Three devastating losses struck the Stony Brook baseball team this past weekend: a pair of lost games and an injured ace.
The Seawolves (22-19, 10-8 CAA) lost two out of three games against the second-to-last place Monmouth Hawks (13-24, 7-11 CAA) over the weekend. Despite taking Friday’s game in convincing 9-1 fashion, Stony Brook dropped Saturday and Sunday’s contests by scores of 11-7 and 3-0, respectively.
In the one game the team did win, starting pitcher Eddie Smink exited with a pectoral injury after 1 ⅓ hitless innings and one strikeouts. He is being shut down for the rest of the season. In his stead, relief pitcher Colin Rhein immediately surrendered a solo-shot to designated hitter Phil Stahl. However, he settled down and ultimately held the Hawks to just one run on five hits over 6 ⅔ innings, striking out eight without a walk or a hit batsman.
On the other side, Monmouth starting pitcher Drew Helmstetter retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced. In the top of the the fifth inning, Helmstetter gave up a leadoff single to second baseman Johnny Pilla. After catcher Ryan Micheli ripped a double down the right-field line, center fielder Cam Santerre lofted a sacrifice fly to left field to tie up the ballgame. One batter later, right fielder Matty Wright found the right-center field gap to bring home Micheli and take the lead for good.
In the top of the seventh inning, first baseman Brett Paulsen led off with a hit before Santerre doubled him home to give the Seawolves a 3-1 lead. After advancing to third on an error, Santerre came across to score on another knock by Wright. The run chased Helmstetter after 6 ⅓ innings in favor of relief pitcher Colin Ruddy, who was greeted rudely by third baseman Evan Fox. With the lineup turned over, Fox jumped on Ruddy’s second offering and drilled it well over the left-field wall for a two-run home run to make it 6-1.
Rhein sidestepped baserunners in each of the next two innings before Stony Brook’s offense struck again in the top of the ninth. Fox led things off with a well-struck double before advancing to third on a groundout by shortstop Matt Miceli and scoring on another one from left fielder Matt Brown-Eiring. Now with two away, designated hitter Erik Paulsen singled up the middle before Pilla and Brett Paulsen loaded the bases with consecutive walks. Micheli then came up big again with a two-run single to stretch it to 9-1.
Relief pitcher Brendan Pattermann finished the game with a perfect bottom of the ninth inning to secure the Seawolves’ sixth consecutive victory and their ninth conference win in the last 10 games.
Saturday brought another short start for Stony Brook, as starting pitcher Nick Rizzo got tagged early and often. With runners at second and third base in the bottom of the first inning, center fielder Harry Padden grounded out to collect the run batted in (RBI) and open the Hawks’ scoring. One batter later, shortstop Austin Denlinger ripped a double to straightaway center field to drive in a run. Stahl then rolled a single through the right side to bring home Denlinger and make the score 3-0.
The Seawolves got on the board in the top of the third inning when Wright singled in Santerre, but they did not score again until it was too late. In the home half of the frame, Padden and Denlinger drilled back-to-back solo shots off Rizzo to knock him out after just two innings and five earned runs on seven hits with two strikeouts.
Monmouth added a pair in the bottom of the fourth inning off relief pitcher Ty Saunders with an RBI fielder’s choice by first baseman James Harmstead and a sacrifice fly by Padden to go up 7-1. In the sixth, the Hawks put the game away when Denlinger roped a two-run triple up the right-center field gap and Stahl delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 10-1.
Now in garbage time, Micheli hooked his first home run of the year — a two-run blast inside the left field-foul pole — to cut the score to 10-3. However, Monmouth added another run after a throwing error by Micheli allowed Padden to bounce into a fielder’s choice and drive one in.
Starting pitcher Alec Couture faced the minimum in a scoreless top of the eighth inning to cap off a stellar outing where he allowed just three runs on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts over eight frames. However, his replacement — relief pitcher Jimmy Wigo — made things interesting in the top of the ninth.
Pilla and Brett Paulsen opened the final frame with singles. Micheli then lined one through the middle to bring home Pilla. After Santerre was hit by a pitch, Wright drilled a two-run double into center to make it 11-6. With the Hawks needing help, they called on relief pitcher Derek Benzinger to close it out.
After a strikeout by Fox, Miceli grounded out to score Santerre, making the score 11-7, but Brown-Eiring then flew out to wrap things up and even the series. Benzinger retired all three hitters he faced en route to slamming the door.
In the rubber game, Stony Brook had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the second inning, but Wright flew out to left field.
From there, starting pitcher J.T. Raab and Monmouth starting pitcher Kevin Opanel matched each other, exchanging zeroes until the bottom of the sixth inning.
After the leadoff man was retired, Stahl looked at ball four to reach before left fielder Chris Andrews laced a double to dead center to break the stalemate. Andrews then advanced to third base on a throwing error by Santerre and later scored on a sacrifice fly by right fielder Trey Porter.
Pitching with a 2-0 advantage, Opanel fired a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning before giving way to relief pitcher Tommy Kent in the eighth. After Kent retired the side in order, the Hawks’ offense padded the lead with Delinger ripping a leadoff double down the left-field line off Erik Paulsen before Stahl singled him in.
Now trailing 3-0 and sitting three outs from a devastating series loss, the Seawolves put together one last-ditch effort. Miceli worked a leadoff walk before a flyout from Brown-Eiring. Erik Paulsen and Pilla then drew walks to load the bases with only one out. Monmouth head coach Dean Ehehalt then pulled Kent and brought in Benzinger for the two-out save, and he promptly got Brett Paulsen to roll into a 5-4-3 double play to secure the series.
The bottom of the lineup did most of the damage, as Wright and Micheli had the biggest weekends. Wright led the team with six hits in 11 at bats while tallying three doubles, five RBIs and a run scored. Micheli went 5-for-12 with a double, a home run, five RBIs and three runs.
Brett Paulsen went 4-for-11 with a double, two walks and three runs. Paulsen’s eighth-inning double on Friday was the 200th hit of his Stony Brook career. Pilla recorded a hit in all three games, going 4-for-10 overall with three walks and three runs scored.
Santerre went just 1-for-7, but he was hit by four pitches, allowing him to steal a base and score three runs. He also drove in two runs, one of which came via sacrifice fly.
On the mound, Raab went 6 ⅔ innings in his Sunday start while giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks and struck out a pair.
Head coach Matt Senk did not speak to the media after any of the games.
The Seawolves will hit the road again on Tuesday to take on the Fairfield Stags. The Stags are 23-20 this season after sweeping Siena in three games. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
