America East Daily Word - April 13

This weekend’s lacrosse matchups feature two first-place showdowns. Saturday afternoon, Stony Brook travels to Boston University for a battle with the Terriers in women’s lacrosse action. And then under the lights, UMBC hosts Stony Brook in a pivotal men’s contest in Baltimore.

Let’s start in Boston. The last two conference unbeatens square off for the 11^th time in the all-time series. Boston U. has won all but one contest holding a commanding 9-1 series lead. The Terriers have also won seven of their last eight games en route to a perfect 4-0 record in league play thanks in large part to the play of freshman Mallory Collins. Stony Brook, meanwhile, has won six in a row and is in the midst of one of the finest seasons in program history. The Seawolves are averaging just over 17 goals per game during the win streak.

To add some more intrigue to this matchup, a Boston U. win would clinch the regular season title for the Terriers, giving them the right to host the America East Championship May 3 & 5.

The last time the Stony Brook men lost a regular season conference game was in 2009. Their opponent – UMBC. The Retrievers lead the all-time series 11-6 but Stony Brook picked up wins in the last two meetings. UMBC enters Saturday night’s matchup coming off an 11-8 win over Vermont, a game in which it never trailed. The Seawolves recorded back-to-back 13-5 wins over Vermont and Binghamton in their last two games. Both teams bring 2-0 conference records into Saturday’s showdown.

First face-off from UMBC Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The weekend is full of more conference lacrosse action from all over America East land. On the women’s side, Albany travels to New Hampshire and UMBC hosts Vermont. Binghamton welcomes Bucknell in a non-conference contest. For the men, the other conference unbeaten Albany gets a visit from Vermont and Hartford hosts Binghamton.

In the only lacrosse action yesterday, the Vermont women fell to California, 15-12. The Burlington Free Press has more.

Binghamton baseball pitcher Mike Augliera boasts a 1.64 ERA, fourth among league leaders. His biggest strength – he throws strikes. In 38.1 innings this season, the Bearcat’s ace has issued only four walks and according to his coach Tim Sinicki, has a real chance to make a professional career out of baseball. Lynn Worth of the Press and Sun Bulletin has the story.

Speaking of professional baseball, former MLB scout and now ESPN baseball writer Keith Law ranked Stony Brook centerfielder Travis Jankowski as the 46^th best prospect for the 2012 MLB Draft. The 2011 Cape Cod League MVP, Jankowski leads the America East in runs scored and stolen bases this year. Check out Keith Law’s analysis in the ESPN Insider report (subscription required).

Baseball conference action continues this weekend with games between Stony Brook and Albany, Binghamton and UMBC and Hartford and Maine.

Boston University and Albany highlight conference softball play this weekend with a rematch of the 2011 league championship game. The Great Danes and Terriers have a combined conference record of 14-3 this season. Elsewhere this weekend, Binghamton and Maine get together in Orono and Stony Brook travels to UMBC.

America East Daily Word - April 11

Stony Brook’s Tommy Brenton missed the entire 2010-2011 basketball season with a major knee injury.

If you watched him play in 2011-2012, you wouldn’t have had any idea.

Brenton returned to the Seawolves lineup this season and quickly reverted back to his old ways of clearing the glass and playing lockdown defense. He was a welcome addition to a Stony Brook team that reached the America East Championship game the year prior. His defensive prowess earned him the America East Defensive Player of the Year Award in the America East and Monday, his efforts landed him on the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Defensive All-America Team.

Brenton didn’t look like he missed a beat in 2012 despite not playing in a game for well over a year. He ranked second among league-leaders in rebounds with 8.1 per game and fourth in steals with nearly two a game.

His impact for the Seawolves was undeniable. He led the team in rebounding, assists and steals and finished second in minutes, field goal percentage and blocked shots.

Check out a video of Brenton’s highlight reel dunk against Boston U. during the ESPNU game back in January.

Check out the full CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Defensive All-America team, here.

Getting back to spring sports now, America East softball teams continue to make a splash at the mid-major level. Albany cracked the Mid-Major Top 25 Softball Poll on Monday checking in at No. 25. Boston University and Stony Brook are each receiving votes and the Terriers have been ranked on several occasions already this season. The Great Danes ride an 11-game winning streak into today’s twinbill against Empire State foe Manhattan.

In softball action yesterday, the Albany-Bryant doubleheader fell victim to nasty weather and will be made up later this season. Hartford, meanwhile, hosted Fairfield for two games but dropped 3-2 and 8-4 decisions to the stag. Highlights and postgame reaction can be found below.

The Maine baseball team pushed its winning streak into double digits on Tuesday thanks to a 5-1 win over visiting Colby. Pete Warner of the Bangor Daily has been with the team every step of the way and he has a recap from Orono. Elsewhere on Tuesday, Stony Brook downed Iona 10-3 and Albany fell to Marist, 10-8.

The lone conference unbeatens in women’s lacrosse, Boston U. and Stony Brook, take the field today just four days away from their first-place showdown in Boston on Saturday. Boston U. takes on No. 20 Boston College at Nickerson Field while Stony Brook hosts Yale. The Daily Free Press takes a more in depth look between the Terriers and Eagles.

For all of the latest conference news, check out AmericaEast.com.

America East Daily Word - April 10

If the 2011-2012 men’s basketball season taught us anything, it’s that the future is bright for America East hoops. Youth was served this year as young players carried heavy loads for their respective teams.

Eight of the league’s top 20 scorers were either freshmen or sophomores. Two of those underclassmen, Binghamton and Vermont rookies Ben Dickinson and Four McGlynn, saw their contributions recognized yesterday.

Dickinson and McGlynn were two of 25 freshmen named to the 2012 Mid-Major Freshmen All-America Team by CollegeInsider.com.

Dickinson had an immediate impact on his Bearcat squad averaging 13.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in his rookie season. Those numbers placed him ninth among conference leaders in scoring and eighth in rebounding. Two of Dickinson’s biggest games came on the biggest stage as he poured in 20 points in each of Binghamton’s two games in the America East tourney back in March.

McGlynn led the league-champion Catamounts in scoring this year with 12 points per game despite not starting a single contest. The rookie sharpshooter drained 68 three-pointers this season including four in the conference title game against Stony Brook. McGlynn also led Vermont with 18 points in its NCAA Tournament First Four victory over Lamar.

Check out the full team, here.

We’ve got a busy day of baseball and softball action to get to but first, a quick recap of the two softball games played yesterday.

Stony Brook stretched its home win streak to eight games with a doubleheader sweep of Rider on Long Island. Allsion Cukrov continues to dominate in the circle as she fired two complete games including her tenth shutout of the season in the Seawolves’ 8-0 win in game one.

In softball action today, Hartford hosts Fairfield for a doubleheader between Connecticut schools.

Baseball games today feature Maine, Albany, Stony Brook and UMBC. Albany travels to Marist and UMBC ventures to Delaware while Stony Brook hosts Iona and Maine welcomes Colby. Check out the Bangor Daily News for an article about how Maine’s confidence is soaring after a weekend sweep of UMBC.

The Daily Free Press put together a piece about the offensive firepower on the Boston University’s women’s lacrosse team. Danielle Etrasco and Mallory Collins form a potent tandem in the Terrier attack. Check out the feature, here.  

America East Daily Word - April 9

After more than a month of non-conference battles to shake loose the baseball cobwebs, conference play on the diamond is officially underway. The first weekend of league play set the stage for what will be an extremely competitive April and May.

UMBC and Maine got things started on Friday with the first doubleheader of the conference slate in Baltimore. The Black Bear offense went off. Maine scored 72 runs over the four-game set against the Retrievers including a 32-14 win on Friday night. The 32 runs broke the previous conference single-game record of 26. And the Black Bears’ 25 RBIs is the second most ever in a league game. For more on this series, check out the recaps from the Bangor Daily News.

Stony Brook and Binghamton tangled on Long Island and the Seawolves took two of three from the Bearcats. Tyler Johnson tossed a five-hit gem in game one and Willie Carmona drove in two in game two to power Stony Brook. In the series finale, Binghamton’s Jake Thomas blasted a two-run homer and the bullpen pitched four innings of scoreless ball to give the Bearcats their first conference win of 2012.

Albany traveled to West Hartford in the final conference series this weekend and returned to the state capital with two wins over the Hawks. The Danes picked up two one-run victories on Saturday before Hartford took game three behind Sean Newcomb’s six strikeouts. Check out highlights and reaction from Hartford’s win on Sunday.

In softball action, Boston University, Albany and Binghamton all swept their weekend series to create a log jam at the top of the standings. Three teams (Boston U., Albany and Stony Brook) have more than 20 wins and the top four teams in the standings have a combined 25 conference wins to just seven losses.

Men’s and women’s lacrosse action continues to heat up as we draw closer to championship weekend May 2-5. On the men’s side, Stony Brook, UMBC and Albany all remain unbeaten in league play after wins this weekend. For the women, Boston U. and Stony Brook have a combined 7-0 conference mark and are on a collision course for a huge game this weekend in Boston. The Seawolves set multiple single-season records in their win this weekend over Vermont. Newsday has the details.

An inspirational story came out of Binghamton today as Lynn Worthy of the Press and Sun Bulletin tells us the story of Kelliann Carroll, a freshman on the Bearcat women’s lacrosse team. When she was nine years old, Carroll and her brother were hit by a car and she was in and out of the hospital for the next four years with serious leg injuries and infections. Now, she is suiting up for a Division I program and making an impact.

“For what she went through, I was at a loss for words. I was like, 'Whoa.' We recruited her for her speed, and I would've not ever known that she had that critical of an injury,” head coach Tony Zostant said in the article.

Read Carroll’s full story, here.

Weekly award winners will be announced later this afternoon so stay tuned for AmericaEast.com for all the latest.