April 5, 2002

TODAY'S GAME: Stony Brook begins America East play with a four-game set against Vermont. The teams will play two seven inning games on Saturday and Sunday.

THE SERIES: Stony Brook owns a 2-0 advantage over the Catamounts, winning 9-6 and 9-0 back in 2000 during its trip to Florida.

ABOUT THE CATAMOUNTS: Vermont comes into the weekend having won four of its last five games and sits at 7-8. Jeff Barry, Jeff Tarigo, Ray Montanez and Jason Carey are all hitting above .300. Barry leads the charge at .383 while Tarigo leads the team in RBI with 11. Freshman Derek Miller leads the pitching staff with a 2-0 mark and a 2.53 ERA in three starts. He has 34 strikeouts against 10 walks.

TAKING THE HILL: Jonathan Lewis, Kevin Willi, Anthony Stutz and Jamie Szwejkowski are all expected to take the mound as Seawolves starters this weekend. Derek Miller, Jamie Merchant, Brian Robinson and Jeff Dixon are expected to start for the Catamounts.

LEWIS AMERICA EAST PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Freshman right-handed pitcher Jonathan Lewis has been selected the America East Pitcher of the Week for April 3, the conference announced Thursday. Lewis is off to a 4-1 start for the Seawolves, who are currently 9-9 on the season heading into their America East opener against Vermont on Saturday. Following a 2-1 loss to Campbell University on the road in which Lewis struck out eight, walked three and allowed just two runs in 5 2/3 innings, Lewis has won four straight. His earned run average is a team-best 2.20 while his strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than 3:1 (34:11).

AROUND THE AMERICA EAST: Stony Brook's 5.48 ERA is third in the conference while its .269 batting average is third...Jonathan Lewis leads the conference in ERA at 2.45 and strikeouts per nine with over 11...Andrew Larsen and Dwayne Whitaker have four homeruns each to lead the America East...Larsen's 17 runs scored is third best in the conference...Stony Brook has 24 stolen bases this season, third in the AE...Kevin Willi's 2.48 ERA is second in the conference...

BALANCE: The Seaowolves line-up may be devout of that one or two shining superstars it has grown accustomed to in past years. However, it has been replaced by a more balanced attack. The Seawolves have six players with 16 hits or more, five players with 10 RBI or more and eight different players that have hit homeruns.

AMERICA EAST RELEASES PRE-SEASON POLL: Stony Brook has been chosen fourth in a vote of the coaches during its preseason poll released March 29. 1). Maine (36-15) 2). Northeastern (19-32) 3). Vermont (23-22) 4). Stony Brook (35-16) 5). Binghamton (19-26) 6). Hartford (14-35) 7). Albany (15-32)

HEATING UP: Rob Sandora and Dwayne Whitaker have begun to heat up for the Seawolves. Sandora was hitting just .091 (2-22) when the Seawolves headed into their final game of the trip to California. In the four games since, Sandora is 5-for-13 with five RBI and two runs scored, raising his average to .211. Whitaker is 6-for-16 at the plate during the last four games, collecting four RBI and a pair of runs scored.