The Seawolves traveled to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, on Mar. 3 and lost all three games of a weekend series with the College of Charleston Cougars. In the first game of a doubleheader on Mar. 3, the Seawolves fell by a score of 10-3.
SBU put the first run on the board in the third inning, after freshman catcher, Michael Stephan, led off with a single to right and later scored on a groundout by shortstop Keith Fier. That was the only lead the Seawolves would have in the game.
The Cougars came right back in the bottom of the third with two runs of their own. They managed to score the runs without recording a single hit. Back-to-back walks by SBU starter Tom Koehler, followed by a double steal put runners on second and third with only’ one out. After designated hitter, Stuart Haywood, scored and center fielder, Clay McCord, advanced to third on a wild pitch, the Cougars got their second run across after a sacrifice fly by right fielder, Gabe Marchant.
Koehler struck out eight Cougars over 6 innings and allowed only four hits, but was charged with seven earned runs. After throwing a scoreless fourth, Koehler allowed three runs in the fifth, all on a three run home run by Marchant. In the sixth, third basemen, Ben Lasater, hit a two run homer to put the Cougars up 7-1.
Senior right hander Nick Chigges, the Cougars starting pitcher, was finally knocked out in the eighth inning after SBU got two runs across. Jeremy Nowak led off the inning with a double, and scored when Brian Witkowski doubled him two batters later. Witkowski came around to score on a pinch hit single by Steve Legrett off of reliever Curtis Dowling. The Cougars put up three more runs over the final two innings to make the final score 10-3. Chigges, who pitched over seven strong innings allowing just two earned runs, picked up the win for the Cougars, moving him to 3-0, while the loss for Koehler dropped him to 0-2.
The second game of the doubleheader was started for SBU by Mike Errigo. It began well for the Seawolves, but ended the same as the previous five, with a loss. This one came by the score of 13-3. SBU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after a leadoff double by Witkowski. He scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Robert Leonard. They held the lead until the bottom of the third when Marchant hit his second home run of the day, this time a solo shot.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Cougars loaded the bases with no outs after a walk, a single, and another walk. Errigo worked himself out of the jam after allowing only one run to score. The Cougars scored the run on a fielder’s choice. That left runners at the corners with one out. The Seawolves then cut down an attempted double steal, nailing the runner Lasater at the plate as he attempted to score. Errigo then struck out McCord to end the inning.
After the Seawolves went down quietly in their half of the fifth, the Cougars unloaded in the bottom part of the inning, scoring nine runs on six hits. The inning was highlighted by a three RBI triple by shortstop Oliver Marmol. Marmol then came around to score on Marchant’s third home run of the day, and second in the game. Errigo was only able to get the first out of the inning. He then allowed the next four hitters to reach base before being relieved by junior, righty Gary Novakowski. He did not fare much better. Before he was able to record the final out of the inning, he was charged with 5 earned runs, after giving up 3 hits and walking two.
The Cougars added two more insurance runs in the sixth with a pair of solo homers. Alex Garabedian led off the inning with a home run off of Novakowski. Michael Kohn then hit another shot off of reliever Robert Leonard to cap the scoring for the Cougars.
SBU put up two runs in the top of the seventh, including an RBI single by Witkowski. On this day the Seawolves managed eight hits, including six off the Cougars starter Michael Bunton. Bunton pitched seven strong innings, striking out four Seawolves in the process.
The third and final game of the series was much closer than the first two, but the Seawolves lost again by a score of 4-1. SBU scored first for the third straight game, but failed to hang onto the lead. They also failed to capitalize on a very good start by Kurt Jung, who gave up the four runs over more then seven innings of work. Witkowski scored the Seawolves only run when he scored on an RBI single by Michael Tansey.
The Cougars answered back in the second inning with a solo home run from Michael Harrington. That was followed by a double by Lasater who came around to score on a single by Haywood. Haywood also had a run scoring single in the fourth inning. The final run for the Cougars was scored in the eighth when Chris Campbell scored on a Jed Cordisco single. On the day Witkowski was 2-4, and he finished the three game set 5-12, while scoring three of the Seawolves seven runs. The Seawolves season continues next weekend, Mar. 10 and 11, against Nicholls State.
