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May 19, 2009 PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - The 2008-2009 athletic season is almost over at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and has been a story of progress and successes. Baseball saw two players receive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) post season awards and freshmen Hannah Mills and Ben Vasko were named UMES Athletes of the Week for the period ending May 10.
Designated hitter Mills was 2-for-4 in a pair of losses in the MEAC softball tournament. She earned a spot on the all-tournament team with a double, a triple and two runs scored. Vasko, a catcher on the baseball team, hit .778 (7-for-8) on the week with eight runs, five RBIs, one double and four walks. He also was perfect in the field, making 10 putouts and six assists with no errors. He gunned down the only baserunner attempting to steal on him as well. BASEBALL After one final game was played between two other conference schools, UMES secured the fourth seed for the 2009 MEAC tournament, held at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Fla. UMES earned the fourth seed via tiebreaker. The Hawks posted a 9-9 conference mark, the same as North Carolina A&T and Norfolk State, but since UMES won the series against both schools, they earned the fourth seed while the Aggies are fifth and NSU is sixth. Senior infielder Pat Hercinger and sophomore designated hitter Bryan Chaikowsky were named to the All-MEAC Second Team.
One of the Hawks' three captains, Hercinger is hitting .291 in 51 games and a team-leading 211 plate appearances. He is second on the team with 29 runs scored, 52 hits and 23 walks. Hercinger is also third in total bases (65). He boasts the team's second best hitting streak of the season of 10 games. Chaikowsky earned a second-team nod after being sidelined for all of 2008 due to a shoulder injury. He is third in the conference in batting average at .382 and tops the team in doubles (11), slugging percentage (.617) and on-base percentage (.485). The UMES baseball team grabbed an early 2-0 lead through three-and-a-half innings in its first-round game in the MEAC tournament, but FAMU plated nine runs in the fourth inning to take control and earn a 12-2 victory at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Phil Vaughn was 1-for-3 with a run and a steal for the Hawks and Chaikowsky went 1-for-4 with an RBI double. Hercinger, Ben Vasko, Russel Deutchmann and Elliott Alston also posted hits for UMES. Karim Gonzalez suffered the loss to fall to 2-8. He lasted just 3.1 innings and gave up six runs on five hits while striking out one and walking two. John DesChamps went the final 4.2 innings and allowed five earned runs on nine hits and one walked. He struck out two. Junior right-hander Cameron Zimmerman threw six innings, scattering eight hits, as UMES was eliminated from the MEAC tournament by Norfolk State, 4-0. The Hawks finish the season at 14-42, an eight-win improvement over 2008. Deutschmann had two hits in four at-bats. Vaughn was 1-for-3, with his 28th steal of the season, and Chaikowsky added his team-leading 13th double of the season. UMES senior lefty Brian White had a good showing in his last outing as a Hawk. He threw two innings, surrendering just one hit to keep his team in the game. Zimmerman fell to 3-8 with the loss.
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