America East Baseball News & Notes: Albany Continues its Good Play

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With America East conference play two weeks away, one team is starting to distance itself from the rest of the league. The Albany Great Danes (8-3) have rebounded from a tough start to win eight in a row. They were not the only team that played well last weekend. UMBC and UMass Lowell also had good weekends, as teams gear up for league play. Let’s look back at how last week went.

Albany went a perfect 4-0 including wins over Fairleigh Dickinson and Iona. As another round of non-conference games gets underway, the Great Danes find themselves at the top in three departments that are critical to any baseball team. They are the number one hitting team with a .292 average, they lead the league in home runs with 13, and they have the top pitching staff with a 4.41 ERA. They are the only team in the early going to have an under-five earned run average. They are the best fielding team in the league with a .976 fielding percentage with 10 errors in 416 chances. Albany began their year at #16 Georgia, where they had a good shot to win two of those three games but lost all three. The Great Danes have since caught fire and are playing very good baseball.

The team right behind them in the overall stats is UMBC (5-6). They have won four in a row and lead the Baseball B division at the moment. After taking a mid-week game from Georgetown, the Retrievers then swept a weekend series from Niagara. On Friday night, they got six strong innings from Luke Johnson who left the game with the score tied. Colton Bare came out of the pen to get the win behind three innings of two-hit one unearned run pitching. A three-run seventh proved to be the difference as UMBC got timely hits from Ian Diaz who drove in one run, and a two-run hit from Logan Doran. On Saturday, Joe Pucek went six, then Owen Hamilton went the final inning for his first save of the year. Connor Kelly went deep for the first time this season, and the Retrievers took game two. Later that day, the two teams played game two of their doubleheader. UMBC took advantage of two three-run innings (4th and 7th) to get the DH sweep. Then on Sunday, UMBC completed the weekend by winning 10-4 behind another six-inning start, this one by Keegan Leffler who did give up 10 hits and three earned runs. But his mates gave him plenty of offense to work with.

UMass Lowell recorded their first series win by taking two of three from Central Michigan. After losing game one on Friday, the River Hawks (3-6) bounced back in a big way scoring 22 runs and banging out 26 hits. They also played long ball as they hit seven home runs in those last two games. Another story to pay attention to is freshman pitcher L.J. Keevan who notched win number one as a college pitcher on Saturday by going six innings of nine-hit one-run baseball. He struck out six and did not walk anyone. Keevan could be someone to keep an eye on this spring for Lowell. The River Hawks are second in the league with 12 home runs. Robert Gallaher and Gerry Siracusa are tied for the team lead with three.

The team that has had the early season struggles is the Hartford Hawks who have lost their first six games to date. Their season began at Clemson and did not go well at all. From there they traveled to Bowling Green, KY., and were swept by Western Kentucky. Pitching has been a problem early on and in that three-game series, the Hawks staff allowed 24 runs. Hartford’s team ERA is at 10.13. They have given up 78 hits, 72 runs (54 earned runs), and opponents are hitting .359 against the pitching staff which has allowed 26 extra-base hits. It’s still very early with plenty of time for the Hawks pitchers to turn things around and start getting better results. They will need to do the same things at the plate where they are hitting .193 with only 10 extra-base hits so far.

The America East Player of the Week is Jason Bottari of Albany. In the 4-0 week for the Great Danes, he drove in nine runs and stole six bases vs Iona. He leads the conference in stolen bases with 12 and has been caught only once. He has shown a good eye at the plate as he has walked eight times already, which is third in the league. Jason is third in runs scored with 15 and is tied for second in doubles with four. This is his first weekly award.

The America East Pitcher of the Week is Grant Vurpillat of NJIT. in a victory over Norfolk State, Grant went 6.2 scoreless innings, struck out nine while issuing only one walk. In the early going, Vurpillat has allowed six earned runs, 13 hits, walked five, and fanned 14. Opposing hitters are hitting .277 against him. He has hit a couple of batters as well. This is career weekly award number one for Grant.

The AE rookie of the week is UMass Lowell infielder Brandon Fish. In the series win over Central Michigan, Fish drove in six runs and scored twice. He also slugged .818 with a pair of doubles and one home run. Fish is tied for third in the league with two big flies. Being a middle infielder, Brandon has chances to start or turn double plays. So far on the young season, Fish has a hand in turning four of them, good for fourth in the league. It is his first weekly award.

Next week we will be back with more from America East baseball.