America East Baseball News & Notes: Binghamton Bounces Back

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Week two of the college baseball season was not too kind for the America East Baseball Conference. Only one team, the Binghamton Bearcats, was able to win a series. The Maine Black Bears and the NJIT Highlanders were able to win a game. Other than that, not much else happened for the teams in the league. Let’s take a look at how week two went.

After being swept by the Houston Cougars on opening weekend, the Bearcats (2-4) headed to UNC Greensboro to get things turned around. They would take two of three from Greensboro winning the Friday and Sunday games. On Friday, the Bearcats erased a 3-0 hole by scoring runs in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th innings. First basemen Sam Haney had a two-hit, 3-RBI day to help the Bearcats get their first win of the season. RF Mike Gunning also had a two-hit day with both hits going for extra bases, a 4th-inning RBI triple, and a 7th-inning HR to right-center field. John Lumpinski came out of the Bearcats bullpen to get the win and the pen allowed two runs over the final five innings. After losing on Saturday, the Bearcats took the series with a 9-6 win on Sunday. They banged out 12 hits, four of them for extra bases. Gunning went deep again in the third, a 3-run blast to LF. It was part of a 3-hit, five RBI, two-runs scored day. Second baseman Jake Daly left the yard in the 4th to CF. Dan McAliney, out of the pen, picked up the win as Binghamton’s bullpen did their job. The Bearcats head to Winston-Salem for a trio of games this weekend, including a game on Friday vs the #1 ranked team in the country Wake Forest.

The Bryant Bulldogs (1-4) were swept over the weekend by George Washington, then lost a mid-week game at home vs Stonehill. In the GW series, pitching was a problem. The Bulldogs gave up 41 runs, of which 21 were earned. It did not help that the fielding was a little spotty as well. On Tuesday, they returned home to Conaty Park which had a new field installed over last summer. A field turf surface has replaced the grass that used to be there. LF Gavin Noriega tied the game in the bottom of the 1st with a solo HR to left field. However, Bryant’s pitching could not handle the bat of Stonehill’s third baseman Trey Ciulla-Hall who had three hits and three RBI. All of his hits were singles, as he came up with men in scoring position and delivered helping Stonehill to a 5-3 win.

UMass Lowell (3-4) was also swept over the weekend by William & Mary. Saturday was their best chance of getting a win up 3-0 after three and a half innings and getting a HR from SS Fritz Genther in the process. William & Mary would get two runs in the 4th and 8th innings to take a 4-3 lead. In the ninth, the River Hawks tied the game on a wild pitch that scored Roddy Hernandez to send the game to extra innings. This would be the second extra-inning game that UMass Lowell has played. After winning their first one, they would not be so lucky this time as relief pitcher Brian Foley allowed the winning run to score in the tenth on his throwing error on a comebacker to the mound. The River Hawks will spend spring break in the state of Kansas to play a weekend series vs Kansas State.

The defending champs, the Maine Black Bears (1-5), also had a tough weekend losing two of three in Florida to Stenston and Army, while beating the Fordham Rams in between. In the win over Fordham, the Black Bears had back-to-back 5-run innings. They had three home runs by Jake Marquez, Jeremiah Jenkins, and Nick White. Jason Kreiger went five and gave up four hits and two earned runs to get the victory. Maine returns to New England to take on Boston College this afternoon.

UMBC (0-4) started their season on the West Coast playing three games against Santa Clara and losing all three. On Friday, the America East Pitcher of the Year from last season, Luke Johnson, made his 2024 debut. He went four innings, allowed four hits and four earned runs, throwing 90 pitches. He would leave the game with a 4-2 lead. He walked four and struck out six. The Retrievers’ bullpen would give up nine runs over the final four innings. On Tuesday, UMBC lost in extra-innings to George Washington 6-5. The University of Maryland-Baltimore County took a 5-2 lead to the ninth. However, they lost that lead and then were walked off in the 12th inning. Logan Wiley did pitch well going 4.2 innings allowing four hits and one run. He struck out three. UMBC will be home on Friday to meet Rider.

The America East Player of the Week was Binghamton OF Mike Gunning. He went 7-for-13 with three HR and seven RBI in the series win last weekend. He slugged 1.385 during the three-game series. The America East Pitcher of the Week is Sam Downs of UMBC. He went five innings vs the Broncos allowing four hits, striking out three with no runs allowed. . The AE Rookie of the Week is John Vitucci of UAlbany. In their series vs #9 Tennessee, the freshmen OF slashed .500/.500/.571. He had a 2-for-3 game with two runs scored, one RBI, and a HBP.

Next week, we’ll look at how week three goes in America East.