The April weather was far from spring-like last weekend, during the first conference series for Stony Brook Baseball. There was a surprising turn out to last weekend’s series against Maine. Despite the cold weather, fans kept warm with blankets, gloves, and hot coffee. However, the cold did not stop SBU Baseball from sweeping the Maine Bears, who are the defending champions of the America East Conference and the unanimous pre-season choice to win again this year.
On Friday, SBU got a jumpstart on the Bears in the first inning when Robert Leonard hit an RBI single, bringing in Chris Sipp. The Bears answered back with three runs in the second and third innings. In the bottom of the third, SBU tied up the score with two more runs, when Chris Cruz hit a sacrifice fly, bringing in one run, and Michael Tansey hit a double, bringing in the second. The game was decided in the fourth inning when SBU loaded the bases and Leonard racked up four more RBIs with a grand slam, making the score 7-3.‘
Pitcher, Tom Koehler had seven strong innings with five strikeouts, giving up three earned runs. Reigning America East Co-Pitcher of the week, Matt Lyons came into the game for the final two innings, not allowing any hits and striking out three.
On Saturday, the two teams came back for a double header, playing 7 innings in each game. Leonard struck again- two RBIs in the first inning gave SBU a 2-0 lead against the Bears. After a lead off double, Justin Echevarria scored in the second inning, when two sacrifice hits lead him around the bases. Echevarria scored again when he hit a solo homerun. Another run was scored in the fourth, while the bases were loaded. Michael Stephan was hit by a pitch, bringing in an unearned run.
Maine scored their first run in the fourth inning when the Bears hit an RBI single, bringing in a man at third base. The Bears scored again in the sixth when a sac hit brought in a run. The Seawolves did not let the Bears get far, earning two more runs, after Brian Witkowski singled, bringing in Steve Mazzurco who had a previous base hit. Stephan, America East Rookie of the week, followed with a double, bringing in Witkowski. The final score was 7-2, for the Seawolves second conference win.
Pitcher, Gary Novakowski threw five innings scattering eight hits and giving up only two unearned runs. Lyons returned in sixth inning of the second game, only giving up one run.
The Seawolves bats exploded in the second game, scoring 12 times with 14 hits. Three runs were scored right off the bat; two of the runs were unearned because of an error by Maine. Tansey scored the third run from an RBI, bringing in Chris Sipp. The Seawolves scored three more runs in the fourth inning after Stephan, Cruz, and Echevarria each knocked in a run. SB scored two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, with two RBIs from Sipp and an RBI each for Witkowski and Leonard. The Bears only scored three runs, making the final score 12-3.
Jon Kalkau threw seven strong innings, for the complete game only giving up two earned runs.
Sunday was the last and final showdown for the four game series. The Seawolves got started in the second inning when Leonard scored from a double by Tansey. Echevarria then brought Tansey in when he hit his second homerun of the weekend series. Tansey got an RBI of his own when he knocked in Stephan in the fifth inning. The Bears were two runs shy and beating the Seawolves with a final score of 5-4.
Senior, Kurt Jung pitched seven innings for the Seawolves, striking out five batters and only giving up two unearned runs. Lyons recorded a save when he came in the 8th inning. He struck out three batters and gave up one earned run.
SBU’s victory puts them at the top of the conference. The Seawolves take on their next conference series this weekend when they travel to Hartford to battle the Hawks. Catch the Seawolves at home when they take on Fordham next Wednesday. The time will be announced at goseawolves.cstv.com. The Seawolves have another series this weekend when they battle it out with Albany. The first pitch is set for 3:00 PM on Friday.
