Daily Word: Big Non-Conference Softball Tilt for Terriers

It’s the final week of the regular season for America East softball teams and the playoff chase is a good one. Stony Brook leads the way followed very closely by Albany and Boston University who are both 12-3 in league play.

Boston U. returned to the Bay State late last evening after making up a conference game against Maine in Orono. The Terriers took that game, 5-3. Down 2-0 early, Boston U. scored three unanswered runs in the top of the seventh to grab a 5-2 lead. Check out a recap of the action from the Bangor Daily News.

We’ve got a great non-conference matchup this afternoon between the Terriers and UMass. Both teams enter Wednesday’s battle in Amherst with solid RPI rankings putting them in the conversation for at-large NCAA Tournament bids. Boston U. also brings with it a 10-game winning streak.

In order to get No. 11 and just their third win over UMass since 1996, the Terriers will most likely have to beat one of the nation’s best pitchers. The Minutewomen’s Sara Plourde boasts a 29-9 record to go along with a nifty 1.96 ERA. Even more impressive, Plourde has struck out 434 batters in 236 innings pitched.

Check out a full preview of today’s games as well as a recap from yesterday’s win over Maine in the Daily Free Press.

Follow along with live stats from Amherst.

First-place Stony Brook fell to Quinnipiac in a non-conference bout on Long Island yesterday, 4-0. Albany meanwhile, completed the season sweep of crosstown rival Siena with a doubleheader sweep in Loudonville. Binghamton also earned a sweep of a twinbill, taking down St. Bonaventure twice in Vestal.

Also on the docket today, Binghamton is back in action against Cornell and Hartford travels to Sacred Heart.

Maine baseball got a big win over Albany in the final game of their three-game set over the weekend. Jeff Gibbs tossed a gem for the Black Bears who needed a win heading into May’s schedule. Pete Warner of the Bangor Daily News caught up with Gibbs to chat about the outing.

The Black Bears are off today but two America East schools take the diamond for mid-week bouts. Stony Brook takes on New York Tech and Hartford makes the quick trip to Central Connecticut.

 

Men’s lacrosse postseason action gets underway this evening with a pair of what should be tremendous games. Defending champion Hartford begins its title defense as the No. 4 seed when it travels to No. 1 Stony Brook. No. 3 Albany ventures to Baltimore for a 7:30 contest against No. 2 UMBC. Check out a full preview, here.

For all the latest from around the conference, check out AmericaEast.com.

Daily Word: UMBC and Albany Set for Rematch

When Albany and UMBC got together on April 21 in Baltimore, the Danes and Retrievers played one of the most exciting games of the men’s lacrosse season.

Down 16-11 with less than six minutes to play, UMBC rattled off five straight goals to tie the game and send it to overtime. In the extra session, Scott Jones scored with 1:43 left to give UMBC the win and a spot in this weekend’s conference tournament.

The lacrosse powers must have wanted us to see that matchup again because those two teams will get after it tomorrow night in Baltimore, under the lights, at UMBC Stadium.

In preparation for the bout on Wednesday night, the Baltimore Sun spoke with UMBC head coach Don Zimmerman about getting ready for what will assuredly be a hungry Great Dane team led by Player of the Year Joe Resetarits.

“It’s a good rivalry, and I’m sure that Coach [Scott] Marr is going to use the fact that they had us by six goals as motivation for them,” Zimmerman told the Sun.

Neither team enters the game on a positive note as UMBC lost to Binghamton and Albany fell to Stony Brook to close out the regular season. Regardless, the postseason is a whole different beast and you can bet that both teams will be ready to go. The Sun continues to tell us the Retrievers certainly will be. Details, here.

Visit Championship Central for more information including how you can get tickets.

The last regular season lacrosse game for any America East school goes down this afternoon as the New Hampshire women travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to take on Boston College. You can follow along with all the action, here.

In baseball news, Stony Brook’s Travis Jankowski received mention on the midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List. The left-handed hitting centerfielder has been crushing the ball as of late for the red-hot Seawolves. Read more on Jankowski in this draft prospectus by Through the Fence Baseball.

Track and field regional rankings made their way across the wire this morning. The latest chart has three men’s teams and two women’s teams in the Northeast region rankings. On the men’s side, Boston U. jumped three spots to No. 8 after a solid weekend at the Penn Relays. Binghamton is right behind at No. 9 and Albany slides in at No. 14. The Boston U. women sit at No. 12 and Albany is not far behind at No. 14.

Men’s lacrosse all-conference players and yearly award winners were announced this afternoon. Check out a video highlighting some of the most talented players in the league.

Let’s take a look at the day’s schedule, first on the softball field. Boston University and Maine make up a game rained out earlier this season today in Orono and Binghamton hosts St. Bonaventure in a doubleheader in Vestal. On the baseball diamond, UMBC hosts Georgetown and Hartford travels to Dartmouth.

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

Weekend Video Vault

Jump on board the playoff train because the journey to championship glory begins now.

Let’s take a look back at the weekend that was.

The final playoff spots in the men’s and women’s lacrosse came down to the final weekend of regular season play. Check out the last of the weekly award recipients and a recap of all the action in this video package.

Hartford and Vermont went to OT on the men’s side with both teams needing a win to get into the playoffs. We’ve got more highlights from West Hartford below.

Binghamton's men's lacrosse team looked to close out the regular season on a high note with UMBC in town and it did just that defeating the Retrievers convincingly, 15-8.



The Bearcat women, meanwhile, looked to do that same thing to Boston U. but the Terriers were too much, outscoring Binghamton, 18-16. 



In order to begin their title defense, the Albany women also needed a win at Vermont to clinch a postseason berth.  They would get it, 12-10, over the Catamounts. 

In baseball action, Hartford and Binghamton squared off on the diamond. The Bearcats took three of four and sit just one game back of Stony Brook in the loss column for first place. Wrap and reaction from West Hartford below.

The first spring champions of 2012 received their hardware over the weekend as the Stony Brook women and Binghamton men won tennis championships at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. We’ve got video from an exciting weekend on the hard courts.