The bats were quiet and the arms were wild in the Stony Brook baseball team’s loss to Fairfield.
The Seawolves (17-21) continued their up-and-down season with a 9-2 loss on Wednesday, April 27 to the Stags. The game marked head coach Matt Senk’s 1500th career game coached with Stony Brook, making him one of just 15 active coaches in the NCAA to reach that milestone. Stony Brook is now just 5-15 in non-conference games.
It was all Fairfield from the beginning, as third baseman Charlie Pagliarini drew first blood with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. The Stags tacked on to their lead when left fielder Griffin Watson scored on a wild pitch in the second.
Much like last Wednesday, Senk went with a different pitcher every single inning, allowing some of the non-regulars to get some work in. That method worked for a little bit, as relievers Jack Carr, Eric Foster and Dawson Logie all pitched scoreless innings to keep the Seawolves in the ballgame.
Still trailing 3-0 in the sixth inning, Stony Brook second baseman Matt Miceli broke up the shutout with an RBI single. However, Fairfield ran away with the game after that. The Stags extended their lead with runs in the sixth and seventh innings to make it 5-1 before blowing the game open in the bottom of the eighth. A four-spot put up by the Fairfield offense made it 9-1, sealing Stony Brook’s fate.
A garbage-time run scored in the top of the ninth made it 9-2, but reliever Colin McVeigh slammed the door on the Seawolves to secure the win and lock down a nine-out save. It also secured the win for starter Peter Ostensen, who improved to 3-1 with his five scoreless innings for Fairfield.
Other than the three relievers who tossed up a zero for the Seawolves, there was not a whole lot to take away from this game. The Seawolves’ offense only mustered up five hits, two of which came off the bat of freshman catcher Chris Leone. Leone doubled and tripled, and is now hitting .273 on the year.
The Seawolves’ next game is this Friday at 8 p.m., where they will travel down to Newark, New Jersey to kick off a three-game series with the NJIT Highlanders. Stony Brook enters play in second place in the conference, two games ahead of NJIT. This series is a heavily anticipated one for both sides, as the teams played a very contentious season series last year that ended on a controversial note. Stony Brook will look to continue their winning ways against their conference foes, while NJIT will look to snap a cold streak.
