201020102010 NECNECNEC BASEBALLBASEBALLBASEBALL NN EWSEWS && NN OTESOTES 399 Campus Drive, First Floor, Somerset, NJ 08873 Contact: Ralph Ventre, Asst. Dir. Comm. Phone: 732-469-0440/Fax: 732-469-0744 E-Mail: [email protected] Central Connecticut State • Fairleigh Dickinson • Long Island • Monmouth • Mount St. Mary’s Quinnipiac • Robert Morris • Sacred Heart • St. Francis (NY) • St. Francis (PA) • Wagner NEC Baseball Northeast Conference Baseball Facts & Figures (Week 9 - April 26, 2010)

Akadema/NEC Player of the Week School NEC Pct. Overall Pct. Streak Home Away Neutral Mar. 1 Vin Avella, Wagner 1. Bryant 11-5 .688 19-18 .514 W5 8-3 11-12 0-3 Mar. 8 Tommy Meade, Central Connecticut State Wagner 11-5 .688 16-19 .457 L5 8-1 7-18 1-0 Mar. 15 Damian Csakai, Wagner 3. Sacred Heart 9-7 .562 18-20 .474 W4 9-8 6-8 3-4 Mar. 22 Vin Avella, Wagner Quinnipiac 9-7 .562 10-25 .286 W1 5-7 5-18 0-0 Mar. 29 Sean Allaire, Central Connecticut State 5. Central Conn. St. 10-10 .500 17-15 .531 L1 7-5 8-10 2-0 Apr. 5 Tommy Meade, Central Connecticut State Monmouth 10-10 .500 16-18 .471 W1 7-4 8-13 1-1 Apr. 12 Seth Boyd, Wagner 7. Mount St. Mary's 9-11 .450 15-23 .395 L4 6-4 8-19 1-0 Apr. 19 Mickey Amanti (QU)/Pat Epps (CCSU) 8. Long Island 7-13 .350 10-28 .263 L1 7-7 1-14 2-7 Apr. 26 Sean Allaire, Central Connecticut State 9. Fairleigh Dickinson 4-12 .250 9-26 .257 L4 5-7 3-17 1-2 The top four teams based on conference winning percentage qualify for the NEC Tournament.

Akadema/NEC of the Week Mar. 1 Matt Watson, Wagner Akadema NEC Player of the Week Mar. 8 Mike Matta, Mount St. Mary’s Sean Allaire, Central Connecticut State Mar. 15 Kyle Breese, Monmouth Sr., C/IF, R/R, 5-10, 180 lbs., Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern Mar. 22 Nick Meyers, Monmouth Allaire was an opposing pitcher’s nightmare last week. The fourth-year Blue Devil totaled 17 hits and Mar. 29 Kent Worthington, Mount St. Mary’s Apr. 5 Alex Russow, Quinnipiac struck only once during a six-game sample. Continuing to raise his league-leading average, Apr. 12 Troy Scribner, Sacred Heart Allaire .654 (17-for-26) with six doubles, one , and one home . His first 10 official at-bats of Apr. 19 Chris Zaccherio, Sacred Heart the week resulted in hits. Allaire went 5-for-5 with five runs scored and three RBI in CCSU’s 17-12 win over Apr. 26 Justin Topa, Long Island Massachusetts. The following day, his five hits and two RBI helped the Blue Devils to a 16-7 win over Fairfield. Allaire continued his tear during CCSU’s weekend NEC against Quinnipiac. He went 7-for- 15 (.467) at the plate against the Bobcats while hitting safely in all four games. He scored three runs in Akadema/NEC Rookie of the Week Friday’s series before recording four hits in eight at-bats during Saturday’s . He Mar. 1 Justin Topa, Long Island stroked a during the third of the nightcap, plating CCSU’s first run in an eventual 8-4 victory. Mar. 8 Troy Scribner, Sacred Heart Mar. 15 Peter Kelich, Bryant Akadema NEC Pitcher of the Week Mar. 22 Gaby Ramirez, Wagner Justin Topa, Long Island Mar. 29 Kevin Brown, Bryant Apr. 5 Alex Russow, Quinnipiac Fr., RHP, 6-3, 170 lbs., Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley Apr. 12 Gaby Ramirez, Wagner Topa tossed a gem to defeat defending NEC champion Monmouth in a game that lasted only one hour and Apr. 19 Christian Rautenstrauch, Wagner 28 minutes. Going the distance for the fourth time this season, the freshman right-hander shut out the Apr. 26 John Murphy, Sacred Heart Hawks and allowed one hit over 7.0 stellar . Topa, who was perfect over the game’s first 4.2 frames, recorded 12 and issued only one walk during the 2-0 victory. Staying ahead of hitters, Topa threw 87 pitches and faced two three-ball counts the entire game. Monmouth’s lone hit was an that came with two outs in the fifth inning. Akadema NEC Rookie of the Week John Murphy, Sacred Heart Fr., SS, R/R, 5-11, 175 lbs., Seymour, CT/Seymour Murphy used both his bat and glove to make a number of key plays during Sacred Heart’s four-game series sweep of NEC rival Mount St. Mary’s. The freshman shortstop recorded a team-high eight RBI at the plate and while starting three double plays in the field. On his way to a .471 (8-for-17) , Murphy hit safely in all four contests. He went 3-for-5 with two runs and one RBI in the series opener, a 12-0 win for the Pioneers. His career-high five RBI led Sacred Heart to a 14-4 victory in Game 2. Helping Sacred AkademaPro.com Heart to another doubleheader sweep the following day, Murphy recorded three hits and two RBI. doubleheader, allowing just one run over 6.0 innings. He struck out five and NEC Baseball Notes walked one. The win was the 17th of his career, tying him with Doug Johnson for eighth on the program's all-time list. … Junior reliever Mark Andrews Back-to-Back Stellar Outings for Zac (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) picked up two saves this past weekend to give Sacred Heart's senior Chris Zaccherio (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset) tossed his him 18 for his career. Tied for second in program history, Andrews sits only two second consecutive complete-game victory this past weekend, a 12-0 shutout of saves shy of all-time Bryant leader Adam Vuolo (20). Mount St. Mary's. The performance comes on the heels of his 3-1 victory over the NEC's top-hitting team - Central Connecticut State. Zaccherio scattered eights hits Central Connecticut State (17-15, 10-10 NEC) and struck out eight batters over 9.0 innings of work against the Mount after The Blue Devils posted a pair of mid-week non-conference victories over Massa- allowing seven hits and striking out six against CCSU. Possibly even more impres- chusetts and Fairfield before dropping three of four games to NEC rival Quinnipiac sive than his 18.0 innings of one-run ball may be the fact that Zaccherio did not issue during a weekend series. … The Blue Devils hit .365 and scored 57 runs over the a single walk in either of the two starts. five-game sample. Of their 81 total hits, 28 went for extra bases. … Junior Pat Epps (Waterford, CT/Waterford) had a pair of home runs and drove in nine runs Bryant and Monmouth Benefit from in the six games. He hit .364 for the week and is batting .354 for the season with Neither Bryant's Mark Andrews (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) nor Monmouth's a team-best eight home runs and 40 RBI. He is one of three Blue Devils with at Nick McNamara (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) allowed a hit during their work least 40 RBI on the season. … Senior Tommy Meade (Pearl River, NY/Pearl out of the bullpen last week. The two lefty relievers were key reasons why their River) has driven in 40 runs thus far. Last week, he batted .407 with four doubles. respective club earned NEC series victories. Andrews earned saves in three of He is batting .400 for the year, second on the team, with 52 hits and seven home Bryant's four victories over Fairleigh Dickinson. Andrews, whose eight saves lead runs. … Senior Anthony Scialdone (West Hartford, CT/Hall) hit .414 last week the NEC, struck out three batters over 3.1 total innings. Meanwhile, McNamara with 12 hits and seven RBI. He raised his average to .313 on the season. … Senior earned a win and a as Monmouth took three of four games from Long Island. Sean Allaire (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern), the Akadema NEC Player of the Week, He threw the final two innings of Game 2 and became the pitcher of record when the continued to watch his league-leading batting average rise. The scorching-hot Hawks scored four runs in their last at-bat of the 9-7 triumph. He tossed a scoreless hitter went 17-for-26 (.654) at the plate with 10 runs scored and eight RBI over the ninth to pick up the save in the series finale, a 7-5 Monmouth win. six-game sample. He had six doubles, one triple and a while striking out just once on the week. He began his week with 10 straight hits in his first 10 Freshmen Find Key to Success official at-bats. Against UMass, he was 5-for-5 with five runs scored and three RBI. Freshmen Troy Scribner (Washington Depot, CT/Shepaug Valley) and One day later against Fairfield, he hit safely in his first five at-bats before ground- Justin Topa (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) rank amongst the NEC's top-10 ing out in his sixth plate appearance. Making a bid at the conference's batting leaders in earned-. Their secret? No free passes. The two rookie right- title, Allaire owns a NEC-high .473 average (61-for-126). He leads CCSU in RBI handers from Sacred Heart (Scribner) and Long Island (Topa) rank first and (44), doubles (15), triples (5), extra-base hits (25), (.783) second, respectively, amongst NEC hurlers in terms of walks allowed. Scribner has and on-base percentage (.535). issued only six bases on balls over 43.2 innings while posting the NEC's ninth-best ERA (4.53). The first-year Pioneer, who is the younger brother of former all-NEC Fairleigh Dickinson (9-26, 4-12 NEC) pitcher Evan Scribner (Central Connecticut State), has appeared in nine games The Knights earned their first road victory of the season last week, defeating New (five starts). He has a 2-3 record to go along with two saves. Topa has given up Jersey Tech, 14-2, on April 21. Juniors Steven LaForge (Garfield, NJ/St. Mary) seven walks, but has logged more innings and appearances than Scribner. The and DJ Robinson (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) each had four hits to Akadema NEC Pitcher of the Week boasts a 4-4 record and has struck out 52 batters pace the Knights' 17-hit attack, while Robinson drove in a career-high seven RBI. over 49.1 innings. His 3.83 ERA leads all rookies and ranks fifth overall in the NEC. … Fairleigh Dickinson was unable to carry the momentum into its four-game NEC road series at Bryant, suffering a sweep. … Sophomore Mike Eliasen Allaire All Over NEC Leader Board (Swededboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) made his first career start on the hill in Stay away from Central Connecticut State senior Sean Allaire (Bristol, CT/Bristol Game 2 at Bryant, the first half of Saturday's doubleheader. The second-year Eastern), or risk being burned by the red-hot hitter. Allaire has been piling up hits Knights was the hard-luck loser in a game that remained scoreless until the bottom at a blistering pace since the season's start. His .473 batting average and 61 base- of the sixth inning. Eliasen wound up surrendering three runs, only one of which knocks both rank first amongst Northeast Conference leaders, but there is no need was earned, over 5.1 innings. … Robinson, a junior college transfer, saw his to stop there. Allaire leads the conference in slugging percentage (.783), on-base success against NJIT carry over into the weekend. In five total games last week, he percentage (.535), RBI (44), triples (5), (101), and, even, sacrifice went 11-for-21 (.524) with three doubles, a home run, and three runs scored. flies (5). Raising his season average from .227 to .319, Robinson currently owns a 10-game hit streak. Team-by-Team Notes Bryant (19-18, 11-5 NEC) Long Island (10-28, 7-13 NEC) Bryant extended its win streak to five games with a four-game sweep of Fairleigh Long Island fell at Rider, 12-9, in non-conference action before dropping three out Dickinson at home. … The Bulldogs hit .389 with 44 hits over the four NEC contests, of four at home to defending NEC champion Monmouth. … After falling 9-2 in the including an 18-hit attack in the series finale. … The 12-5 victory on Sunday was the series opener and seeing Monmouth come from behind to win game one of Saturday's 129th for this year's senior class, tying the group for the most combined wins with doubleheader, 9-7, freshman right-hander Justin Topa (Binghamton, NY/Chenango the 2004 senior class. … On the weekend, Nick Campbell (Raynham, MA/ Valley) quickly crushed the Hawks' hopes for a series sweep. Taking the ball in Bridgewater-Raynham) hit a team-best .585 for the weekend, going 7-for-12 at the Game 3, Topa was perfect over the first 4.2 innings of an eventual 2-0, complete- plate. The senior was 2-for-3 in Friday's opener with an RBI. In the first game of game victory. Topa struck out a season-high 12 batters while allowing only one hit. Saturday's twinbill, Campbell's sixth-inning RBI double made him the first player in After retiring the first 14 batters he faced, eight via , Topa surrendered an school history to accumulate 300 career hits. In Sunday's 12-5 win, Campbell went infield single to MU catcher Bobby Dombrowski. He allowed only two more 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored. … Freshman Kevin Brown baserunners to reach the rest of the way - one on a walk and the other on a seventh- (Northborough, MA/Algonquin) hit .438 over the four-game sample. The leftfielder inning . His final line: no runs, one hit, one walk and 12 strikeouts (LIU single- connected on five doubles for the weekend, including three two-baggers as part of game high in 2010). The shutout was the first of the freshman's career and was his a 4-for-5 performance at the plate in the series finale. The 4-for-5 outing was the fourth of the season. Topa has gone the distance in four of his five rookie's fourth 4-hit game of the season. His 18 doubles in 2010 are tied for seventh- starts against Northeast Conference opponents. He has fanned nine or more hitters most in Bryant's single-season history. … In Friday's opener, senior Jeff Vigurs three times, all in seven-inning games. Topa is 3-2 against the Northeast Confer- (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor) etched his name into Bryant's record book, ence with a 3.66 ERA, striking out 39 batters against four walks. Overall he is 4-4 becoming the all-time career doubles leader (55). …. Senior pitcher Eric Polvani with a 3.83 ERA with 52 strikeouts and seven walks. … Senior Greg DeSantis (Wallingford, CT/Sheehan) earned the 3-1 victory in the first half of Saturday's (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) snapped a seven-game hitless streak in the series finale against Monmouth, a 7-5 setback. He went 2-for-4 with a run and an batted .409 (9-for-22) for the week as he drove in a team-high nine runs. Poletsky RBI. Prior to his third-inning single, DeSantis was in an 0-for-19 funk. … Second posted three more multiple-hit games to push his team-leading total to 16. He also baseman Gerard Tingos (Staten Island, NY/Curtis) was 1-for-4 with an RBI in the carries a nine-game hitting streak against NEC teams. … Sophomore Gabe Guerino finale, extending his hitting streak to seven games. Tingos batted .368 for the week (Milford, CT/West Haven) blasted a two-run, game-winning home run on Friday with three home runs and seven RBIs. He recorded a hit in all five games and an RBI against CCSU in the top of the ninth inning. For the year, Guerino is hitting .323 (40- in four of the contests. … Sophomore Drew Walsh (Staten Island, NY/Curtis) has for-124) with two home runs, 19 RBI and 10 runs scored. … Freshman righty Derek hit in nine straight games. That streak ties centerfielder Sam Sciamarelli (Brick, NJ/ Lamacchia (Whitestone, NY/Holy Cross) appeared in three games last week. Point Beach) for the team's longest of the season. Lamacchia picked up the win in the Bobcats' come-from-behind 11-10 win against Central Connecticut on Apr. 23, pitching 2.0 innings of three-hit baseball. He then Monmouth (16-18, 10-10 NEC) picked up a save after hurling 1.2 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball as the Bobcats held Monmouth earned a NEC series victory over Long Island, taking three of four games on on for a 3-2 win in the series finale against CCSU. Lamacchia pitched out of two the road. ... Head coach Dean Ehehalt now has 444 career wins at the helm of the situations with the tying run in for his first career save. He leads Monmouth program, and 237 wins in NEC play. … A pair of Hawks - junior Ryan Terry Quinnipiac with 13 appearances this season. … Junior Kyle Birdsall (Orange, CT/ (Levittown, PA/Truman) and senior Bobby Dombrowski (Denville, NJ/Seton Hall) Amity) picked up his third straight NEC win on Friday after holding CCSU to four runs -- homered twice last week. Terry's two dingers came in the same game while running on five hits while striking out six to improve to 3-3 on the year. Birdsall has two his team-leading total to seven. … Terry (.500), Dombrowski (.467) and sophomore complete games to his credit this season and also carries a 4.46 ERA. Jamie Rosenkranz (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean) (.353) all hit over .300 on the week and combined for nine extra-base hits and 19 RBI in the four games. … Senior southpaw Sacred Heart (18-20, 9-7 NEC) Nick Meyers (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) picked up another win for the The Pioneers swept a four-game set from Mount St. Mary's, outscoring the Mountain- Hawks this weekend, improving his record to 4-1 with 8.0 innings of work at LIU on eers 36-8 in the process. … Sacred Heart's starting pitchers Accounted for three Friday. He allowed just two runs on four hits in the 9-2 victory. … Freshman straight complete games, and senior Corey Corcoran (Norwich, CT/St. Bernard) (Colts Neck, NJ/CBA), struck out seven over 6.0 frames on Saturday. Despite surren- nearly made it four in a row by pitching into the ninth inning of the series finale. dering only two runs and four hits, the rookie right-hander wound up the losing pitcher. Senior Chris Zaccherio (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset) threw his second straight … Sophomore Matt Goitz (Hawthorne, NJ/Hawthorne) picked up his first win of the nine-inning complete game, and ran his scoreless innings streak to 17, with a 12-0 season in the series finale. He worked 3.1 frames to secure a 7-5 win. win in the series opener on Friday afternoon. Freshman Troy Scribner (Washington Depot, CT/Shepaug Valley) followed with a 14-4 win in the second half of Friday's Mount St. Mary's (15-23, 9-11 NEC) double dip. Senior Jared Balbach (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) started SHU's 5-2 After topping Penn State, 2-1, in a mid-week game, the Mount dropped all four of its victory in Game 3, going the distance for the third time this season. … Pioneer conference games at Sacred Heart over the weekend. … Starter Kent Worthington pitchers struck out 23 batters in the series and walked just two. Both walks came in (Hagerstown, MD/North Hagerstown) had a tremendous day in the Mount's 3-2 loss the ninth inning of the final game. … In Friday's doubleheader, sophomore Rob in the final game of the series. Worthington struck out 11 while allowing four hits and Griffith (Lake Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem North) was 8-for-10 with a homer and one in 7.1 innings of work. The senior right-hander is now 2-2 with a 2.57 five RBI. … Senior Jeff Heppner (Aqubogue, NY/Riverhead) hit .412 (7-for-17) ERA and 53 strikeouts in 56.0 innings this season while holding the opposition to a .210 with a pair of homers and six RBI in the series. Heppner's biggest shot of the weekend average. He has been even better in NEC play, going 2-1 with a 1.57 ERA and 39 came in the series finale when he blasted a solo homer to left center, his tenth strikeouts in 35.2 innings of work while holding the opponents to a .150 batting roundtripper of the year, in the bottom of the eighth inning off reliever Costa Kapothanasis average. … Senior Mike Matta (Woodbridge, VA/Potomac), who had a two- to tie the game at 2-2. … Freshman John Murphy (Seymour, CT/Seymour) led the inning save in the Mount's 2-1 win at Penn State, started Game 3 of the Sacred Heart offense against the Mount. He hit .471 (8-for-17) with a double and a team-best eight series and tossed a complete-game. Matta now has 90 career appearances at the RBI. The freshman shortstop also started three double plays. Murphy is hitting a team- Mount, four of which are starts. He is the Mount's all-time leader in appearances (90) high .402 this season and is second on the Pioneers with 26 RBI. … The Pioneers will and saves (23) while he is second in wins (17) and career ERA (3.30). … The Mount play a non-conference game against Fairfield on Apr. 27 and then travel to FDU for a visits UMBC for a mid-week contest before hosting Long Island for four games this Northeast Conference series starting on Apr. 30. weekend. Wagner (16-19, 11-5 NEC) Quinnipiac (10-25, 9-7 NEC) Wagner went winless in five games last week and saw its overall record dip below the Quinnipiac took three of four games against Central Connecticut State this weekend to .500 mark. The Seahawks dropped a one-run decision at Saint Peter's before suffer- remain hot against the Northeast Conference. Quinnipiac has won eight of its last 10 ing four losses in a weekend set at San Diego State. … Despite the loss at SPC, the NEC games against, and five of its last six, to jump into fourth place in the league Seahawk bats crushed a season-high four home runs while rapping out 12 hits. The standings. … The Bobcats split a pair of non-conference games against cross-state four long balls are the most since the Green & White hit five in the second game of a rivals. They fell to Hartford, 10-4, before out-slugging Yale, 19-18. … Junior Ben doubleheader at FDU on April 19, 2008. Senior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ/CBA), Farina (Waterford, CT/Waterford) led all Bobcat hitters last week. He posted a junior Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy), junior Joe Jamison (West .519 (14-for-27) batting average while driving in five runs and scoring 10 times. Farina Caldwell, NJ/ Caldwell) and sophomore Tommy Higgins (Port Monmouth, NJ/ was 4-for-6 with a double, two RBI and four runs scored in the wild win over Yale. In Red Bank Catholic) all recorded two hits and a home run. … After being shut out by the weekend set at CCSU, Farina hit .412 (7-for-17) with two doubles, three RBI and a SDSU in the series opener, the Wagner offense was also stagnant in the first game of team-high five runs scored. Farina's RBI double in the seventh inning of the series Saturday's doubleheader. Junior Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT/Avon Old Farms) finale plated produced the go-ahead run in the 3-2 win. Farina was 3-for-5 in the game. led an eight-hit attack, going 2-for-3 with a run-scoring double and a walk, in the 7- For the year, Farina leads Quinnipiac in hits (46), doubles (9), and runs scored (29) 2 loss. … Fifth-year senior Andy Wells (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) was out- while hitting at a .331 clip. … Senior Brian Monack (Branford, CT/Branford) had standing in relief during Game 2 of the series, striking out six, including five-straight a monster week for Quinnipiac at the plate, hitting .480 (12-for-25) with two homeruns, at one point, while yielding just one run over the final 3.0 innings. The six K's are one nine RBI and 10 runs scored. Monack came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth off his career-high achieved on two occasions, most recently in a 2-1 victory over inning against Yale, needing a double to complete the cycle. With two runners on and Sacred Heart on May 18, 2008. … Wagner hosts Iona on Apr. 28 before heading to Quinnipiac trailing 18-16, Monack blasted a three-run homer to left-center field to give Bryant for a showdown between the two teams tied for first place in the NEC standings. the Bobcats the walk-off win. His six runs-batted-in and five runs scored were career highs. He is just the seventh Northeast Conference player this season to record five hits in a game. The last Quinnipiac player to record five hits in a game was John Delaney, who had six hits against Vermont on April 23, 2008. For the year, Monack leads Quinnipiac in homeruns (5), RBI (31), triples (2), slugging percentage (.492), and on-base percentage (.414). … Junior Joe Poletsky (Riverside, CT/Greenwich)