America East Baseball News & Notes

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This will mark the second full weekend of conference games in America East. The Stony Brook Seawolves are atop the league standings with a 3-0 league record. They are one of only two teams that have an overall record above .500 at 11-8. The other team is Albany who sits at 9-8. With the weather getting better and teams being able to keep their normal routine, things should be looking up for America East teams. What else is going on you asked? Here it is.

The Player of the Week is UMass Lowell’s, Michael Young. All he did during last weekend series win at Maryland-Baltimore County, was hit .583 and slug 1.167 behind a 5-for-5 game last Saturday. It included a home run and two doubles. The series win was the first for the River Hawks this season. For Young, this was his first weekly honor. Young is now tenth in batting average at .327, eighth in slugging percentages at .491, and is fourth in strikeouts with 20.

The Pitcher of the Week is Maine’s senior RHP, Nick Silva. Against Binghamton last weekend, Silva threw eight scoreless innings to get his first win of the season. It was also the first conference win for the Black Bears. It was the pitching staff’s first shutout since May of 2017. For Silva, this was his first Pitcher of the Week award.

The Rookie of the Week is catcher Colin Casey of UMBC. He batted .462 in a two and two week for the Retrievers. In game two of last Sunday’s doubleheader vs the River Hawks, Casey drove in the game-winning run to help his team salvage a game in that series. The RBI was one of six for the week for the Retrievers catcher. It was the first career #AEBase award for Casey.

Albany’s Marc Wangenstin is second in batting average with a .357 average. He is third in slugging percentages at .571 and sixth in runs batted in with 14. He is tied for second in triples with two and in hit by pitch with two. Wangenstein is tenth in on-base percentage at 0.429.

Another hitter being hit by pitches is Binghamton’s, Alex Baratta. He too has been hit twice so far this spring and is seventh in the batting race with a .333 average.

On the pitching side of things, there is Hartford’s Alex Moconyn. He is tied for the lead in ERA, runs allowed, and earned runs allowed at zero. He has given up only one hit so far, which has him tenth in opposing batting average at .200.

Freshman, Joshua Becker of the River Hawks has already faced some pretty tough batting lineups in his first year of college ball. He is third in strikeouts with 33, seventh in batters struck out looking with seven, and does have a save to his credit. His earned run average of 3.09 is tenth in the league as is his innings pitched at 23.1. Becker has been a little on the wild side having thrown five so far this spring. That puts him at eighth in that department.

Becker’s battery mate, catcher Ciaran Devenney, is nine-for-sixteen in throwing out runners trying to steal on him. The nine caught stealing are first in the league. The sixteen attempts put him third. He is sixth in total chances with 119 and is first in catchers inference with three.