FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– In a rain-shortened weekend for many teams, the University at Albany baseball team was busy completing a four-game sweep of America East foe Maine with help from Player of the Week Gary Pitcheralle (Mechanicville, N.Y./Mechanicville) and Rookie of the Week Zach Kraham (Ghent, N.Y./Chatham), as named today. The sweep soared Albany from a third-place tie to sole possession of second place in the standings. Binghamton hurler Jeff Dennis (North Syracuse, N.Y./Liverpool) kept his team in first place with a dominant performance on the mound down in Baltimore, earning Pitcher of the Week honors.
Pitcheralle hit .500 for the week, in leading Albany to a four-game sweep of Maine in conference play. The senior recorded 10 hits, including three doubles, one triple and one home run for a .900 slugging percentage. Pitcheralle scored seven runs and drove in another five while starting all five games in left field and recording 12 putouts without an error. The senior had two hits, including a double, and scored two runs in Friday’s 7-5 nightcap win over Maine. He scored the eighth-inning insurance run for the Great Danes in a one-run game after leading off the inning with a double. In Saturday’s first game, he went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI, driving a homer over the left field fence in the first inning.
Kraham earned the win for Albany on the mound in the final game of an important four-game sweep of Maine in America East Conference action. In 5.2 innings, the rookie scattered five hits without allowing an earned run. Kraham issued just one walk while strikeout out four batters. He moves to 4-2 on the season with 32 strikeouts in 37.0 innings of work.
In his only appearance of the week, Dennis shut down UMBC on just two hits in a complete-game win. Over seven innings, he recorded a 0.00 ERA, five strikeouts and allowed just one walk. Dennis lowered his season ERA to 3.83, improved his record to 4-3 and recorded his third complete-game effort of the year.
