America East Baseball News & Notes

Read Time:3 Minute, 58 Second

America East Baseball News & Notes

We are heading down the home stretch of the regular season in America East. The schedule for this weekend goes this way. Hartford (7-5) is at Binghamton (5-6), Maine (6-5) is at UAlbany (7-8), and Stony Brook (11-4) is at UMBC (5-10). UMass Lowell has the weekend off from conference play but they will host Fordham over the weekend. With less than a month left in the season, the conference is separated by six games from the top, which is Stony Brook, to the bottom where Maryland-Baltimore County resides.

Last weekend saw the Seawolves take two of three from Albany with both the River Hawks and Maryland-Baltimore County doing the same vs Binghamton and Hartford. The battle for the last spot in the tournament is a tight one. A game is all that separates the River Hawks and UMBC with UMass Lowell having the advantage. The two teams will meet before the season comes to an end in Maryland.

The America East Player of the Week is freshman catcher Ciaran Devenney of the River Hawks. In last weekend series vs the Bearcats, Devenney had a very productive weekend. In last Friday’s doubleheader, a River Hawks sweep, he was forced at the plate. He went 5-for-5 with three home runs and seven runs batted in. For the entire weekend, the freshman backstop was 5-for-9. His five home runs on the year place him sixth in the home run chase. He is also fifth in slugging percentage at .566. For Devenney, it’s his first career award.

The Pitcher of the Week also threw the league’s first no-hitter of the season. Nick Silva of the Maine Black Bears wins this award for the third time this season, and for the sixth time in his career. The senior from Miami, Florida threw a seven-inning no-hitter in a non-conference matchup vs the UMass Minutemen. It was the first game of a scheduled twin-bill between the two schools. Silva would strike out two hitters, walk two, allow twelve fly ball outs, and get seven ground ball outs. He did allow five base runners on base on balls, an error, one hit batter, and a fielder’s choice. The Minutemen did score a run off Silva without the benefit of a hit. A walk to Ryan Lever, who then stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, scored him on a fielder’s choice. The no-hitter was the first for the Black Bears program since April 21, 2018, when John Arel tossed a six-inning no no vs the River Hawks in a game Lowell would win 1-0.

As for last Friday’s game, Maine was trailing one to nothing heading to the bottom of the seventh. The Black Bears would load the bases and send pinch-hitter Ryan Turenne to the plate. All he would do is hit a pinch-hit walk-off grand slam home run to give his team a 4-1 victory. For Ryan, it was his first career home run.

The Rookie of the Week is freshman LHP Tomas Babalis of Binghamton. In last Sunday’s finale at Lowell, Babalis was called upon to give his team a much-needed lift and a chance to get one game in the three-game weekend set. He would come through by pitching seven innings of three-hit one-run baseball. He did allow one walk and struck out six in getting his third win of the season. The only run given up was a solo home run to Oscar Marchena of the River Hawks. Coming into that outing, Babalis had only thrown 24 innings this season. He leads the conference in losses with just one, and in sac bunts with one. This is his first career award.

River Hawks shortstop, Oscar Marchena, leads the team in batting average at .328, in hits with 44, in runs batted in with 28, and in triples with two. All of this while playing above average SS for the team. The batting average has him tied for ninth in the batting race.

One reason for Stony Brook being in first place for most of the year could be the bat of Michael Wilson. He leads in slugging percentage at .667, also in RBI’s with 36. Wilson is fifth in home runs with five.

Depth is key to any pitching staff. Binghamton may have that depth. Chase Borowitz is first in hits allowed with just four, and in runs allowed with only two, doubles allowed with one, earned runs allowed with one, and one of the four hits given up was a home run. The only one he has given up.