The State University of New York’s campuses at Albany and Stony Brook have scheduled press conferences today to officially announce that their athletics programs will join the America East Conference beginning next season.

Stony Brook is in its second season as a member of NCAA Division I, while Albany has been competing in Division I for three years.

Albany boasts an enrollment of 16,571 and sponsors 19 varsity sports, 11 of them women’s teams. Stony Brook has an enrollment of 19,500 and fields 17 teams, nine of which are for men.

Earlier this month, a four-member America East task force negotiated a compromise that would allow Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra and Towson to leave the conference a year early, without incurring a penalty, to join the Colonial Athletic Association in 2002-03.

The four schools had revealed their intention to part with America East in December after conference presidents voted down a merger initiative that would have combined the 10 America East schools and the six remaining members of the CAA.

The America East task force also recommended the conference accept Stony Brook and Albany for membership beginning next fall.

America East will have 12 teams for the 2001-02 season, then drop to eight for 2002-03, with the newcomers joining original members Boston University, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Northeastern and Hartford.

Richmond, East Carolina and American are leaving the CAA after this season.

The other CAA teams are William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth, James Madison, George Mason, Old Dominion and UNC-Wilmington.

Worcester joins brother

Senior righthander Rob Worcester, who compiled an 8-7 record with a 6.33 earned run average in 37 appearances during his three-year University of Maine baseball career, has transferred to Husson College in Bangor where he will join younger brother Mike.

Rob Worcester, from Columbia Falls, made 10 appearances last spring for the Bears, compiling a 3-2 record and a 7.03 ERA. Seven of those appearances were starts.

He struck out 19 and walked 17 in 39? innings.

“Rob will give us another experienced starter,” said Husson coach John Kolasinski. “He will step in right away. He competes well, he will be our hardest thrower, and he has already been a good fit with our guys. He probably got to know them through Mike.”

Rob Worcester, who was a medical redshirt at Maine for the 1996-97 season, did not attend school this past fall.

Mike Worcester, who is the Braves’ catcher, hit .444 with four homers and 33 RBIs and was named to the All-Maine Athletic Conference team.

Rob Worcester will join Dave Dostie, Keith Simmons, John Montgomery, and Jeremy Nelson in Husson’s five-man rotation.

Montgomery, who will also DH and play right field, and second baseman Don Sawyer were selected co-captains.

Millinocket’s Montgomery hit .340 with 29 runs batted in a year ago and was 5-1 on the mound with a 3.45 ERA.

Brewer’s Sawyer, a medical redshirt due to shoulder surgery, is a three-time All-MAC selection and a former MAC Rookie and Player of the Year.

Sawyer will move from shortstop to second base. He has a career batting average of .387.

He hit .436 with 20 doubles and 28 RBIs during his MAC Player of the Year season in 1999.

UMaine’s Ernest doubly effective

University of Maine freshman Heather Ernest, coming off her third consecutive America East Rookie of the Week honor, continues to rank among the nation’s Division I leaders in double-doubles.

Ernest, a 6-foot-1 forward from Temple, has scored in double figures and pulled down at least 10 rebounds in 13 of the Black Bears’ 19 games this season. With the 13 double-doubles, she is tied with five other players for second place among all Division I competitors.

Andrea Gardner of Howard leads the way with 14 double-doubles.

Ernest ranks second in America East with 11.0 rebounds per game and her 79 offensive boards are second only to Delaware’s Christina Rible, who has 86. Ernest also leads UMaine in scoring and is seventh in the league with 14.5 points per game.

She is seventh in free throw percentage (.828), seventh in blocked shots (0.84) and ninth in field goal percentage (.473).