Behind a pair of gutsy pitching performances, the Stony Brook baseball team took a pair of games in a weekend series win.
Looking to pull itself out of the basement of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), the Seawolves (17-16, 5-7 CAA) squared off with the Campbell Camels (15-20, 6-6 CAA) in a three-game series at Joe Nathan Field. Despite temperatures in the 40s and rain throughout much of the weekend, Stony Brook was up for the test, claiming a 5-4 win on Friday and a 5-1 victory on Saturday. Ultimately, Campbell was able to salvage Sunday’s finale with a 16-6 beatdown.
Even with a wet start to Friday’s game, the Camels started off hot. Facing starter Eddie Smink, Campbell shortstop Darnell Parker Jr. jumped on the first pitch of the game, tucking a line drive inside the left-field foul pole for a leadoff homer.
After an infield single and double put runners at second and third, Smink finally recorded his first out, getting a groundout from first baseman Joey Morton. Nonetheless, a run came in on the play, making it 2-0 Camels.
Smink settled down from there, escaping the jam without further damage and throwing up zeros in the next two frames. However, he faltered again in the fourth, allowing a leadoff hit to Campbell designated hitter Jett Music. Smink got the next two outs before left fielder Joe Simpson found a hole on the left side for a single that brought home Music and ended Smink’s day early.
Head coach Matt Senk turned to reliever Jacob Pedersen, who retired Parker Jr. on just one pitch to retire the side.
Immediately thereafter, Stony Brook cracked the scoreboard. First baseman Erik Paulsen singled before designated hitter Nico Azpilcueta walked. With right fielder Chanz Doughty at the plate, both runners moved up on a wild pitch to put two men in scoring position. Doughty cashed a run in with a sacrifice fly before second baseman Johnny Pilla looped a single into right field to bring home the second run of the frame, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
With Campbell starter Peyton Brown holding the scoring spree to a pair, the Camels struck right back in the top of the fifth inning. Leading off the frame, shortstop Dalen Thompson slugged an opposite-field, line-drive home run to right field. From there, Pedersen retired nine of the next 10 batters.
Trailing 4-2, left fielder Chris Carson led off the home half of the seventh inning with a walk. As third baseman Brett Davino tried to bunt him to second, Campbell relief pitcher Evans Hendricks bobbled the attempt, putting two runners aboard. Another bunt — this time by shortstop Matt Miceli — put the potential tying run in scoring position, prompting Senk to go to his bench.
Batting in place of center fielder Nick Zampieron, Scott Gell trickled a single against the overshifted infield, bringing home a pair of runs and tying the game at four apiece.
“Coming off the bench, I try to stay locked in and stay loose,” Gell said in the postgame interview with The Statesman. “I was really looking for a good pitch to hit and something I could put a barrel on. Honestly, just doing whatever I can do for the team.”
The Seawolves’ rally did not end there. Gell was lifted for pinch runner Cam Santerre, who immediately swiped second base. With the go-ahead run at second, Paulsen went pitch for pitch with the lefty Hendricks, fouling off breaking ball after breaking ball. He ultimately put one in play, dropping a blooper in front of Simpson in left to score Santerre and give Stony Brook the lead.
“I knew [Hendricks] had nothing to beat me with and I wanted to see a lot of what he had,” Paulsen said. “He kept making pretty good pitches but I kept fighting them off. Eventually, he made another good pitch but I was able to find a hole.”
The 5-4 lead proved to be enough for Pedersen, who struck out the first two in the top of the eighth before sidestepping a single with two outs. In the ninth, Pedersen induced a pair of ground balls before getting Parker Jr. to fly out to center field to end the ballgame.
“My number one priority was to get out of [the fourth] inning,” Pedersen said. “After that, I was just going one out at a time. Fastball command was working well, but the scouting report on me is out there. I am going to attack with fastballs so I really had to execute the sliders and offspeed as well.”
Serving primarily as a reliever, Pedersen had not gone beyond three innings all season. On Friday, he turned in his longest outing of the season, pitching the final 5 ⅓ innings, allowing three hits and one run, while not walking a batter and striking out five.
“[Pedersen] is someone that, at his best, I feel could give us some length,” Senk said. “In that ninth, we made the decision that since he had put in that position, it was his ballgame from there.”
Prior to Saturday’s game, Stony Brook honored the 30-year anniversary of the Seawolves’ 1995 team, which was known as the “Band of Brothers.”
In similar fashion to that club, Stony Brook came out firing as the temperatures dropped and the rain picked up. This did not slow down the Seawolves, as starting pitcher Ty Panariello retired the Camels in order on just five pitches while picking up a strikeout in the opening inning.
In the bottom half, Paulsen drew a one-out walk before Azpilcueta ripped a line drive to right-center field. With the turf slick from the rain and Campbell’s outfielder playing shallow due to a sharp wind from right field, the ball rolled all the way to the fence. This allowed Paulsen to easily cross home with Azpilcueta standing at third base with his first three-bagger of the season. Doughty then plated him, sending a ground ball to first to put Stony Brook up 2-0.
“We came out fired up,” Azpilcueta said. “When it’s this cold, you have to get going early and do damage early on and I think we did a really good job of doing that.”
From there, Panariello locked in, retiring the next five before finally giving up his first base runner on a two-out double by Simpson in the third. After getting through the inning unscathed, the Seawolves tacked on in the home half of the third.
Zampieron opened the frame with an infield hit, advancing to second on a throwing error by Campbell third baseman Charlie Meglio. Paulsen followed up by launching a run-scoring double to left-center field to extend the lead to three.
Panariello worked a scoreless fourth with the help of a nifty twin killing turned by Miceli and Pilla before working around a walk in the fifth.
With Campbell starting pitcher Mason Smith still on the mound in the fifth, Paulsen drew a walk ahead of Azpilcueta, who ripped a ball through the wind and snuck it over the left-field wall to make it 5-0 Seawolves.
“I’m pretty surprised that one got out,” Azpilcueta said. “I think I’m seeing the ball really well right now. I’m not trying to do too much up there. Mainly, I just try to see the ball middle away and put a barrel on it.”
On the other side, Panariello continued to dominate, retiring the next seven batters before walking Simpson with one out in the eighth. Well beyond his previous highwater mark in pitches, Panariello got Parker Jr. to fly out before walking Thompson. Meglio then fought off a two-strike offering and served a run-scoring single to center field. With his pitch count at 108, Senk pulled Panariello there, as the starter exited to an ovation.
“Last time out, I went five innings so I really wanted to build on that,” Panariello said. “I was trying to throw as many strikes and get as many quick outs as possible. In the eighth, [Coach] C.J. [Whelan] came out and asked me how I was feeling. I said, ‘great.’ Turns out I lied right through my teeth but we got the job done so that’s all that matters.”
To finish the inning, Senk turned to reliever George Adams, who held the Campbell offense to just the lone run. He then worked around a single and an error in the ninth, striking out Simpson to wrap up a 5-1 win and clinch a series victory.
“It seemed like the conditions only affected one side of the field today,” Panariello said. “On our side, you wouldn’t think the conditions were as bad as they were. The guys were awesome and came up with a gritty win. I just went out there trying to do my job and let the boys keep swinging the sticks.”
While pitching has been an issue for Stony Brook throughout the season, Panariello pitched arguably the best game of any Seawolf all year. Over 7 ⅔ innings, he allowed one run on two hits with four walks and four strikeouts.
“These aren’t easy conditions to play in,” Senk said. “They really made the most of it. [Panariello] had a really good mix going and missed in spots where he couldn’t get hurt. He was working really fast and the guys love playing behind him. It’s a really good combination for success.”
Needing a win to salvage the weekend, the Camels were put back on their heels on Sunday. After starting pitcher John Rizzo worked a scoreless first, Zampieron reached on an error. Then, Paulsen skied a fly ball to right, which just had enough to clear the fence for a two-run homer to put the Seawolves up early.
However, Campbell pounced on Rizzo in the top of the second. With one out, Music sent a frozen rope over the left-center field wall to get the Camels on the board. After Rizzo recorded the second out, a throwing error by Miceli left the door open to three more runs. Simpson singled to put two aboard before Parker got a ball out to right-field for a go-ahead three-run shot.
In the third, Meglio singled to start the frame before Campbell catcher Andrew Schuldt went deep to make it 6-2 Camels. A quick bottom of the third kept the momentum on Campbell’s side, as a single and hit batsman opened the fourth, chasing Rizzo from the game.
Senk turned to reliever Matthew Canizares, who struck out both Parker Jr. and Thompson. An out away from escaping the jam, Canizares was unable to keep the Camels at bay, as Meglio curled a deep fly ball around the left-field foul pole, effectively ending the game as Campbell went up 9-2.
While Stony Brook scored twice in the bottom of the fourth, the Camels added five more in the top of the sixth. Leading off, Morton took Canizares over the right-field scoreboard to add a run before Music walked and stole second. Campbell outfielder Lukas Schramm blasted a two-run homer to left-center to chase Canizares and swell the lead to 12-4.
After the homer, Senk went back to his bullpen, bringing in relief pitcher Nicholas Rizzo. Despite recording a pair of outs, Rizzo put runners on the corners before Simpson stole home to make it 13-4.
Stony Brook scored a pair in the bottom of the fifth before Campbell scored two in the sixth and one in the seventh to invoke the run-rule, taking the finale by a final of 16-6.
“John [Rizzo’s] fastball is really good and [Campbell] made some really good swings on it,” Senk said. “I’m sure there were a couple pitches that he didn’t place exactly where he wanted so they definitely got the best of him today. I’m sure he’ll bounce back and be ready to go.”
While the series ended on a sour note, Stony Brook claimed its second-consecutive winning weekend in CAA play, moving within a game of a playoff spot. Perhaps more importantly, the Seawolves now own the tiebreaker over Campbell and North Carolina A&T, who both sit above them in the standings with five weekends to play.
“It’s about winning every series,” Senk said. “It was a good weekend with a chance to have been a really great weekend. Winning those two in a row was a real positive sign.”
In the first two games, Stony Brook’s pitching stood out, allowing just five runs. Additionally, it used just four arms to cover the first 18 innings of the set. Sunday was a different story, as the Seawolves allowed 16 runs on 13 hits and a walk while also plunking three hitters. In the series finale, the Camels slugged seven long balls.
Stony Brook scored 16 runs in the series, as the Seawolf offense homered just three times. Paulsen had a strong weekend, going 4-for-10 with four runs scored, a double, a home run and four runs batted in (RBI).
Azpilcueta continued his torrid season, slugging his 11th and 12th home runs of the season while getting four hits in 11 at bats. He also doubled, tripled, scored four times and had four RBIs while finishing a single shy of the cycle on Saturday. Azpilcueta is now in sole possession of second place in the CAA in long balls.
Pilla went 4-for-10 with two walks, two runs scored and an RBI. Zampieron went 2-for-10 with a hit by pitch, two runs scored and a run driven in. Doughty managed just one hit in eight at bats, but drove in two runs. Davino went 2-for-9 with a double.
Gell had a hit in one of his two at bats, picking up two RBIs on his pinch-hit single on Friday.
“We obviously would have loved to get back to .500 in conference play but this is a good club,” Senk said. “We’ve still got five weekends to go and we’re right in the middle of this thing. Overall, I think you always want to be in a better position than we are right now, but hopefully we’ll do a good job next weekend and through the rest of our schedule.”
Next, Stony Brook will take on the Hofstra Pride in Hempstead, N.Y., as it looks to continue to climb the CAA standings in the next installment of the Battle of Long Island. The Pride have struggled this season, going 12-24 overall, including a 3-9 record in conference play — the worst in the league. This past weekend, Hofstra was swept on the road by Northeastern, getting outscored 19-1 in three games. While the Seawolves have no midweek on the docket, the Pride will take on St. John’s on Tuesday, looking to snap their four-game losing streak before welcoming Stony Brook on Friday. First pitch in the series opener is set for 2 p.m.
