The Stony Brook baseball team found itself on the wrong end of a high-powered weekend, suffering defeat in its first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series of the season.
While their pitching staff shined in Wednesday’s win, the Seawolves (10-11, 1-2 CAA) surrendered 26 runs to the Delaware Blue Hens (12-10, 2-1 CAA) this weekend on the road. Stony Brook was outscored 23-11 on Friday and Saturday, losing 8-1 and 15-10, respectively, before ultimately salvaging the finale with a tidy 6-3 win on Sunday.
The Seawolves got exactly what they needed from the outset of Friday’s ballgame, as ace starting pitcher Eddie Smink notched consecutive scoreless frames. In the top of the second, Stony Brook plated the games’ first run, as left fielder Matthew Jackson drilled a double to center field. The following inning, Delaware starting pitcher Ryan McLaughlin walked first baseman Erik Paulsen to load the bases. From there, McLaughlin dug in, striking out second baseman Johnny Pilla and designated hitter Nico Azpilcueta to keep the score at 1-0.
The Blue Hens took that momentum into the bottom half of the third, where they pounced on Smink. Delaware center fielder Jackson Tyer led off with a double and left fielder Andrew Amato reached on an error by Pilla. Tyer then came in to score the equalizer on a fielder’s choice. A batter later, right fielder Aaron Graeber hit a two-run homer to put the Blue Hens up 3-1.
After recording the second out of the inning on a ground ball, Smink’s struggles continued. He walked consecutive hitters ahead of a double by Delaware shortstop Brett Lesher which scored a pair. Ahead 5-1, catcher LT Cockrill singled in Lesher; Tyer bookended the inning with a two-run shot of his own, capping off an eight-run frame for the Blue Hens.
Delaware head coach Greg Mamula went to his bullpen from there, as relievers Carter Welsh and Jake Pollaro combined to give the Blue Hens six innings of two-hit, shutout baseball to get the game to the finish line. Following Smink’s exit after the third inning, two Seawolf relievers held the fort, shining across five shutout innings of combined relief.
Despite putting multiple runners aboard in the third, seventh and ninth innings, Stony Brook failed to plate a run after Jackson’s double as the Blue Hens took game one.
Saturday’s contest featured fireworks from the get-go. Azpilcueta left the building in the top of the first with a tape measure two-run homer to give the Seawolves an instant 2-0 lead.
That lead did not last very long, as starting pitcher George Adams gave up a two-run homer to first baseman Evan Bouldin to tie the score at two. Both sides exchanged runs in the second before Azpilcueta struck again, hitting a ball even further than his first home run to give Stony Brook a 4-3 lead.
Once again, the Blue Hens struck right back, scoring four in the bottom of the third. Graeber led off the frame with a solo shot down the left-field line. Bouldin then singled ahead of Delaware second baseman Aidan Stewart, who launched a 478-foot, two-run long ball to put the Blue Hens up 6-4.
Later in the inning, Adams plunked Cockrill which spelled the end of his day, giving way to reliever Vincent Mariella. Mariella allowed Cockrill to score on a single by Amato, extending the Delaware lead to 7-4. All told, Adams was charged with seven runs in 2 ⅓ innings in his first collegiate start. He allowed six hits, three walks and hit a batter while fanning three.
The home run parade proceeded in the top of the fourth, as center fielder Chris Carson rounded the bases for the first time this season to cut the deficit to 7-5.
Mariella gave those runs back in the bottom half, as he put the first two runners aboard courtesy of a single and a hit batsman. Head coach Matt Senk had seen enough, yanking Mariella in favor of relief pitcher Matthew Canizares who was greeted by a two-run single by Lesher. Aside from the inherited runners that he allowed to score, Canizares calmed down the Blue Hens’ offense, getting the final two outs of the fourth before pitching a scoreless fifth.
In the meantime, the Seawolves got both of Mariella’s runs back as right fielder Chanz Doughty sent a pitch from Delaware relief pitcher Justin Needles over the wall and to the left of the batter’s eye in center field, plating a pair.
The game remained 9-7 in the Blue Hens’ favor until the bottom of the seventh, when the home team once again came up with a big inning. With one out, Amato popped a ball in the infield, which got caught in the wind and fell behind first base. Amato ended up at second base and scored two batters later when Graeber sent a fastball from relief pitcher Ryan Dieguez into left field for a single. Dieguez then issued a five-pitch walk to Bouldin, loading the bases for Stewart.
Having already slugged one dinger on the day, Stewart took a 1-2 breaking ball from Dieguez and belted it over the right-center field fence for a grand slam, making the score 14-7. To make matters worse for Dieguez, Lesher followed up with a home run of his own, adding a run to Delaware’s total.
Relief pitcher Alex Jankowski finally put the inning to bed, getting a strikeout and a caught stealing. Dieguez faced four batters and did not retire any as he allowed the two home runs and was charged with four earned runs.
Down 15-7, Stony Brook did not go down easy. Paulsen brought in a run in the eighth on a fielder’s choice before scoring on an error two batters later. Jackson then singled back through the middle to chase Pilla home and make it 15-10. Mamula brought in relief pitcher Andrew Callaway, who immediately walked Doughty to load the bases for catcher Luke Szepek. With the potential tying run in the on-deck circle, Szepek sent a fly ball to the warning track which came up short, retiring the side.
Jankowski set down all three batters that he faced in the bottom of the eighth before Callaway got the Seawolves out in order to wrap up a 15-10 slugfest, handing the Blue Hens the series victory.
Trying to come away with at least one win on the weekend, Stony Brook sent John Rizzo to the hill on Sunday against Delaware starter Tim Hartman. Rizzo and Hartman traded zeroes over the first three frames before the Blue Hens took the lead in the bottom of the fourth.
After Rizzo issued a one-out walk to Graeber, Bouldin split the gap in left-center field to score the game’s first run. Stewart then continued his power barrage with a two-run homer, swelling the Delaware lead to 3-0.
Both sides were blanked in the fifth, as Stony Brook would be the next team to score. Third baseman Evan Goforth started the home half of the sixth with a double, and while Delaware reliever Elias Conway struck out Paulsen, he issued walks to Pilla and Azpilcueta to fill the bases. Delaware called on left-hander Dylan Bryan out of the bullpen to face Jackson but the move backfired, as Jackson banged a two-run single into center field. Bryan then walked Doughty to reload the bases and gave Szepek a free pass to force in the tying run. Relief pitcher Dom Velazquez eventually limited the damage, getting a ground out and a strikeout, but the damage had already been done.
In the bottom of the sixth, John Rizzo started the inning by inducing a flyout before getting lifted in favor of his brother — Nicholas Rizzo. Nicholas Rizzo quickly got a groundout for the second out but walked Bouldin and allowed a single to Stewart. With two out and two on, Lesher sent a fly ball towards the 410-foot marker in center field. Carson tracked the ball to the fence and timed his leap perfectly, reeling in Lesher’s shot near the top of the wall to get the Seawolves out of the jam.
They took full advantage in the next half inning. With one out, Paulsen laid into a Velazquez breaking ball and slugged it deep into the trees in right-center field at Bob Hannah Stadium to give Stony Brook its first lead of the day.
Ahead 4-3, relief pitcher Jacob Pedersen entered in relief and sidestepped a pair of baserunners in the seventh before stranding the tying run at third in the eighth.
Clinging to a one-run advantage, the Seawolves added to their lead in the top of the ninth. Carson kicked things off with a double before shortstop Matt Miceli tried to bunt him over. As Delaware first baseman Rory Finn fielded the bunt, he skipped the throw to Stewart who was covering the bag, allowing Carson to cross the plate. Goforth then brought Miceli home on a double to make the score 6-3.
Pedersen made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth, giving up a leadoff hit to Cockrill and walking Tyer with one-out. Amato then sent a fly ball to left field, where Jackson made the catch mere feet from the fence before designated hitter Matthew Minckler grounded out to third base to close things out.
John Rizzo gave Stony Brook some much needed length after the pitching struggles in the first two games of the series. He lasted 5 ⅓ innings and allowed three earned runs on four hits and two walks while punching out five batters. Pedersen got the win, pitching the final three innings, allowing three hits, walking three and striking out four.
“Our starting pitching has struggled to give us consistent, quality starts so far this season,” Senk said in a postgame interview with Stony Brook Athletics. “John Rizzo gave us a terrific and much needed quality outing today.”
Throughout the weekend, Stony Brook’s offensive firepower showed. It leads the CAA in home runs with 27, and with Paulsen’s longball on Sunday, the Seawolves surpassed their home run total from last year — just 21 games into the season.
Doughty continued his breakout for the Seawolves, going 4-for-10 on the weekend with a double, a home run, two runs scored and two runs batted in (RBI).
Paulsen went 3-for-13 with two runs scored, two RBIs and the go-ahead round tripper on Sunday. At the end of the weekend, Paulsen ranks third in the CAA in on-base plus slugging percentage at 1.170.
Jackson had another strong weekend, going 4-for-12. He walked, scored a run, doubled and drove in four while also stealing a base. He is now a perfect 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts this season, putting him in a tie for ninth league wide.
Goforth raised his season batting average to .310 with four hits in 13 trips to bat. Along the way, he picked up a pair of doubles, a run scored and an RBIs. Azpilcueta went just 2-for-11, but both of his hits left the yard. Azpilcueta also walked three times, allowing him to score four runs while he also chipped in four RBIs.
Pilla struggled at the plate, as he saw his OPS dip below 1.000 for the season. Across the three games, he had two hits in 11 at bats but scored three times. Szepek went 4-for-12 in the series, and drove in a run with his bases-loaded walk on Sunday.
Carson had a hit in every game, going 3-for-11. Two of his hits went for extra bases as he doubled, homered, drove in two and scored twice along with stellar defense in center field.
As a team, Stony Brook committed just one error on the weekend — Pilla’s third inning miscue on Friday. Behind the plate, Szepek nabbed three runners trying to steal bases.
With the completion of its four-game road trip, the Seawolves will return home to Joe Nathan Field on Tuesday to take on the Iona Gaels. The Gaels have gone 7-14 so far this season, and have won two of their six contests in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. This past weekend, Iona took two out of three games against Seton Hall in its final non-conference series. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 3 p.m.
