April 9, 2007
Rookie of the Week
Malzahn Selected as East Coast Conference "Rookie of the Week"
Vincent Malzahn, St. Thomas Aquinas (Freshman, 1B 6-5, Port Jervis, NY)
Malzahn hit .636 on the week with four home runs, 10 RBI, and five runs scored with a slugging percentage of 1.910. In a Saturday doubleheader split versus Molloy, Vincent went 5-for-7 with three home runs, a triple, single, and eight RBIs. Malzahn is now batting .388 on the season with seven homers and 23 RBI.
Baden Player of the Week
Ralph Tropiano, Adelphi (Senior, 2B, 5-10, Staten Island, NY)
Tropiano helped Adelphi stay near the top of the ECC standings, as he hit .600 on the week with one home run, five runs batted in and five runs scored. Ralph also handled every chance he had in the field without making an error, and he also stole a base last week.
Co-Pitchers of the Week
Steve Merslich, Mercy (Junior, 6-4, Flushing, NY)
Merslich tossed a complete game shutout of New Haven in game two of Saturday's doubleheader as the Flyers topped the Chargers, 8-0. He scattered six hits, all singles, and struck out four batters for his first win at Mercy. Steve worked out of jams in the second, fourth, and sixth innings to preserve the shutout against New Haven's potent offense.
Riley Shuckerow, Bridgeport (Sophomore, 5-11, Milford, CT)
Shuckerow made two appearances in Saturday afternoon's doubleheader sweep at C.W. Post. In game won, he pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowing no hits to earn his second save of the season. As the starter in game two, the lefty hurled a seven-inning complete game in which he allowed only two hits, with one unearned run and six strike outs. Riley is now 3-0 on the season and leads the Purple Knights in saves with two. He is holding opposing hitters to a .172 batting average.
ECC Baseball Notebook
STAC: The Spartan offense broke out big time last week scoring 23 runs against Mercy and hitting eight home runs in three conference contests. Junior second baseman John Mazzello hit .571 on the week with one home run and three runs batted in. Mazzello extended his hitting streak to nine games. In those nine games, he is batting .538 (21-for-39). John has a .407 batting average so far this season. Senior pitcher Chris Skrypack fired a complete game 5-1 win over Molloy, the ECC's leading offense in hits, doubles, home runs and runs scored.
ADELPHI: Senior Mike Myers pitched a complete game, seven-hitter to pick up his fourth win of the season, as the Panthers defeated Concordia, 11-2. Myers has now pitched four complete games this season. Freshman Chris Weidlein posted a .455 batting average in four games last week.
BRIDGEPORT: Senior Rob Parisian hit .500 last week with one home run and five RBI. He also had a .714 slugging percentage plus a .500 on-base percentage. Rob is currently on an eight-game hitting streak, and he has hit safely in all but one of UB's games so far in 2007. Parisian leads the team in batting with a .475 average.
C.W. POST: C.W. Post, ranked No. 3 in last week's NCBWA Northeast Region poll, has seen many pitchers step up after multiple injuries were suffered to its starting pitching corps. Junior Keith Karlsen fired 4.1 innings of one-hit, three-strikeout relief against New Haven, and in six appearances this year (five in relief) he has 24 strikeouts and a 1.64 earned run average through 22 innings of work. Junior transfer Kenny Grassano has struck out 30 hitters in 18 innings pitched, while junior closer Anthony Rinaldi (team-best 11 appearances) has three saves and a 3.00 ERA to go with a 6-to-19 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Five of the Pioneers' six games this week are against ECC competition, beginning with Monday's game at Bridgeport. Head coach Pete Timmes' squad then plays host to New Haven Wednesday, before playing a three-game weekend series against Queens.
CONCORDIA: The Clippers went 1-2 last week, opening with a 16-3 win over Bridgeport and falling at home to Adelphi on Saturday 4-2 and 11-2. Junior Peter Dempsey batted .500 for the week (5-10) and had 5 RBI. Junior Tom Bordanaro blasted two home runs and had four RBI for the week. Concordia will look to rebound against the Panthers on Monday, as they travel to Adelphi for a single game before traveling to Bloomfield College on Tuesday. The Clippers will wrap up the week by hosting Dowling on Wednesday and New Haven on Saturday.
DOWLING: Dowling defeated Queens, 17-13, in the team's only action last week. The Golden Lions broke the game open with a seven-run fourth innings, highlighted by a James Healey two-run homer.
MERCY: Mercy went 1-3 last week, falling at St. Thomas Aquinas 23-5 and at New Haven 8-5. On Saturday, the Flyers split a home doubleheader with New Haven, dropping the opener10-6, before bouncing back with an 8-0 victory in game two. Junior southpaw Steve Merslich went the distance for the shutout. He scattered only six hits, all singles, and struck out four batters for his first win at Mercy. Senior Roberto Martinez continued his hot hitting, batting .455 (5-for-11) last week with three doubles and two runs batted in. He hit safely in all four games, extending his hitting streak to seven straight. Freshman shortstop Justin Muscarella batted .400 (6-for-15) for the week with a double, a home run, four runs batted in and five runs scored. He hit safely in all four games, slugging .667, posting a .526 on base percentage (10-for-19), and stealing two bases in three attempts. Muscarella went 2-for-3 in the 8-0 shutout of the Chargers with a big three-run home run, his second round-tripper of the year, and a stolen base.
MOLLOY: The Lions went 1-2 for the week with a victory over STAC and losses to STAC and Felician. Freshman Timothy Greig hit .357 on the week, and he knocked in the game-winning run in a 9-8 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas with a single in the bottom of the ninth in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. Chris Irwin helped his team's cause with seven hit on the week.
NEW HAVEN: The Chargers went 4-1 last week and 3-1 in ECC play, picking up key wins over league foe C.W. Post, 2-0, and regionally-ranked foe UMass Lowell, 16-10. UNH is now 19-8 overall this season and 9-2 in league play. Senior Ryan Aiken reached base in all five games last week and had a double, two home runs and six RBIs to help pace the offense. Junior catcher Michael Moras had a career-best 5-RBI performance in a win over Mercy on Saturday, and with seven runs driven in for the week has increased his total in that category to a team-best 33 through 27 games. Senior David Anderson had two more home runs last week, increasing his team-leading total to eight in just 76 at-bats this season. Grad student Tommy Myette hit well again to keep his batting average near the .500 mark (.490, 49-100) while also posting team-high totals of 11 doubles and 33 runs scored. On the pitching side, senior Dan Gulino ran his record to 4-0 with a complete game three-hitter in a 2-0 win over C.W. Post on Tuesday, and Dan Blake improved to 4-1 with a 1.98 ERA in six starts with a win over Mercy on Saturday. The Chargers embark on road "trip" of sorts this upcoming week, traveling to non-conference foe Post University
