America East Baseball News & Notes: NJIT Rolling Along

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Everyone in the America East baseball conference has now played a league series. The team that has stood out is NJIT. At the same time, the Binghamton Bearcats kept pace with a series win of their own. If the early stages of the season are any indication, this league will be tight all the way through. Here is how last weekend went in the league.

The only team that did not play league baseball was the UMass Lowell River Hawks (8-14, 1-2). Instead, they played host to LeMoyne College over the weekend. The River Hawks took the series backed by an impressive performance at the plate by CF Alex Luccini (more on his weekend a little later). UML also got quality starts from graduate senior Miles Cota (4 IP, 1 H, 2 ER) and from LHP Brendon Holland (5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO). UMass Lowell is looking for pitching, and maybe they are starting to find it. In a 4-2 loss on Tuesday afternoon at Merrimack, they received another quality start from freshman Nolan Geisler, who went five innings and allowed 1 ER. This weekend, the River Hawks will host Bryant.

NJIT (12-11, 3-0) swept a series from UMBC last weekend. Their offense was a big part of the story as they scored 26 runs over the three-game series. In game one on Friday, the Highlanders got hits from seven of the nine starters. SS Ray Ortiz hit a solo HR in the sixth. The bullpen did the job too, as Eddie Werse (2-0) went four, allowed two hits, and three earned runs to get the win. Anthony Anzaldi got his fourth save. On Saturday, despite giving up three home runs to the Retrievers, NJIT took game two by an 8-4 score. Ortiz had a double and a triple, three RBI, and a RS. CF Ty Sallie had a 3-for-5 day, with 2 RS and 2 RBI. Morrissey improved his record to 3-1 with five innings giving up four hits, 2 earned runs, a walk, and four strikeouts. Game three went to the Highlanders by an 11-3 score. NJIT used a 7-run fourth to put the game away. Five of those runs were unearned based on an error by UMBC 3rd baseman Danny Wyatt. Peterson Brandon evened his record at 2-2 with seven innings of four-hit, three earned runs pitching. In their mid-week Tuesday game, the Highlanders lost to Fairfield by a 9-3 score as a 4-run eighth inning did the Highlanders in. NJIT will host Maine this weekend.

The Binghamton Bearcats (11-10, 2-1) took two of three from those Black Bears (5-17, 1-2). The two teams played a doubleheader on Saturday, with the Bearcats taking both games. Game one saw Binghamton win by a 9-8 score. Maine took the lead on a Quinn Murphy 2-run double in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of that inning, Zach Rogacki singled to left center off of Black Bears relief pitcher Tommy Martin, and Logan Haskell scored the winning run. Game two was shortened to five innings because of the weather. The Bearcats scored in three of their at-bats, and they got 3-hit games from CF Matt Bolden and Rogacki. Hayden Tarsia (2-1) went the five innings to get the win. Binghamton is at UAlbany this weekend.

UAlbany (8-10, 2-0) took two of three on the road at Bryant College (10-12-1), winning the Friday and Saturday games. In the 9-4 Friday win, the Great Danes got a four-hit game from CF Luke Fllppi, who scored twice and drove in two more. Dylan Banner (3-0) is this week’s AE Pitcher of the Week. He went eight innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, and striking out seven. On Saturday, it would take 14 innings for UAlbany to get the win. The 13-9 game ended when the Great Danes put up a four-spot in the top of the 14th. A two-run HR from Levi McAllister (3-for-8, 4 RBI, 2RS) was followed by a 2-run double to RC by Jared Toby (3-for-8, 3 RBI, 1RS). Matthew Mariano (1-2) went eight innings out of the Great Danes’ bullpen to get the win. He gave up six hits and 2 earned runs, 2 BB, and 7 punch-outs. Bryant took game three 9-8. A double down the LF line by Pat D’Amico (3-for-5, 2 RBI and 2 RS) did the trick.

This week’s AE Player of the Week is River Hawks CF Alex Luccini. To say he had a week would be an understatement. He batted .693 (9-for-13), slugged 1.615 with an .778 on-base percentage. He went 6-for-6 in a doubleheader sweep of LeMoyne on Saturday, hit three home runs, scored eight times, and had six RBI. He was also named by 64 Analytics as having the 10th-best offensive week in the country.

The Rookie of the Week is UMBC Anthony Mascuilli. He batted .385 with a .600 on-base percentage. He scored five runs in a mid-week 19-9 win over Coppin State. This week, UMBC will take the conference playoff. Instead, they will play a series vs Georgetown. Next week we’ll look back at the weekend play.