Final Score: Vermont 5, UMBC 1 | Box Score
America East Championship Central
Live Stats (Sat., 3:15pm)
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Eric Thompson (Norwich, Conn.) tossed a complete game five-hitter to lead Vermont over UMBC, 5-1, in the second round of the 2008 America East Baseball Championship at Farmingdale State College. The fourth-seeded Catamounts (27-23) advance in the double-elimination tournament to take on top-seeded Binghamton Saturday at 3:15pm. The winner faces #2 Stony Brook at 7:05pm.

Thompson allowed just a first inning unearned run while walking just two and striking out four. Sixteen of the 27 outs he recorded were on infield grounders. It was the fifth complete game of the season for the senior lefthander and his first that went nine innings.

"Eric Thompson's great pitching was the story of this game," said Vermont coach Bill Currier. "He mixed his pitches well with a sharp slider and a good fastball. He had good movement on the ball and kept it down. Our defense did a great job with all the ground balls."

Vermont had just three hits on the afternoon against UMBC's Eddie Bach, who also went the distance, and none until the fifth inning. Down 1-0, Miguel Magrass (West Roxbury, Mass.) led the frame with a walk and was moved to second on a sacrifice. He came home with the tying run on a triple down the right field line by freshman Corey Moylan (Glenview, Ill.). The Cats quickly made it 2-1 on a perfect squeeze bunt by Brad Currier (Essex Junction, Vt.).

UVM took advantage of a pair of errors by the Retrievers to start the sixth. A RBI-double by Matt Duffy (Milton, Mass.) and a sacrifice fly by Jeff Nolet (Concord, Mass.) completed the three-run inning. Duffy's double was his team-high 18th of the season to tie the Vermont freshman record set by Magrass in 2004.

Thompson took over from there cruising through the final four innings allowing just a walk in the sixth and a single in the seventh in the game that took just 1:58 to complete. He improved his overall record to 7-1 including a perfect 4-0 against America East foes.

Bach (3-6) was the tough luck loser for UMBC. Brad Brainer and Tom Meaney each had two of the five hits. Picked to finish last in the preseason coaches poll, the Retrievers finish their season 21-29.

Stony Brook nipped Binghamton, 1-0, Friday night to advance to the championship round. The Seawolves will play the Vermont-Binghamton winner Saturday evening at 7:05pm. If necessary, a final game will be played Sunday at noon.