It did not matter who was on the mound for the Stony Brook baseball team on Tuesday, as no lead was big enough for them to cough up.
In their day trip to the Bronx, the Seawolves (13-21, 5-10 CAA) wasted a sensational offensive showing with a brutal pitching performance. After leading by as many as seven runs, they lost in walkoff fashion to the Manhattan Jaspers, 14-13. Eight different Stony Brook pitchers combined to allow 14 hits, nine walks and three hit batsmen, undoing any and all efforts that the bats gave.
Stony Brook jumped out to a 2-0 lead before even collecting its first hit. A pair of Manhattan errors surrounded a walk, a hit batsmen and a sacrifice fly, gift wrapping the Seawolves a pair of runs. Now with two runners in scoring position, shortstop Matt Miceli pulled a two-run single into left field to make it 4-0 Stony Brook.
Over the next two innings, third baseman Evan Giordano and center fielder Derek Yalon each smacked a solo home run to extend Stony Brook’s lead to 6-0.
Manhattan scored a run in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to get back into it, but left fielder Matt Brown-Eiring launched a two-run homer to left field to restore Stony Brook’s six-run lead. A couple of batters later, Miceli singled home another run to give the Seawolves their largest lead of the day.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, relief pitcher Devin Sharkey struggled with finding the strike zone. He struck out a pair, but walked four batters in total to force in a run. Relief pitcher Brendan Pattermann replaced him and promptly walked the first batter he faced to force in another.
Pattermann escaped further trouble by inducing a popout, but then ran into some more in the bottom of the sixth inning. After allowing a leadoff double, he surrendered an RBI single to Manhattan right fielder Tyler Santos to cut Stony Brook’s lead down to 9-5. That hit chased Pattermann from the game, as head coach Matt Senk opted to go with relief pitcher Eric Foster to get his team through the inning.
That move did not pay dividends for Stony Brook. Foster allowed an RBI double to Manhattan designated hitter Ryan Eaton and a three-run bomb to left fielder Frankie Marinelli to tie the game at nine apiece.
The game remained tied 9-9 until the top of the ninth inning when Stony Brook’s backups broke through. Shortstop Anthony Gentile — who subbed in for Miceli in the bottom of the fifth inning — broke the tie with an RBI single. Three batters later, with the bases loaded and two outs, third baseman Joe DeLanzo hit a two-strike, two-run single to give the Seawolves a 12-9 lead. Designated hitter Mike Anquillare tacked on an insurance run with an RBI single, taking away the save opportunity by extending their lead to four runs.
Save opportunity or not, no lead was big enough for Stony Brook’s bullpen. Relief pitcher Sadier Vicioso started the ninth inning and did not throw strikes. He walked the first two hitters before allowing an RBI single to Manhattan center fielder Pete Durocher. After getting the next batter to ground into a fielder’s choice, Senk turned to relief pitcher Kyle Johnson to try and get the two-out save.
Johnson was welcomed to the game with an RBI double by Manhattan third baseman Trevor Hansen, cutting Stony Brook’s lead down to just two runs. After that, Santos rolled one to the right side, but second baseman Johnny Pilla came up too early on the ball and it bounced past him. Two runs came in to score on the error, tying the game 13-13.
After that, a single and a walk loaded the bases for Marinelli, who lined an opposite-field single through the left side to win the game for Manhattan.
The game was sloppy all over. Manhattan committed six errors on the day. Hansen and Manhattan shortstop Daniel Perez each committed two errors. Of the 13 runs Manhattan’s pitching surrendered, eight of the runs were ruled unearned.
Stony Brook committed two errors, none bigger than the ninth-inning error by Pilla. The Seawolves allowed four unearned runs of their own.
As bad as the Seawolves’ pitching was, their bats were equally as good. Yalon had a huge day, going 2-for-3 with a home run, an RBI, two walks, a stolen base and a career-high four runs scored. The home run was his second of the year — both of which have gone to the opposite field.
Miceli had a big day as well, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
First basemen Brett Paulsen and Jason Campo both went 1-for-2 each. Paulsen, who started the game, hit a single and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Campo hit a double, which was his fourth of the year.
Giordano’s home run was his eighth of the year and the 30th of his NCAA career, making him just the fifth player in program history (third in the Division I era) to reach that mark.
Second baseman Evan Fox went 0-for-4 on the day, but he reached on an error to lead off the game. Afterwards, he stole the 77th base of his career, making him just two steals behind Travis Jankowski for the all-time program record.
Senk did not speak to the media after the game.
Having played each of its last 17 games in New York, Stony Brook will finally have to cross state lines this weekend. The team will take on the second-place Elon Phoenix for a three-game series down in North Carolina this weekend, with game one slated for Friday night at 6 p.m. The Phoenix are 23-12 overall this year and 12-5 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) games. They will host Gardner-Webb on Wednesday before their series with Stony Brook.
