umass Lowell, Maine, and Binghamton will get going.

As a team, the Seawolves (7-7) lead America East in team batting average at .279. They also lead the league in home runs with fourteen, total bases with 209, and in doubles with 28. They are also the best fielding team in the league with an 0.979 mark. They have made only two errors in 484 chances and the defense has turned five double plays with only one passed ball. The Seawolves catchers have thrown out nine of twenty-five would be base stealers (.735).

The best pitching staff is in Binghamton (7-8). They have a team ERA of 5.35 with seventy-nine earned runs allowed in 133 innings pitched. Their strikeout to walk ratio is okay with 124 punch outs to 61 base-on-balls. Binghamton is the only team in the league with a sub-six earned run average.

The UMass Lowell Riverhawks (2-16) have shown a pretty good batting eye early on this season. The top four in walks all come from this team. Ciaran Devenney leads with 15, followed by Vinnie Martin with 11. Steve Passatempo and Robert Gallagher have ten each.

Joe Grassett of Hartford leads in several pitching categories. His earned run average, runs, and earned runs allowed are at zero. However, there is one department where he has given up something and that is hits allowed at one.

The other side of that could be Maine’s, Matthew Pushard. He is at the top of the list in two areas you might not want to finish first in. He leads in wild pitches with eight and intentional walks with five.

Michael Wilson of Stony Brook is this week’s Player of the Week. Wilson went 6-for-11 in the series sweep of UMBC. He had nine runs batted in, slugged 1.091 with a double, triple, and a home run. This is Wilson’s third honor this season and fifth of his career. Wilson now leads America East in batting average at .435, slugging percentage at .870, and is tied for the lead in home runs with five. He is also second in on-base percentage at .480.

Ben Anderson, of Binghamton, is this week’s Pitcher of the Week. He threw six scoreless innings in a victory over Mercer. He allowed three hits and did not walk a single hitter. This is Anderson’s second straight Pitcher of the Week honor.

Rookie of the Week is Will Nowak of Hartford. Coming out of the Hawks bullpen, the freshman RHP earned a pair of late-game victories against the Great Danes. In two and two-thirds of relief, Nowak did not allow an earned run while striking out three.