Baseball
Baseball Players of the Week: (for the week ending April
25, 2010)
Division I
Player of the Week
Mike Olt – University of Connecticut
Junior, Third Base, Branford, Conn.
Olt led Connecticut to a 6-0 week, including a three-game
sweep of Rutgers, to lift the Huskies into sole possession of first
place in the Big East standings and extend Connecticut’s
winning streak to 21 games — the longest active streak in the
nation. Olt hit .655 and slugged 1.138, going 19-for-29 with five
doubles, three home runs, 11 RBI and nine runs scored. He had at
least two hits in all six games and had at least one extra-base hit
in five of the six. Olt hit .786 in the three games against
Rutgers, capping the week by going 5-for-6 with a double and a home
run in Game 3.
Co-Pitchers of the Week
Justin Topa – University of Long
Island
Freshman, Pitcher, Binghamton, N.Y.
Topa tossed a gem to defeat defending NEC champion Monmouth in a
game that lasted only one hour and 28 minutes. Going the distance
for the fourth time this season, the freshman right-hander shut out
the Hawks and allowed one hit over 7.0 stellar innings. Topa, who
was perfect over the game’s first 4.2 frames, recorded 12
strikeouts 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 infield
single that came with two outs in the fifth inning.
Sam Long – United States Naval Academy
Junior, Pitcher, Newnan, Ga.
Long had a nine-inning complete-game shutout in Navy's 9-0 win over Holy Cross on Saturday. He permitted only five hits and a walk with two strikeouts in the effort, holding the top hitting team in the Patriot League to just a .179 batting average in the game. It was Long's second complete-game shutout of the season, and the first nine-inning complete-game shutout for a Navy pitcher since 1998. It was Navy's first complete-game shutout against a Patriot League team since 2008.
Division II
Player of the Week
Michael Cleary – Southern Connecticut State
University
Freshman, Outfielder, West Boylston, Mass.
Cleary went 12-for-18 (.667 BA) from the plate with an
.833 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage in five games
as the Owls went 4-1 on the week. Drove in eight runs, scored four
times and stole two bases in two attempts. He connected for at
least two hits in each game during the week which was highlighted
by a 3-for-4 performance against Saint Anselm as he recorded three
RBI and scored three times.
Pitcher of the Week
Gabriel Duran – Dowling College
Junior, Pitcher, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Duran tossed his second no-hitter of the season in a 9-1
victory over Bridgeport. In seven innings of work, Duran struck out
11 Purple Knights, including striking out the side in his final
inning to throw the no-no. Duran missed out on a perfect game by
allowing three batters to reach base via walks.
Division III – New
England
Co-Players of the Week
Kevin Lyons – Westfield State College
Senior, Designated Hitter, Braintree, Mass.
Batted .454 (10-22) with four doubles, four homers, seven
runs scored and 13 RBI in 7-0 week for Owls, including three
round-trippers and five RBI in 4-3, 7-6 doubleheader sweep at
Bridgewater State.
Gordy Webb – Bates College
Junior, Catcher/Designated Hitter, Hampden, Maine
Webb delivered the big hit in all three of the Bobcats’ games against Colby last week. On Friday, his two-run double in the eighth lifted Bates to a 3-1 win. In Saturday’s first game, Webb’s two-run single keyed a five-run seventh in a 7-3 victory. During game two, Webb cranked a grand slam in a 7-2 decision. He batted .414 (12-for-29), had an OBP of .500, and slugged .759 with 12 runs scored and 12 driven in during a 7-1 week.
Co-Pitchers of the Week
Jeremy Chapman – Mitchell College
Senior, Pitcher, Waterford, Conn.
Chapman pitched a 5-0 shutout of NECC opponent Becker. He
hurled a seven inning two-hit victory. Chapman fanned 11 batters,
while walking only two Hawks. Chapman notched a 0.00 ERA for the
week.
Kevin Gilchrist – Tufts University
Sophomore, Pitcher, Medford, Mass.
In what was just the second start of his career, Gilchrist fired a complete-game one-hitter to give the Jumbos an important 5-0 win at Bowdoin on Friday afternoon. Over nine innings, Gilchrist struck out five and walked five batters while surrendering just a double with two outs in the sixth inning. Tufts went on to win the series over the weekend, 2-1, and captured the top seed from the NESCAC East Division.
Division III – Upstate
Co-Players of the Week
Matt Curry – Clarkson University
Senior, Shortstop, Richland, N.Y.
Curry batted .533 (8-for-15) with six stolen bases in a
four-game sweep against Union College. Curry stole five bases on
Sunday in five attempts, and was flawless on the weekend fielding
(five putouts, 15 assists). He also scored four runs and drove in
three others.
Jake Mendell – Skidmore College
Senior, Second Base, St. George, Vt.
In a 3-1 series against No. 21 Rochester, Mendell went
8-12 (.667) with four RBI, and a triple. He reached base 11
consecutive times for and had a .750 on-base percentage. He had two
four-hit games and went 4-4 with two runs, and a three-run triple
that forced extra innings in a 6-5 win.
Pitcher of the Week
Nick Laracuente – Skidmore College
Junior, Pitcher, Tenafly, N.J.
Laracuente shut down Rochester, the league's top offensive team,
with a one-hit complete-game shutout, losing a no-hitter with two
outs in the final inning. He allowed only two balls out of the
infield, with one hit, no walks, three strikeouts, and one hit
batter. He faced two batters over the minimum.
Division III – Metro
Player of the Week
Dan Moreno – Ramapo College
Sophomore, First Base, Cranford, N.J.
Moreno hit .520 (13-for-25) with two doubles, three home
runs, a stolen base, ten RBI, and ten runs scored in a 5-1 week of
play for Ramapo. He hit safely in all six contests, and produced
five multiple-hit games including a 3-for-4 performance with a
double, a home run, four RBI and two runs scored in a 9-6
non-conference road win at St. Joseph’s-Patchogue. He
hit .500 in three NJAC games combined, and wrapped up the week by
going a combined 4-for-8 with a home run and three runs scored in
the Roadrunners’ doubleheader split with Rowan. Moreno
currently ranks second in the NJAC in hitting with a .427 batting
average.
Co-Pitchers of the Week
Pat Gale – College of Staten Island
Junior, Pitcher, Staten Island, N.Y.
Gale hurled his third complete game of the season in the
first game of a tripleheader sweep of Baruch last Saturday, as the
Dolphins (26-9 overall) finished 11-1 in CUNYAC, running away with
the regular season title by five games. In his only start of
the week, he gave up three hits and one walk, yielding only one
run, while striking out five batters in seven innings of work. On
the season, Gale’s 1.66 earned run average and 201 career K's
stand third all-time on the CSI all-time lists.
Billy Cerruti – Rutgers University –
Newark
Senior, Pitcher, Oceanport, N.J.
Cerruti led the Scarlet Raiders to a key 4-0 NJAC victory over TCNJ. He retired all but the final batter in the win, scattering seven hits over 8.2 innings of work without allowing a run for his third pitching victory of the season. Cerruti, who struck out three in his 128-pitch outing, currently ranks second in the NJAC in total strikeouts (58).
Division III
– South
Player of the Week
Brian Youchak – Johns Hopkins University
Graduate Student, Second Base, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Youchak hit .647 (11-for-17) in a 4-0 week for the top-ranked Blue Jays. He had three homers, eight RBI and scored eight runs. Youchak was 7-for-8 with two round-trippers and six RBI in the doubleheader sweep of Haverford.
Pitcher of the Week
Brendan Close – Moravian College
Sophomore, Pitcher, Bethlehem, Pa.
Close tossed a complete game for a victory in a Landmark
win over Drew. He went all seven innings, scattering four hits and
surrendering just one unearned run in a 2-1 Greyhound win. He
fanned seven hitters, and did not allow an extra base hit in the
contest.
