Junior Angelo Bruno leads the Skyhawks into their first NCAA Tournament appearance in ten years. His ten home runs this season rank second in the NE-10. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr). |
Stonehill Gears Up for NCAA Encounter with New Haven
Fourth-seeded and NE-10 Champion Skyhawks and third-seeded Chargers to meet for fourth time in 11 days on day one of East Regional
EASTON, Mass. (May 12, 2010) – The scouting reports for both clubs will be full of fresh notes as fourth-seeded and Northeast-10 Conference Champion Stonehill College opens its second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history with an opening round matchup with third-seeded University of New Haven on day one of the 2010 NCAA Division II Tournament's East Regional, hosted by Southern Connecticut State University, at Yale Field in New Haven, Conn., on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Tomorrow night will mark the fourth meeting between the two clubs in the last 11 days and the second-straight week they will meet under the lights for a postseason encounter. Stonehill has won all three of the previous meetings between the two teams to this point, including a 4-1 decision to open the Skyhawks run to the NE-10 Championship last Thursday night in Rindge, N.H. Stonehill also swept an NE-10 doubleheader at Lou Gorman Field in Easton (4-2, 7-3) to close out the regular season on May 2.
Admission for all East Regional games this weekend will be $8.00 for adults and $5.00 for students and senior citizens. Southern Connecticut State will be providing live stats of all regional contests, with links to the Stonehill games available through www.stonehillskyhawks.com.
Stonehill (29-16, 17-9 NE-10), making its second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, enters the regional as the hottest team in the field having won 11-straight after running through the NE-10 Tournament with a 4-0 clip to capture its third Conference championship this past weekend. The Skyhawks previously earned an NCAA Tournament bid in 2000, going 2-2 and falling to The College of Saint Rose in the regional championship round, 6-3.
Stonehill ranks fifth in the Northeast-10 for team batting average (.278), earned run average (3.20) and fielding (.966). During the Skyhawks current 11-game winning streak, they are hitting .271 with a 1.53 team ERA and .962 fielding percentage.
Junior Alex McCormick leads the starting staff with a 6-3 record and 1.36 ERA, leading Division II in walks per nine innings. |
Junior first baseman Angelo Bruno (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk), named the NE-10 Championship MVP, is hitting .298 (50-for-168) with 31 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple, ten homeruns (2nd NE-10) and 41 RBI (5th) with ten stolen bases this season. His ten homers this season are the most for any Stonehill player in the NE-10's wood bat era (since 2003) and he leads the NE-10 with 32 walks and has also posted a team-best 11 multi-RBI games and 14 multi-hit outings.
Senior Mitch Davis (Bow, N.H./Bow) is hitting a team-best (13th) .313 (56-for-179) with 32 runs scored, 14 doubles (8th), four triples (3rd), two homers and 23 RBI. He leads the team with 17 multi-hit games, while his current nine-game hitting streak has matched the team high for the year.
Head Coach Patrick Boen is expected to either call on junior righthander Alex McCormick (Weymouth, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) or sophomore lefthander Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) against New Haven tomorrow night. Both enjoyed All-Northeast-10 campaigns with McCormick posting a 6-3 record (5th NE-10, wins) and 1.36 ERA (3rd) with 53 strikeouts and a mere six walks in 73.0 innings pitched (11th) over ten appearances, nine starts, this season. He leads all of Division II in walks per nine innings, averaging just 0.74 this season. White is 5-2 with a 2.55 ERA, 44 strikeouts and 13 walks in 60 innings over eight appearances, seven starts on the mound, holding opposing hitters to a .194 average (7th).
White also plays in the outfield for Stonehill when not pitching and is batting .314 (33-105) with 11 runs scored, three doubles, a home run and 11 RBI with a team-best 11 stolen bases.
Stonehill has gotten solid production out junior Brenden Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) and sophomore Michael Von Stein (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull). Shepard closed out all four of the Skyhawks wins at last weekend's NE-10 Championship, saving three, and has made 13 relief appearances this spring, posting a 2-2 record with four saves (5th NE-10) and a 1.65 ERA, 16 strikeouts and five walks over 16.1 innings. Von Stein leads the team with 17 appearances (9th), posting a 3-1 record with five saves (4th), a 1.45 ERA, 19 strikeouts and 11 walks over 31.0 innings.
Senior Mitch Davis is hitting a team-best .313 with 14 doubles, carrying a nine-game hitting streak into the NCAA Tournament. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
New Haven (31-13, 18-8 NE-10) is making its 32nd NCAA Tournament appearance, but first since 2006. The Chargers enter the postseason having dropped four of their last five, with three of those losses coming to Stonehill. Prior to that, UNH had won nine-straight and 13 of 15. The Chargers rank second among NE-10 team leaders in ERA (2.91) and fielding (.971), while ranking eight in batting (.268).
Sophomore Ryan Brockett (Guilford, Conn./Guilford) leads New Haven with a .312 (44-for-141) batting average, 31 runs scored, five doubles, a triple and 24 RBI with 14 stolen bases. Junior Tom Rombilus (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) is batting .311 (59-190) with 39 runs scored, nine doubles, a home run and 26 RBI with 16 steals. Sophomore Jordan Kershaw (Seymour, Conn./Seymour) adds a .306 (37-121) average, 22 runs scored, four doubles, a triple and 15 RBI.
Senior Chris Smith (Shelton, Conn./Emmett O'Brien Tech) figures to get the ball for the Chargers tomorrow night for his 11th start (14th appearance). He is 6-3 (5th NE-10, wins) with a 3.22 ERA, 58 strikeouts and 17 walks over 67.0 innings pitched. Junior Mitch Rossi (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) leads the NE-10 with 11 saves in 19 relief appearances, posting a 3-1 record and 1.67 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 11 walks over 32.1 innings pitched.
The winner of tomorrow night's game will face the winner of Thursday's second game between second-seeded Franklin Pierce University (36-14-1, 19-6-1 NE-10) and seventh-seeded LIU-C.W. Post (31-15-1, 22-8 ECC) on Friday at 7 p.m. The loser of the Stonehill/New Haven game will face the winner of game one between top-seeded and host Southern Connecticut State (35-11-1, 21-5 NE-10) and sixth-seeded Dominican College (28-16, 15-5 CACC) on Friday at 3 p.m.
The schedule continues at Yale Field with three games on Friday and Saturday, with the championship round scheduled for Sunday. The winner of the East Regional will advance to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championships in Cary, N.C., May 22-29, at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
2010 NCAA Division II
Baseball Championships
East Regional
Hosted by Southern Connecticut State
University
Yale Field, New Haven,
Conn.
Thursday, May 13
Game 1: #6 Dominican (28-16) at
#1 Southern Connecticut (35-11-1), 11 a.m.
Game 2: #5 C.W. Post
(31-15-1) vs. #2 Franklin Pierce (36-14-1), 3 p.m.
Game 3: #4 Stonehill
(29-16) vs. #3 New Haven (31-13), 7 p.m.
Friday, May 14
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2
Loser, 11 a.m.
Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser, 3 p.m.
Game 6: Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 7 p.m.
If four teams remain after Game 6, the
following schedule will be used:
Saturday, May
15
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 11 a.m.
Game 8: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser, 3 p.m.
Game 9: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 7 Loser, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 16
Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9
Winner, Noon
Game 11: Game 10 rematch*, 4 p.m.
* Game 11 only necessary if Game 9 Winner wins Game
10.
If five teams remain after Game 6, the
following schedule will be used:
Saturday, May
15
Game 7: Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 Loser, 11 a.m.
Game 8: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 3 p.m.
Game 9: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 7 p.m.
If two teams remain after Game 9, the
following schedule will be used:
Sunday, May
16
Game 10: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, Noon
Game 11: Game 10 rematch*, 4 p.m.
* Game 11 only necessary if Game 8 Winner wins Game
10.
If three teams remain after
Game 9, the following schedule will be used:
Sunday, May 16
Game 10: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Loser, Noon
Game 11: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner, 4 p.m.
