Stony Brook's baseball regional tough but well-balanced

By WALTER VILLA

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- When it was announced that Central Florida would be the No. 2 seed in the regional hosted by the University of Miami, Hurricanes players celebrated. Miami split two games this season with rival Central Florida.
But considering that ESPN's Kyle Peterson called this the toughest regional in the nation, perhaps they shouldn't have reacted so joyously.
Stony Brook's name, on the other hand, drew little reaction. But perhaps the top-seeded Hurricanes (36-21) should've been more concerned with the fourth-seeded Seawolves (46-11), their opponent Friday night at 7. Third-seeded Missouri State (39-20) will play Central Florida (43-15) at 2 p.m. in the regional opener.
"We just want to come and prove that we deserve to be here with all the wins we've had this year," said Stony Brook senior righthander Tyler Johnson, who will start against Miami. Johnson (9-1, 1.78 ERA) will face senior lefthander Eric Erickson (8-5, 2.84).
Other than the pitching matchups, the biggest news to emerge from Thursday's news conferences came from Miami coach Jim Morris, who revealed that his top hitter, Peter O'Brien, missed practice Wednesday because of a sore wrist.
"He's having trouble rotating his wrist when he follows through," Morris said of O'Brien, who returned last week after missing 18 games because of the injury and is hitting .348 with 10 homers and 39 RBIs. "It's just a question of how much pain he can tolerate."
If O'Brien is ineffective, it could further balance the scales in a regional that includes three of the four teams ranked among Baseball America's Top 25: Central Florida (20), Miami (23) and Stony Brook (25).
Missouri State is Peterson's pick as the top "sleeper" in the country, a team he called "incredibly dangerous" because of a deep pitching staff.
The regional appears so evenly matched that a case could be made for any of the four teams emerging as the winner.
Miami, for example, went 4-0 against No. 6 North Carolina and got to the ACC Tournament final. But the Hurricanes also lost at home to Florida Gulf Coast, finished 11th in the ACC in runs scored, were last in fielding percentage and changed closers during the season.
Meanwhile, eight Stony Brook starters are hitting over .300, led by Travis Jankowski at .411 and Maxx Tissenbaum at .400, and the team batting average is .337, which helps explain why the Seawolves have the nation's best winning percentage.
Here is something else to consider while contemplating a potential upset Friday night. Stony Brook is 1-6 in NCAA regional play, but its lone victory came against North Carolina State, 6-2, in 2010. N.C. State, like Miami, is an ACC school.
"This is our fourth regional, two in the past three years," Stony Brook coach Matt Senk said. "We believe that if we play our very best, winning a regional is doable

Texas Rangers supports Stony Brook Baseball!

A year after snub, Stony Brook rolling into NCAAs

NEW YORK (AP) - Matt Senk and his frustrated Stony Brook Seawolves were home at this time a year ago, thinking about what should have been.
After setting the school record with 42 victories and breezing through the regular season, a second straight trip to the NCAA tournament seemed a lock. But the Seawolves lost in the America East conference tournament and were denied a few days later of an at-large berth for the field of 64 teams.
"That was definitely a big letdown for us," senior right-hander Tyler Johnson said.
Fueled in part by that stunning end to its season, Stony Brook came back this year and left nothing to chance.
"We did our best," junior outfielder Travis Jankowski said, "to make sure it didn't happen again."
Mission accomplished, and then some. Stony Brook one-upped last year's squad by going 46-11, leading the nation with an .807 winning percentage, winning the America East tournament and earning an automatic spot in the NCAA tournament.
"Last year's disappointment was a motivating factor, but it wasn't a rallying cry," said Senk, in his 22nd year as Stony Brook's coach. "We had a lot of motivation, mostly just to play our best. We felt that if we did that, we could end up right where we are. Last year's team did some tremendous things, and this team turns around and outdoes that team. I can't be more proud of our group of guys."
The Seawolves are in Coral Gables, Fla., set to open up Friday against host Miami (36-21). It's the second time the schools are meeting on the diamond, with the last being a 9-8 victory by Miami in 2003, when the Hurricanes' Ryan Braun - last year's NL MVP - hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning.
While Stony Brook is the No. 4 seed in a regional that also includes Central Florida (43-15) and Missouri State (39-20), the Seawolves are hardly an overmatched underdog. They enter the tournament having won 11 straight and 22 of their last 23.
"In sports in general, it's always easy to underestimate a team, but I'd like to think that with our record and how we've hit the ball and pitched the ball, we're getting some good respect," Jankowski said. "I think we'll put up a good fight against whoever we play."
And, the Seawolves have shown they can be a tough out. In 2010, they got the first NCAA tournament victory in program history by beating North Carolina State before being eliminated by Coastal Carolina. Stony Brook was more of a nice, feel-good story back then, a Northeast-based school taking on the big boys.
Now, the Seawolves are truly one of the big boys themselves, ranked in the top 30 in a few national polls.
"Most of the guys on our team right now have been to a regional and have won a game against a very, very good ACC team in N.C. State," said Johnson, who was on the mound for that 6-2 victory two years ago. "Now we're facing a Miami team right off the bat and they're good and have been for a long time. But even a team like us from the Northeast seeing a team like Miami, we have some confidence to go out and put together a good game against them."
Some thought Stony Brook was even deserving of a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament instead of a No. 4.
"Certainly, the number of wins this team has and the winning percentage we have, when you post a record like that and do so many things as far as individual and team accomplishments, I think a strong argument could've been made for us being a 3-seed," Senk said. "But the fact we're a No. 4, it doesn't really concern us."
Senk has done an outstanding job, particularly in the last 10 years, in elevating the program to national prominence - helped by an increased focus on baseball by the school and athletic director Jim Fiore. Late last season, the Seawolves broke in their slick new ballpark, Joe Nathan Field - named after the Texas Rangers reliever who was a star shortstop at Stony Brook.
Back when Nathan was there in the early 1990s, the athletic programs were Division III and the teams were called the Patriots.
"For that program to come so far from the days before our recruiting class, and we kind of got things started a little bit in D-III and I think things really started moving quick for them," Nathan said this week. "I think they had to go independent for a year or two, and then right into D-I and they really didn't skip a beat. Their success continued even though they were in obviously tougher baseball, so it just speaks for what that program has done."
Nathan has followed his alma mater since it made its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2004 and nearly pulled off an upset of host Arizona State in 2008 before getting that first win two years ago.
"They've been to the NCAA regionals now and hopefully they can get over that hump and get past the regionals," Nathan said. "They've played some good ball. A couple of years ago, they had a chance, but fell short ... so hopefully they have a little better luck in Miami."
The Seawolves are loaded with talent, starting at the top of the lineup with Jankowski, who's hitting .411 with four homers, 40 RBIs and 34 stolen bases. The America East player of the year is a possible first-round draft pick next week who ranks among the national leaders in several offensive categories.
"Having Jankowski to start a ballgame for us, he's just that catalyst you want," Senk said. "He can set the tone right away for what we're going to do offensively."
Jankowski is followed in the lineup by catcher Pat Cantwell (.306, 1, 27), an outstanding situational hitter. Third baseman Willie Carmona (.380, 10, 60) bats third and was the conference player of the year last season. Next is second baseman Maxx Tissenbaum (.400, 3, 41), who has struck out just four times in 200 at-bats.
"Timely hitting really came through toward the second half of this season and we stress scoring first and jumping out to an early lead," Jankowski said. "We've been able to do that the last couple of weekends, and just been playing a really good game of baseball overall."
The rotation is led by the solid 1-2 punch of Johnson (9-1, 1.78), the America East pitcher of the year who holds the school record with 33 career victories, and sophomore righty Brandon McNitt (8-2, 2.26). Senior right-hander Evan Stecko-Haley (7-3, 3.08), junior righty James Campbell (5-0, 3.09, two saves) and closer Frankie Vanderka (1-2, 2.22, five saves) provide pitching depth, a necessity to succeed in the NCAA tournament.
"Honestly, it's been a little bit of everything this season," Johnson said. "We start off with pitching and defense, and our bats have gotten really hot lately. We're really starting to click as a team, and that's just a great feeling. It definitely gives us a lot of confidence going into this."

Football adds junior college transfer Graham Ball to 2012 roster

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook head football coach Chuck Priore has announced the signing of kicker Graham Ball (Lynn Haven, Fla.). Ball, a junior college transfer, will have three years of eligibility left.
"We're excited to have a player with Graham's ability," Priore said. We feel he'll be able to come in and compete for a spot immediately."
Ball spent 2011 at New Mexico Military Institute, where he led the Western States Football League in points (88). He went 58 of 62 on extra points and made 10 field goals, earning second team All-WSFL honors. The Broncos went 9-3, advancing to the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl.
Ball was a 2009 All-Bay Country place-kicker and honorable mention soccer player as a senior at Mosley High School near Panama City.

Stony Brook Baseball ranked #25 by Baseball America for the first time-ever

DURHAM, N.C—Florida began the season at No. 1 in Baseball America's rankings, and it enters the NCAA tournament that way after a tumultuous week of conference tournaments and the end of the regular season.

The Gators entered the week ranked third and went 2-2 during the Southeastern Conference tournament, one game better than then-No. 2 Louisiana State. Florida State, No. 1 previously, lost all three of its games to fall to No. 5. The Gators also earned the No. 1 national seed from the NCAA baseball committee, while national No. 2 seed UCLA also jumped to second in the rankings after sweeping Southern California to claim the Pacific-12 Conference championship.

There was plenty of shuffling throughout the rankings. Oregon State swept rival Oregon, dropping the Ducks to No. 10 and moving the Beavers up seven spots. Mississippi State won the Southeastern Conference's new 10-team tournament with a 5-1 mark, moving up 10 spots in the process to No. 14.

Vanderbilt, the preseason No. 10 team, was once 7-15 but has rallied to re-enter the rankings at 33-26. The Commodores have won 16 of 20. Also entering the rankings for the first time ever this week is Stony Brook, winner of 11 straight and owner of a gaudy 46-11 record. Stony Brook won the America East Conference regular-season and tournament championships and plays No. 23 Miami in a first-round regional game on June 1.

The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of May 27 and do not include ties.

	Team	W-L	Last Week	Prev.
	1.	Florida	42-18	2-2	3
	2.	UCLA	42-14	4-0	9
	3.	Louisiana State	43-16	1-2	2
	4.	Baylor	44-14	2-2	6
	5.	Florida State	43-15	0-3	1
	6.	North Carolina	44-14	2-1	10
	7.	South Carolina	40-17	1-2	7
	8.	Rice	40-17	1-2	4
	9.	Texas A&M	42-16	1-2	8
	10.	Oregon	42-17	1-3	5
	11.	Kentucky	43-16	2-1	11
	12.	Cal State Fullerton	35-19	2-1	12
	13.	Arizona	38-17	2-1	13
	14.	Mississippi State	39-22	5-1	24
	15.	Purdue	44-12	3-0	18
	16.	Oregon State	38-18	3-0	23
	17.	Virginia	38-17	2-1	17
	18.	North Carolina State	39-17	1-2	15
	19.	Stanford	38-16	2-2	14
	20.	Central Florida	41-14	1-2	19
	21.	Arizona State	36-20	1-2	16
	22.	Vanderbilt	33-26	4-1	NR
	23.	Miami	36-21	2-2	NR
	24.	Pepperdine	34-21	2-1	NR
	25.	Stony Brook	46-11	4-0	NR
Dropped out: TCU (20), San Diego (21), Louisville (22), Arkansas (25)

Stony Brook not intimidated by Miami

By STEVEN MARCUS steven.marcus@newsday.com

Stony Brook's baseball team has drawn four-time national champion Miami in the NCAA's Coral Gables Regional starting Friday at Alex Rodriguez Park. The bracket includes Central Florida and Missouri State.
Miami has a storied history, but no Hurricane warning was sounded when the Seawolves' opponent was announced Monday. "Just because we're from Stony Brook doesn't mean we should be in awe of Miami," centerfielder Travis Jankowski said.

Second baseman Maxx Tissenbaum added: "It's business, not just go down there and enjoy Miami and play a couple of ballgames and hope we do well. We're going down there to really beat some people. I'll take our guys against any guys in the country with the lineup that we have and pitching that we have. I think we have a very confident group with whoever we face."
No. 23 Miami (36-21) has the 12th-ranked ERA (2.96) but is batting only .261 as a team. Catcher Peter O'Brien (.348, 10 homers, 39 RBIs) has battled injuries. Miami is in the tournament for the 40th straight year, extending its own record.
America East champion Stony Brook (46-11), which is making its fourth NCAA appearance, has the best winning percentage (.807) in Division I. "With Central Florida [43-15] and Missouri State [39-20] in the bottom half," Tissenbaum said, "I think if we can get through Miami in that first game, we'll have a good chance to put ourselves in a good situation late in the regional."
Several Stony Brook players have competed against major-college players during the summer in the Cape Cod League and believe that will help. "You see guys do certain things on TV and you think they are the greatest player alive," said pitcher Tyler Johnson, who is likely to start against Miami. "When you meet them in person, you realize they are the same size as you, same build, same kind of talent."
Jankowski, Stony Brook's top pro prospect, agreed, saying: "We were facing the best players in the nation day in and day out. When we go to a regional and we're playing the best 64 teams in college baseball, we kind of know we can compete with these guys at a high level."
Stony Brook has played one game against Miami, in 2003. "We lost, 9-8, in 10 innings," coach Matt Senk recalled. "The guy who hit a sacrifice fly to beat us was Ryan Braun . So we have played there and competed our butts off."

Senk loves being big fish in SBU's small pond

By STEVEN MARCUS steven.marcus@newsday.com

Winning seasons and NCAA bids continue to enhance his resume, but Stony Brook baseball coach Matt Senk doesn't yearn to go elsewhere. All the advancement Senk needs has occurred during his 22 years at the university.
"There are so many things already in place and Stony Brook's been great to me," Senk said Saturday, a day after the Seawolves won the America East championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. "Everything that you would want in a job, I really have."
Senk, who graduated from John Glenn High School in 1976, was a star catcher at Cortland. He coached the high school teams at St. Agnes and Kellenberg before coming to Stony Brook in 1991. At that point, the program, which had enjoyed only six winning seasons since 1966, was in Division III.
Senk has excelled through the progression to D-I with a career record of 617-388. The team has four NCAA bids in D-I and one in D-II. With a record of 88-23 in the last two seasons, Stony Brook has the best winning percentage in D-I at .793. The America East championship was Stony Brook's fourth overall and third in the last five years.
"Matt Senk is a star," athletic director Jim Fiore said. "He's a great coach and a better person. The one thing we knew about Matt Senk was that the guy was passionate about Stony Brook, passionate about being a coach, and was introspective about getting better."
Senk's arrival predated state- of-the-art Joe Nathan Field. It was just a field.
"We made it a home-field advantage," Senk said. "We knew the bad hops. When I first got there, the outfield was so sloped, you could barely see your rightfielder from the sunken dugout. We had a terrific rightfielder named Scott Shermansky. When a ball would be hit to right, you'd see a little bit of Scott, then his hat, and then he'd disappear."
Shermansky, now an insurance claims manager in Fort Lauderdale, was a sophomore when Senk was hired.
"What he's done for that program, it's incredible," Shermansky said. "When he came in, the tone changed. It was more substantial to be on the baseball team. You could see a massive difference in what that program was going to be."
Senk initially was a part-time coach and did other jobs around the university to make ends meet. He was elevated to full-time just about the time that Joe Nathan arrived from upstate Pine Bush High School. Under Senk's tutelage, Nathan went from shortstop to pitcher and then on to major-league baseball. Senk kept the relationship alive and Nathan has responded in kind with large donations.
Senk's recruiting philosophy hasn't really changed over the years. "Come here and you'll be a big fish in a small pond," Senk said he tells recruits. "You'll get a chance to play and fully develop."
Thirty-five players have been signed to pro contracts since the program went D-I in 2000. Centerfielder Travis Jankowski heads this season's pro prospects.
Senk thinks the program's ability to win consistently has drawn players. That stability begins with the coach.
"I think players and families like the fact that there is continuity," he said. "I've been there a while. I wasn't going anywhere. I love Stony Brook. It's been great to me."

Carmona's four RBIs help Stony Brook reach regionals

By STEVEN MARCUS steven.marcus@newsday.com

Willie Carmona swung away in the seventh inning, and when his no-doubt-about-it three-run home run sailed far over the fence in right-center, Stony Brook was well on its way to a 13-6 baseball victory over Maine on Friday in the title game of the America East Championship. 
The Seawolves (46-11) will make their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2004. Regional sites and matchups will be announced at noon Monday.
Stony Brook had an 8-6 lead when Carmona batted against reliever Mike Connolly, who had thrown eight innings in pitching Maine (28-28) to a 5-1 victory over Binghamton in the morning elimination game. "I knew he had pitched earlier,'' Carmona said, "so I knew his arm would be at least a little fatigued.''
Carmona, a switch-hitting third baseman from Hempstead, was batting lefthanded. When he connected on Connolly's 2-and-2 fastball, it sounded like a thousand aluminum cans being crushed simultaneously. The homer was estimated at 380 feet.
"It's unbelievable,'' second baseman Maxx Tissenbaum said. "Any pitch that is near the plate, he can turn it around and put it over the wall, over the scoreboard. It's pretty incredible.''
Stony Brook had 18 hits, three each by Travis Jankowski (three RBIs, three runs), Tissenbaum (two RBIs) and Tanner Nivins and two each by Carmona (four RBIs), Kevin Krause and Kevin Courtney. James Campbell (5-0) pitched four shutout innings in relief to earn the victory.
It was Carmona's team-leading ninth home run and eighth batting lefty. That was of special interest to his dad, William, who prodded his son to become a switch hitter back in Little League.
"It was completely uncomfortable,'' Willie said of his early travails. "I used to cry because I didn't want to hit lefthanded. Eventually things started clicking. He knew.''
Carmona's dad, who had been signed by the Toronto Blue Jays and spent time in the minor leagues in the early 1990s, joyously watched the on-field celebration after the game. "I feel very proud because I know how much he has put into it,'' he said. "I know how many swings he has taken.''
Carmona, who also had a sacrifice fly, played a big role in breaking a 6-6 tie in the sixth. With one out, he hit a booming triple to left and scored on Tissenbaum's single up the middle.
"We needed that run because they had come back,'' Tissenbaum said. "Momentum was just sitting there. When hit the ground, it was pandemonium in here.''
And that was merely the beginning.

Jankowski attracting plenty of attention from scouts

By STEVEN MARCUS steven.marcus@newsday.com

A 7-4 victory over Binghamton on the second day of the America East Championship put Stony Brook University's baseball team on the cusp of the title and an NCAA bid. That could happen Friday when Stony Brook faces Maine or Binghamton at 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, Seawolves centerfielder Travis Jankowski may be on the verge of becoming a professional when Major League Baseball conducts its June draft. Joe Nathan Field contained a large contingent of scouts, including former Mets general manager Omar Minaya, now the senior vice president of baseball operations with the Padres.
"Just here to scout,'' Minaya said, adhering to the long-established credo of not tipping one's hand before the draft. It is widely believed that Jankowski and several of his teammates are on the scouts' radar.
"It's exciting,'' said Jankowski, a junior from Lancaster, Pa., who was named America East player of the year, "but I've been raised to be humble, so I just kind of brush it off until it happens. Once it happens, once the college season is over, that's when I kind of focus on professional baseball.''
The 6-2, 180-pound Jankowski had two of Stony Brook's six hits -- he has six in the first two games -- and is batting .407 with 16 doubles, nine triples, four home runs and 34 stolen bases.
He had one of his team's three RBIs against Binghamton (23-25), which committed two errors and allowed three unearned runs. Both miscues occurred in the seventh as Stony Brook (45-11) put the game away with four runs on only one hit, Jankowski's single to center.
Stony Brook starter Brandon McNitt allowed two runs in six innings and reliever James Campbell, another player being watched by the scouts, allowed two runs and struck out three in three innings. Catcher Pat Cantwell and third baseman Willie Carmona, also considered pro prospects, each had a hit.
No other Division I school offered Jankowski a baseball scholarship. He said he received interest from football coaches. "My high school baseball coach was pretty blunt,'' Jankowski said. "He goes, 'Listen, you're not going to withstand going across the middle [as a receiver] and meeting with a 250-pound linebacker. You're not going to survive. Baseball's your game if you want a career in it.''
Jankowski said that made his dad, Paul, who played at Indiana University (Pa.) and taught Travis the game, very happy.
Stony Brook coach Matt Senk can thank his recruiting coordinator, Joe Pennucci, for discovering Jankowski at a showcase in Florida. "I saw a video,'' Senk said. "The guy at the plate hit an absolute bomb to centerfield. Some guy out of nowhere goes over the fence and catches a home run ball. That's Travis.''
If Jankowski eventually makes the majors, he would become the second Stony Brook player to do so. The first was Joe Nathan, who played shortstop for Stony Brook, was drafted by the Giants in 1995 and has gone on to become a top-flight closer.
Nathan's success has made Stony Brook a destination for aspiring pros, Senk said: "Joe is a gift that just keeps giving.''

Baseball beats Binghamton to advance to AE title game

Box Score

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The No. 1 Stony Brook baseball team scored four runs in the seventh inning to break open a close game and went on to defeat No. 3 Binghamton, 7-4, in the winner's bracket game of the 2012 America East Championship on Thursday at Joe Nathan Field. With the win, SBU advances to the America East title game on Friday.
The No. 30 Seawolves (45-11) play the winner of tomorrow morning's Binghamton/Maine game at 3 p.m., needing just one victory for its second America East championship in the three years.
Stony Brook's opponent would need to beat the Seawolves twice in order to win the double-elimination tournament. SBU has won 10 straight and 21 of its last 22.
Sophomore Brandon McNitt allowed two runs in 6.0+ innings to earn the victory. Junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) led the Seawolves offense with two hits and an RBI.
Stony Brook led 3-2 heading to the seventh following a Binghamton run in the bottom of the sixth but freshman Cole Peragine (Belle Ewart, Ontario) walked to lead off the seventh and moved to second after sophomore Kevin Courtney (Lindenhurst, Pa.) reached on a hit by the pitch.
Freshman Kevin Krause (Staten Island, N.Y.) then pulled back a bunt attempt and slapped the ball down the third base line.
Playing several feet inside the bag, Binghamton third baseman Brian Ruby fielded the ball cleanly but then threw wide of third as Peragine scored to give SBU a two-run lead.
Jankowski followed with a line drive single to center to bring Courtney home and make it 5-2. Junior Pat Cantwell (West Islip, N.Y.) then laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded cleanly by Bearcat reliever Jack Rogalla.

But Rogalla's throw trying to cut down Krause at third sailed down the left field line. Krause scored easily and Jankowski came all the way around first to put Stony Brook in front, 7-2.
Binghamton scored a run in the eighth and then another with two outs in the ninth on a Dave Ciocchi RBI single but junior James Campbell (Bridgeport, Conn.) retired Ruby on a grounder to third to end the game and pick up his second save.
SBU led 2-0 early on a two-out RBI single from Courtney in the second and a sacrifice fly from junior Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ontario) in the third.
Binghamton got a run back in the fourth before Stony Brook scored in the sixth to make it 3-1.

Baseball rolls past Maine in AE tourney opener, Seawolves will take on No. 3 Binghamton on Thursday at 2:45 p.m. (WUSB)

Box Score

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Senior Tyler Johnson allowed just one earned run in 7.2 innings and the No. 1 Stony Brook baseball team pounded out 18 hits on its way to a 14-6 victory over No. 4 Maine in the opening round of the 2012 America East Championship on Wednesday at Joe Nathan Field. SBU advances to take on No. 3 Binghamton in a winner's bracket game on Thursday at 3 p.m.
Junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) collected four hits in five at-bats to lead the Seawolves while senior Pat Cantwell (West Islip, N.Y.) and sophomore Kevin Courtney (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) each had two hits and three RBI.
Ranked No. 30 in this week's NCBWA poll, the Seawolves improved to 44-11 with the victory. Johnson (9-1) allowed seven hits and struck out two.
Stony Brook jumped on the Black Bears early, scoring two runs in the first on a two-run double from junior Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ontario). The Seawolves added four runs in the second highlighted by a two-run triple from Cantwell.
SBU added a run in the third to make it 7-0 but Maine got back in the game with four unearned runs in the fourth capped by a Fran Whitten three-run home run.
Stony Brook took control of the game in sixth though, striking for four runs to make it 11-4. Jankowski and freshman Kevin Krause (Staten Island, N.Y.) each had run-scoring singles in the inning.
Maine got no closer than five runs the rest of the way. Freshman Matt Gallup (Albany, N.Y.) pitched the final 1.1 innings to wrap up the victory for the Seawolves.

Krause finished with four hits while Tissenbaum had three hits and a pair of RBI.

BASEBALL SWEEPS AWARDS...WEDNESDAY vs. Maine, 2:45 p.m. WUSB - LISTEN LIVE

AE release with full teams

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook baseball team, fresh off a second straight America East regular season title, swept the four major conference awards, the America East office announced on Tuesday. Junior Travis Jankowski was named Player of the Year, senior Tyler Johnson earned Pitcher of the Year honors, freshman Cole Peragine was tabbed Rookie of the Year and Matt Senktook home his second straight Coach of the Year award.
In addition, the Seawolves had a league-high 12 players earn all-conference honors. Senior Pat Cantwell, juniors Tanner Nivins, William Carmona and Maxx Tissenbaum and sophomore Brandon McNittjoined Jankowski and Johnson on the first team.
Peragine earned second team honors along with fellow freshman Steven Goldstein and Kevin Krause, senior Evan Stecko-Haley and sophomore Frankie Vanderka. In addition, Peragine, Goldstein and Krause each were selected to the All-Rookie squad.

Jankowski becomes the second straight Seawolf to be named Player of the Year as Carmona took home the honor last year. Johnson is the third straight Stony Brook hurler to win Pitcher of the Year as former All-American Nick Tropeanowon it the previous two years.

Named to the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, Jankowski ranks 16th in the nation in batting average (.397) and runs scored (59), is eighth in steals (34) and leads the country with nine triples.
A three-time first team selection, Johnson became the Stony Brook all-time wins leader earlier this season and led the America East in victories (eight) and ERA (1.84).
Peragine started 53 games at shortstop in his first year at Stony Brook, hitting .335 with 35 RBI. He is the third consecutive Stony Brook player to be named Rookie of the Year (McNitt, Carmona).
Senk guided the Seawolves to a school record 43 wins and has led Stony Brook to a .787 winning percentage (85-23) since the beginning of last season, which is the best in the nation over that span.
Carmona earned first team honors for the third consecutive season, hitting .390 while leading the conference in home runs (nine), RBI (55) and doubles (21).
Cantwell picked up his second straight first team selection at catcher, throwing out 16 of 20 would be base stealers in addition to hitting .308.
Tissenbaum hit .384 with 14 doubles as was named first team at second base for a second consecutive season. The 2011 America East Rookie of the Year, McNitt went 7-2 with a 2.20 ERA.
Nivins was selected to the first team after earning second team honors last season. He hit .333 with 16 extra-base hits and hit .403 in conference play.
Stecko-Haley earned all-conference honors for the first time, going 7-3 with a 2.49 ERA in 12 starts. Vanderka posted a 2.31 ERA in 46.2 innings and was second in the America East with five saves.
Goldstein ranked fourth in the America East with .365 batting average and drove in 29 runs in 39 starts in the outfield. Krause hit .333 in 46 starts and had eight doubles and 34 RBI.
Stony Brook hosts the 2012 America East Championship this week at Joe Nathan Field.
The top-seeded Seawolves open the four-team double-elimination tournament against No. 4 Maine on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

TOMMY DEMPSEY TAKES BINGHAMTON MEN'S BASKETBALL JOB

Tommy Dempsey takes Binghamton job http://t.co/5eO8Fyup -- Stony Brook Sports (@SBUSPORTSRADIO)

Stony Brook Athletics Statement on Conference Realignment

 

From Stony Brook University Director of Athletics Jim Fiore:
"We are acutely aware that conference realignment is driving the current and future landscape of intercollegiate athletics. With that reality in mind, we are constantly reviewing Stony Brook's position in the national landscape and among our peer institutions. Every decision we make is with the best interest of our student-athletes and our institution in mind. We are a top 50 research institution and a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU); our campus is only an hour outside of New York City; and we have a fast-rising athletics program that has proven it can compete on the national level. Those factors make our university inherently attractive to many, and we are flattered that media speculation regarding conference realignment has included Stony Brook. That said, we are proud members of both the America East Conference and the Big South Conference. We have not engaged in discussions with any other conference at this time."

Stony Brook to begin $21.1M arena renovation - Greg Logan, Newsday



For the past four seasons, Stony Brook's basketball teams have played in 1,800-seat Pritchard Gymnasium while Stony Brook Arena lay dormant next door, awaiting previously approved state funds for renovation to be unfrozen. The wait ends tomorrow when university officials formally announce a $21.1 million construction project to create a 4,000-seat sports and entertainment venue.
Construction is expected to begin the second week of June, and the facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2014. The renovations will include four luxury boxes and a VIP lounge area at the loge level with premium courtside seating, thanks to an anonymous private donation of $1 million because state funds cannot be used for that purpose. The north side of the current structure will expand toward the parking lot to create room for concessions, restrooms and a concourse.
Seating capacity for basketball will be 4,008, expandable to 4,200 with floor seating for entertainment events. Unlike the previous arena, most of the seating is permanent except for grandstands that roll back at each end of the court, where student seating is located. One of the architectural companies involved also designed Citi Field for the Mets.
The renovation comes at a time when Stony Brook's men's basketball team has won two of the past three America East Conference regular-season titles and recently announced its best recruiting class ever.
"We've had a number of sellouts at Pritchard," said Dr. Samuel L. Stanley, university president. "I think if we continue what we've been doing with our basketball program, we won't have trouble filling that facility. I think it's going to be a hot ticket, actually."
Funds for the renovation were approved over budget cycles in 2005-06 and subsequently frozen by former Gov. David Patterson as a result of an economic downturn in 2008 after the original architectural plans were drafted. Stanley credited State Sen. Kenneth P. LaValle, who is chairman of the Higher Education Committee, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo for their help in making capital funds available again.
Stony Brook's football stadium bears LaValle's name because of the key role he played in moving the four anchor SUNY schools -- Stony Brook, Buffalo, Albany and Binghamton -- up to NCAA Division I athletics.
"The most important thing in building this athletic program has been getting the kind of facility that you need," LaValle said. "One of my first priorities when I became chairman again was to press for the money for the arena to be released. I had great support from Zimpher, who also was pushing for that money. We will have a state-of-the-art facility for the basketball teams."
As Stanley noted, the decommissioned Stony Brook Arena actually was costing the university money. Over the past three seasons, the athletic department had to recondition the arena to host an NIT game in 2010, an ESPN-televised regular-season game in 2011 and the America East championship game in March. Each drew a standing-room only crowd of about 4,400 and was televised nationally.
"It cost almost $100,000 per game to play in there, just to put makeup on the pig," Seawolves athletic director Jim Fiore said. "We were praying it didn't rain because, when it rained, it came right down on the court. We didn't tell anybody that. People had no idea how we were stressing. That place was a disaster. It was empty, cold, dreary and depressing. Those days are over."
Fiore said he already is in negotiations with several companies to sell naming rights to the building as well as prominent advertising space inside the arena. His plan is to build the season-ticket base and tie premium seating plans to donations to the athletic department.
Eventually, he hopes to hire an arena manager who will book events, such as concerts and comedians. An air-conditioning system will permit events to continue throughout the summer months.
"We think we've signed the best recruiting class we've ever signed in men's basketball," Fiore said. "We think the stars are aligning, and we have two years to upsell and make this Pritchard on steroids, Pritchard squared. Anything less than that will not be acceptable. We're going to invest in the infrastructure to sell it out regularly, not just one game."
Rather than lose the intimacy of Pritchard Gym, which has developed into a significant advantage for coach Steve Pikiell's men's team, plans call for front-row seats to be as close to the court as NCAA rules allow. In addition to digital scoreboards and video boards at each end of the court, the arena will have a lighting system that permits theatrical pregame introductions comparable to NBA games.
The upgraded facility should produce a significant increase in revenue, according to Fiore, but he assured Seawolves basketball games will remain affordable. "Not every seat will have a donation requirement," Fiore said. "There probably will be 3,000 general admission tickets. But we want to give our [donors] an opportunity to be close to the action . . . The best entertainment value is in your backyard. People that have come here know. We just have to do a better job of marketing it."
Pikiell's success has changed the atmosphere surrounding the men's basketball program, but it would be difficult to sustain if his team remained in Pritchard Gym, which ultimately will become a practice court.
"At the end of the day, we're a major research university that is playing in a high school gym," Fiore said. "It's all well and good because we're winning games, but facilities are a silent statement of your commitment to excellence."

Baseball sets wins record (43) with sweep of Maine

Game 3 Box Score
Game 4 Box Score

Stony Brook, N.Y. (May 19, 2012) – Junior Maxx Tissenbaum hit a go-ahead two-run double with two outs in the ninth as the Stony Brook baseball team scored nine runs over the final two innings to rally for 10-9 win over Maine in its regular season finale on Saturday. It was the 43^rd win for the Seawolves, breaking the school record for wins in a season set by last year’s team.
Stony Brook (43-11, 21-3 AE) won the first game of the day, 7-2, and won 19 of its final 20 games to close the regular season. The Seawolves clinched their second straight America East regular season title last weekend and hosts the 2012 America East Championships at Joe Nathan Field beginning on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Seawolves open the four-team double-elimination tournament with a rematch against No. 4 Maine on Wednesday. Check GoSeawolves.org for updates on game times and ticket prices.
Junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) went 2-for-4 in the opener, breaking the school record for hits in a season (81) set by junior William Carmona (Hempstead, N.Y.) last season. Carmona collected three hits and had three RBI in game one.
Tissenbaum had two hits and three RBI in game two while freshman Cole Peragine (Belle Ewart, Ontario) tallied three hits and drove in four runs.
Maine jumped to an 8-1 lead after seven innings in the second game but the Seawolves struck for five runs in the eighth highlighted by a two-run double from Peragine and a two-run home run from sophomore Kevin Courtney (Lindenhurst, N.Y.), his second of the day.
The Black Bears scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 9-6 but the first three Seawolves to bat in the ninth walked to load the bases. The next two batters struck out but Peragine followed with a two-run single to pull SBU within one.
Tissenbaum then drove a double to left and Peragine came all the way around to score and give the Seawolves a 10-9 lead.
Maine put runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth but freshman reliever Matt Gallup (Albany, N.Y.) got Tyler Patzalek to ground into a double play to end the game. Gallup (4-0) pitched the final 2.1 innings to earn the victory.
Carmona gave Stony Brook an early lead in the opener with a two-run home run in the first. Maine answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning but Courtney hit a solo home run to right-center to put the Seawolves back in front.
Freshman Steven Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y.) pushed the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single in the fifth and the Seawolves then put the game away with three runs in the seventh.
Senior Evan Stecko-Haley (Coral Springs, Fla.) allowed two runs in 6.1 innings to earn the victory.

BASEBALL: FOUR GAME SWEEP FOR STONY BROOK

GAME 1: STONY BROOK 5, Maine 1 F

GAME 2: STONY BROOK 5, Maine 4 F
GAME 3: STONY BROOK 7, Maine 2 F
GAME 4: STONY BROOK 10, Maine 9 F (43-11, 21-3)
* The 43 wins is the most in program history.

Baseball surpasses 40 wins with sweep of Maine

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Orono, Maine - Senior Tyler Johnson threw 5.0 shutout innings in the opener and junior Jasvir Rakkar tossed 4.0 innings of scoreless relief in game two as the Stony Brook baseball team eclipsed 40 wins for the second straight season with a doubleheader sweep of Maine on Friday afternoon. SBU won game one, 5-1 before rallying for a 5-4 victory to complete the sweep.
Stony Brook (41-11, 19-3 AE) becomes just the third team in America East history and first since Delaware in 1997-98 to win 40 games or more in back-to-back seasons. SBU has won 17 of its last 18 and 27 of its last 30.
SBU is just one win from tying the school record for wins, set by last year's team. The Seawolves close the regular season with a doubleheader against Maine on Saturday before returning home to host the 2012 America East Championships at Joe Nathan Field May 23-26.
Junior Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ontario) went 5-for-8 in the doubleheader while junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) and freshman Cole Peragine (Belle Ewart, Ontario) collected four hits each.
Johnson (8-1) allowed just three hits and did not walk a batter in the opener before sophomore Frankie Vanderka (Levittown, N.Y.) pitched the final 2.0 innings to earn his fifth save.
Rakkar (5-2) gave up just a hit and a walk in his 4.0 innings. Sophomore Brandon McNitt (Chino Hills, Calif.) got the start and allowed three earned runs in 5.0 innings.

Stony Brook fell behind 3-1 after four innings in game two before Jankowski hit a solo home with two outs in the fifth. Maine answered back with a run in the sixth before freshman Steven Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y.) led off the seventh with a homer to again bring Stony Brook within one.
The Seawolves took the lead for good with two runs in the eighth. Junior William Carmona (Hempstead, N.Y.) tied the game with an RBI double and he eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout from junior Tanner Nivins (Kitchener, Ontario) to put the Seawolves ahead.
SBU jumped to a quick lead in the opener as Jankowski singled to lead off, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and then stole third before coming home on a Carmona RBI groundout.
Peragine extended th lead to 2-0 with an RBI single in the sixth before Stony Brook put the game away with three runs in the sixth highlighted by a two-run triple from Nivins.

Congrats Dallis, Bryan, Danny and Tommy!

Hoops Scoops: The new CAA (Newsday)

The new CAA?

By Marcus Henry, Newsday

Photo credit: Photo by Shane Bufano

We know this conference realignment issue is not settled and likely won’t be for several years. The Big East, Big West, CAA, Conference USA and Mountain West are still in a bit of flux, while the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC could still expand.
Right now we’ll just take a look at local the local fallout from the latest edition of conference musical chairs.
Here’s one Hoops Scoops version of what CAA Basketball should look like. Yes, we’ve included Stony Brook, Charleston and Davidson. This could all be moot, especially if the CAA decides to add Albany, Vermont or Boston University, instead of Stony Brook.
But we're sure that Stony Brook is on the CAA short list because of its recent success in football.

CAA
North
Delaware
Drexel
Hofstra
Northeastern
Stony Brook
Towson
South
Charleston
Davidson
George Mason
James Madison
NC Wilmington
William & Mary

Stony Brook is included because its football program is just what the CAA needs. Truth be told, Stony Brook may not be willing to join the CAA in all sports if the league doesn’t make changes to its alignment. Having to travel south of Delaware for more than half of its conference games can’t be appealing.
In our CAA alignment, Hofstra and Stony Brook will be reunited. With Old Dominion and VCU gone, the travel shouldn’t be as extensive for either school, especially if the league sticks with an unbalanced schedule. In an 18-game conference schedule, Hofstra/Stony Brook would play each team in the CAA North twice and each team in the South once.
To make the home-away schedule even, three of Hofstra/Stony Brook’s South Division games would be on the road and three would be at home. Add that to five home games and five road contests against the North Division teams and you have a balanced home-away slate.

Glenn Dubin '78 conferred honorary degree at Stony Brook commencement

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Glenn Dubin '78, an alumnus of Stony Brook University and former member of the football and lacrosse teams, has been conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters and served as the keynote speaker at the 2012 Stony Brook University Commencement Friday at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

As a Stony Brook University alumnus, Dubin has inspired young students and athletes through his actions and his charitable donations. After earning his bachelor's degree in economics from Stony Brook in 1978, Dubin began his career in finance as a retail stockbroker at E.F. Hutton & Co. In 1984, Dubin co-founded Dubin & Swieca Capital Management, a company specializing in alternative investment strategies and recognized as a pioneer in employing multimanager hedge fund portfolios guided by the principles of Modern Portfolio Theory. The success of this company led to the creation of Highbridge Capital Management, an alternative asset management company that Dubin co-founded in 1992. He is now chairman and chief executive officer, and the company has evolved from a multistrategy hedge fund into a diversified investment platform that includes hedge funds, traditional investment management products and credit and equity investments with longer term holding periods. Highbridge and its affiliates manage approximately $29 billion for many of the world's most prominent institutional investors.

Dubin is also a renowned philanthropist. He is a founding board member and former board chair of the Robin Hood Foundation, an organization in New York dedicated to fighting poverty by applying investment principles to charitable giving. Since its inception in 1988, Robin Hood has provided more than $1 billion of grants to the most effective poverty fighting organizations in New York City, becoming an innovative leader in supporting and advocating for the underprivileged and underrepresented. He is also a board member of Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and serves as a member of the Dean's Executive Committee of the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2010, he and his wife Eva Andersson-Dubin, a practicing physician, founded the Dubin Breast Center at Mount Sinai. In 2005, Dubin funded the Glenn Dubin Endowed Scholarship Fund at Stony Brook, which offers scholarships to students from Washington Heights, where he was raised.

In 2010, Dubin donated $4.3 million to the Department of Athletics for the creation of an 8,000 square foot strength and conditioning facility named the Dubin Family Athletic Performance Center, which is scheduled to open in June. The gift was the largest private donation given to a SUNY Athletics department. Dubin, who played both football and lacrosse at Stony Brook, shows his passion for Seawolves athletics as a regular attendee at men's lacrosse and football games.

LISTEN LIVE: STONY BROOK BASEBALL at Maine

GAME 1: STONY BROOK 5, Maine 1 F
GAME 2: STONY BROOK 5, Maine 4 F (41-11, 19-3)
GAME 3: SATURDAY, 1pm LISTEN
GAME 4: SATURDAY, 4 pm LISTEN

COMMENCEMENT 2012 Congratulations Graduates! LIVE on WUSB 11 a.m. Friday

Commencement Message from President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD
Congratulations, graduates. This celebration marks a significant milestone in your academic career, and Stony Brook University takes enormous pride in your success. You have worked hard to earn a degree from one of the finest universities in the world–an institution that boasts the best and brightest students and takes seriously its commitment to producing graduates who are prepared to be productive citizens and use their knowledge, energy and individual talents to make a positive impact on the world.

On Friday, May 18, 2012, Stony Brook will celebrate our 52nd Commencement. The main exercises will begin at 11:00 am in the Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium. Doctoral Graduation Hooding Ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 17, at 2:00 pm in the Staller Center. Honorary doctorates will be granted to Glenn Dubin, Richard J. Gambino, Sister Margaret Ann Landry and James Salter. Dubin, a Stony Brook alumnus and philanthropist, will deliver the Commencement address.
You have a strong academic foundation, and it is our hope that your Stony Brook experience has also taught you tolerance, acceptance and respect for other people’s contributions, cultures and traditions in strengthening our unique tapestry. You, too, are now woven into the fabric of our world-class university, which is proud of its distinction as the most diverse among SUNY’s 64 campuses, and is, indeed one of the most diverse institutions in the country.
As a new graduate, you join the distinguished ranks of more than 150,000 alumni around the globe who have earned degrees from Stony Brook. We hope that you will always cherish fond memories of your experience as a Seawolf and that you will continue to maintain the same commitment to excellence that has always been the hallmark of this great institution. Just know that wherever you travel and wherever you pursue your life’s work, Stony Brook will always be your home, and in the years ahead the bonds between us will be further strengthened.
Although you may see this as the end of a significant chapter in your life, this is only a beginning. As a graduate of Stony Brook University, you represent an important part of our future, and we are confident that it is in good hands. As you move on to new challenges and opportunities, we wish you the very best the world has to offer, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to contribute to your academic growth and development and your personal goals and dreams.

Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD
President

STONY BROOK BASEBALL CLINCHES AMERICA EAST REGULAR SEASON TITLE and will host Tournament May 23-26 at Joe Nathan Field

Johns Hopkins tops Men's Lacrosse, 19-9 in NCAA First-Round

Final Stats

Baltimore, Md. - The Stony Brook men's lacrosse team's crazy and exciting 2012 season came to an end Sunday as Johns Hopkins defeated the Seawolves, 19-9, at Homewood Field in the first round of the Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Sophomore Matt Bellando (Miami, Fla.) tied a career-high with three goals and set a career-high with four points.
Senior Russ Bonanno (Seaford, N.Y.) scored a pair of goals.
Junior Jeff Tundo (Orchard Park, N.Y.) and senior Robbie Campbell (Delta, British Columbia) tallied a goal and two assists.
Junior Sean Brady (Huntington Bay, N.Y.) made nine saves in his final appearance for Stony Brook. "Obviously we didn't want to end the season this way, but we scrapped and fought for each other," Brady said.
Brandon Benn led Johns Hopkins with five goals. Chris Boland added three goals and four assists.
"I'm real proud of this team for fighting through the adversity in a transition year," coach Jim Nagle said. "We weren't quite ready to compete at this level."
Johns Hopkins (12-3) scored three unassisted goals in the first 3:03 of the game. After killing a 30-second penalty, Stony Brook went man-up for an illegal body check. Rooney, one of the nation's leading scorers among freshmen, took a pass from Bellando on the door step and scored his 34th of the season.
Hopkins scored four unanswered and led 7-1 after a quarter.
Play was even for the first half of the second quarter. A save by Brady allowed Stony Brook (7-10) to draw on its longest possession of the game. Campbell found Bellando for the goal to cut the deficit to 7-2. The Seawolves added to the momentum, winning the ensuing draw to set up possession. Campbell found Bonanno, who rifled a shot past Hopkins goalie Pierce Bassett.

The Blue Jays scored two straight to up its lead to 9-3 before Bonanno dodged the right alley, scoring his 21st of the season.
Hopkins answered with its 10th goal of the game, but Stony Brook answered once more. Tundo had the ball after an unsettled situation and found senior Kyle Belton (Langley, British Columbia) to make it a 10-5 game.
The Blue Jays scored five straight before Bellando's second goal of the game made it 15-6. Tundo added his first of the game just four seconds before the end of the third quarter.
Hopkins led by as many as 11 goals in the fourth quarter.

Men's Lacrosse set to face Johns Hopkins Sunday in NCAA Tournament

2012 VIRTUAL GUIDE

2012 Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship - first round
Game #17: Stony Brook Seawolves (7-9) vs. #7 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (11-3)
Sun., May 13 • Homewood Field • Baltimore, Md. • 3 p.m.
LIVE: STATS | VIDEO | AUDIO | TWITTER
INFO: GAME NOTES (PDF)
TV: ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Play by Play: Mike Corey
Color Commentary: Mark Dixon
Radio: WUSB 90.1 FM
Play by Play: Matt Mankiewich
Color Commentary: Frank Barile
Stony Brook Seawolves (7-9)
Head Coach: Jim Nagle, first season
Overall Record: 158-112
Record at SBU: 7-9
Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (11-3)
Head Coach: Dave Pietramala, 11th year
Overall Record: 160-61
Record at JHU: 137-44
About The Game: Having defeated New York State rival Albany in the America East Championship title game, the Stony Brook men's lacrosse team travels to face No. 7 Johns Hopkins in the first round of the Men's Lacrosse Championship. The Blue Jays, seeded second in the tournament, are making their 41st apperance in the tournament.


Scouting Hopkins: Johns Hopkins is led by junior Zach Palmer's 23 goals and 23 assists. Palmer, a high school teammate of junior JJ Laforet, could be the second Blue Jay since Paul Rabil in 2007 with 25 goals and 25 assists. Junior Pierce Bassett has started 37 straight games in goal, registering a 7.08 goals against average and a .542 save percentage. The Blue Jay defense has allowed only 10 or more goals twice this season - 10 to Virginia and 13 to North Carolina.

Last Time Out: Junior Jeff Tundo (Orchard Park, N.Y.) scored four goals and Sean Brady (Huntington Bay, N.Y.) made 11 saves to lead the Stony Brook men's lacrosse team to its third America East Championship with a 14-8 win over Albany. The Seawolves receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Stony Brook in the NCAA Tournament: The Seawolves are making their third appearance in the Men's Lacrosse Championship and second in the last three years. Stony Brook faced Cornell in 2002, losing to the Big Red, 12-3. In 2010, the Seawolves, seeded eighth, topped Denver, 9-7. Playing before a partisan crowd at LaValle Stadium, Stony Brook lost to top-seeded Virginia, 10-9, in the quarterfinals.
Stony Brook-Johns Hopkins Series: Sunday's game will be the first all-time meeting between the two schools. Head Coach Dave Pietramala, who came to Hopkins from Cornell, led the Big Red to a 12-5 win over Stony Brook in 1999.

Softball season ends with 6-5 loss to Albany in America East Tournament, ties most wins (36) as a program

Box Score
BOSTON --
Boston, Mass. – The Stony Brook softball team had its season come to an end on Saturday after suffering a pair of losses at the hands of Boston University and Albany in the America East Tournament. Stony Brook dropped its first game of the day to BU, 7-3, before falling in a heartbreaker against the Great Danes, 6-5.
The Seawolves finished the season with a 36-17-1 record (a .676 winning percentage) and tied a program record for the most wins in a single season in Stony Brook history.
In Saturday’s opener, the Seawolves battled top-seed Boston University (39-14) for the right to advance to the championship on Sunday. The Terriers, who were designated as the road team after a coin flip, struck first with a run in the top of the first off SBU starter Allison Cukrov.
Stony Brook quickly answered, however, when senior Bernadette Tenuto (Audubon, N.J.) singled home freshman Shayla Giosia (Runnemede, N.J.) to tie it at one in the bottom of the frame.
Tenuto then gave the Seawolves a 2-1 lead two innings later when she ripped another RBI single through the middle to bring home senior Alyssa Hawley (Spokane, Wash.).
But the pesky BU attack would not go away as the Terriers plated runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to go in front 4-2 heading to the bottom of the sixth.
Stony Brook would not go quietly.
After three straight singles to lead off the inning, pinch-hitter Nicole Hoyle (Warwick, Md.) delivered a clutch single through the left side to bring the Seawolves within a run. With a golden opportunity to tie the game and possibly go ahead, Stony Brook could not do any further damage as BU pitcher Whitney Tuthill induced three consecutive ground-outs, including two force-outs at home, to end the threat and swing momentum back to the Terriers.

Boston University carried the swing into the top of the seventh, adding three more runs to salt away the Seawolves’ comeback bid and go ahead for good at 7-3.

The victory advanced Boston University to Sunday’s championship and forced Stony Brook to play a second game on Saturday against No. 3 Albany, which had knocked off No. 4 Maine earlier in the day.
Things did not start well for the Seawolves as the Great Danes (36-13) pushed across two runs in the bottom of the first to go ahead 2-0.
Just as in the first game, Stony Brook answered the early deficit with two runs of its own in the second, highlighted by a solo home run off the bat of Tenuto.
Albany tacked on four more runs in the third to take a four-run lead at 6-2 and force the Seawolves to play from behind yet again.
And play catch-up they did.
After an RBI double by senior Lauren Maloney (Las Vegas, Nev.) made it 6-3 in the fourth, Giosia popped her eighth home run of the season to left in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-5. In the sixth, Stony Brook advanced a runner to third with two outs, but Albany starter Brittany Schwieger pitched out of trouble to put a stop to the rally.
Reliever Christine Lucido (Melville, N.Y.) retired the Great Danes in order in the sixth to give SBU one final chance to tie the game in the seventh. After a leadoff single by senior Suzanne Karath (Fishkill, N.Y.), Hawley laid down a textbook sac-bunt to move the runner into scoring position with one out. Giosia then stepped to the plate and blasted a hard liner to short, but Albany’s Alexa Toole made a leaping catch and doubled Karath off second to end the game and eliminate Stony Brook from the competition.
Lucido pitched four scoreless innings in relief of Cukrov and allowed only three hits, while striking out one. After the game, Maloney and Tenuto were named to the All-Tournament Team after hitting .667 and .500 for the weekend, respectively.
This will be the third time in the last four years and fifth time overall Boston U. and Albany will decide the league champion. The Terriers are attempting to become the first host to win the tournament since 2004 while the Great Danes are attempting join Hofstra's 1999 squad as the only teams to lose their tournament opener and win the championship.

2012 America East Softball Championship
At Boston University Softball Field
Friday, May 11
Game 1: No. 1 Boston U. 3,vs. No. 4 Maine 2
Game 2: No. 2 Stony Brook 6, No. 3 Albany 4

Saturday, May 12
Game 3: Boston U. 7, Stony Brook 3
Game 4: Albany 2, Maine 0 (elimination game)
Game 5: Albany 6, Stony Brook 5 (elimination game)

Sunday, May 13
Game 6: Albany vs. Boston U. 10 a.m. (championship game)
Game 7: Albany vs. Boston U., 12:30 p.m. (if necessary)

Baseball sweeps doubleheader from UMBC

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Junior William Carmona scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh as the Stony Brook baseball team rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat the UMBC Retrievers, 6-5, in the first game of a doubleheader at Joe Nathan Field. Stony Brook then completed the sweep with a 21-8 win in game two.
Freshman Steven Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y.) went 3-for-4 with five RBI in the second game after collecting two hits in the opener. Stony Brook (38-11, 16-3 AE) has won 14 of its last 15 and 24 of its last 27 and is two wins from becoming just the third team in America East history with back-to-back 40 win seasons.
Senior Pat Cantwell (West Islip, N.Y.) and junior Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ontario) each had three hits and three RBI in the second game. Junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) had two hits in both ends of the doubleheader.
UMBC scored four runs in the first in the opener but the Seawolves scored two in the second and one in the third to get within 4-3. Sophomore Kevin Courtney (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) then drilled a two-run double down the right field line to give SBU its first lead of the day in the fourth.
The Retrievers tied it in the sixth on a Brian Klukowicz home run and the game went to the bottom of the seventh still tied 5-5. Carmona opened the inning with a double and UMBC intentionally walked Tissenbaum.
Junior Tanner Nivins (Kitchener, Ontario) then laid down a bunt that was fielded by UMBC starter Steve Miller, who tried to get Carmona at third. But his throw went down the left field line allowing Carmona to come home with game-winning run.
Stony Brook again fell behind in game two as UMBC answered a four-run Stony Brook fourth with four unearned runs in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead.
But the Seawolves blew the game open with an eight-run fifth, sending 13 batters to the plate. Goldstein had the big hit of the inning, a three-run home run to right.
UMBC got no closer than six runs the rest of the way as the Seawolves rolled to the doubleheader sweep. Sophomore Brandon McNitt (Chino Hills, Calif.) did not allow an earned run in 5.0 innings to earn the win in game two.
The Seawolves wrap up their three-game series with UMBC and play their final home game of the regular season on Sunday at 1 p.m.
It will be Alumni Day and Senior Day at Joe Nathan Field. The Seawolves will honor their

FCS set to expand playoffs to 24 teams in 2013

It has taken college football's elite more than 100 years to be dragged toward a playoff system that will likely still only have a handful of teams.
Smaller schools have been doing the playoffs for a long time -- and they're about to make them bigger.
The Football Championship Subdivision is on the verge of expanding its playoff system from 20 to 24 teams by 2013. The proposal would give an automatic bid to all FCS leagues that want one, seeds the top eight teams and gives them first-round byes and home games in the following round.
"The concern has been we've haven't had a full tournament with automatic qualifiers for all the existing conferences. That's a big part of making sure everybody has an opportunity for their champion to participate," said Appalachian State athletic director Charlie Cobb, the new chairman of the Division I Football Championship Committee. "The sentiment is that by seeding the top eight, it keep more to a truer sense of what a national tournament is about, and I think that's the beauty of what we have."
The proposal goes before an NCAA championships cabinet next month and will be subject to final approval by an executive committee on Aug. 2. It is expected to pass and be in place for the 2013 playoffs, which will include three more at-large bids and one more automatic qualifier in the Pioneer League.
"It's the next logical step in our development of the FCS championship," said Kyle Kallender, the Big South commissioner and chairman of the FCS commissioner's committee.
For Football Bowl Subdivision fans who've long thought the BCS was unfair, seeing the words logic and champion in the same sentence might be strange.
But the FCS has been holding a playoff since 1978. It expanded to 20 teams with five seeds in 2010 and, according to Kallander, started considering further expansion even then as a way to more fairly accommodate a growing membership that will include 124 teams in 2012.
There was also a desire to provide an automatic bid to the Pioneer League. The Ivy League and the Southwestern Athletic Conference don't send their champions to the FCS playoffs.
With those tenets as a starting point, FCS officials brainstormed a number of possibilities that included:
-- A bracket model that seeded all 24 teams.
-- A regionalization model with six teams seeded in four regions based on geography.
-- A Final Four model where national semifinals and the title game would be played on sequential weekends on one site.
For reasons ranging from attendance to money to competitive fairness, none of those ideas made the final cut.
Cobb said the main problem with the bracket model was a lack of reliable data to seed more than eight teams fairly. FCS schools rarely play outside their region, making it difficult to accurately gauge strength of schedule.
The regional model, based on Division II's playoffs, was scrapped because the FCS didn't want teams from the same league to meet in the first round of the playoffs. Some regions would also inevitably be stronger, too, and the Final Four idea was rejected because semifinal games on a neutral site wouldn't draw nearly as many fans as a campus game.
The FCS instead decided on a system that may spur more juicy non-conference matchups in the regular season because there would be more at-large bids and an incentive to boost strength of schedule.
Some coaches think the methodology needs to also change if the FCS selection committee is going to seed eight teams instead of just five. The committee weighs factors that include the Gridiron Power Index or GPI, a compilation of computer and human polls similar to the BCS model.
The GPI is a sore spot for Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley. The Panthers had to play at Montana in last year's playoffs even though they were ranked higher in The Sports Network Top 25. They lost 48-10.
Farley would also like to see a win over an FBS school count more than a win over an FCS one. The Panthers will play at both Wisconsin and Iowa this season to help ease the blow of state budget cuts.
"The weight of your schedule should play a lot more into it," Farley said. "We need to weigh the difference between playing a Wisconsin and playing an (FCS) team."
There are concerns about schedules that could include up to 16 games. But any team playing a 16-game season would be finishing it in a national title game and it is unlikely anyone would complain about that.
"It's tough," Cobb said. "But the playoffs are called the second season for a reason. Once you get to it, everybody's got a chance. And I think if you ask any coach or any player, they'd rather be in the playoffs than not in the playoffs."