The Stony Brook Baseball team dominated UMBC this weekend, sweeping them in three games.
This is the sixth straight win for the Seawolves, who have won 25 of their last 30 games.
SBU had 34 hits on the weekend, scoring in double digits for the sixth time in the last nine games.
They improved to 31-15 overall and 16-4 in the America East, while UMBC dropped to 16-26 overall and 7-14 in the conference.
The Seawolves took Friday’s games 5-3 and 11-3, and won Saturday’s rubber match 10-3.
Senior pitcher Frankie Vanderka retired the first 12 batters he faced in game one on Friday, keeping the Retrievers hitless until the fifth inning.
With the score tied at one, a big seventh inning helped SBU break the game open.
A double from junior Cole Peragine moved senior Kevin Courtney to third and set the Seawolves up with two runners in scoring position.
Freshman Casey Baker hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Courtney.
Sophomore Johnny Caputo followed with another double to score Peragine.
He would later score on a UMBC fielding error.
From then on, it was easy going.
Vanderka allowed the Retrievers one run each in the eighth and ninth inning, but finished his fourth complete game of the season. It was also the 16th complete game of the year.
He allowed three runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking none.
The second game went the same way for the Seawolves, who opened the first inning with four runs.
Junior Kevin Krause, who went 5-for-9 on the day, hit an RBI single to start the scoring.
Baker then hit into a fielder’s choice, driving home a run in the process.
Courtney then scored on a throwing error and Caputo doubled to score Baker. Caputo would go on to drive in four runs in game two.
RBI singles from Krause, Peragine and junior Robert Chavarria in the fourth made the score 7-0.
A Krause double and Chavarria walk in the sixth set Peragine up for an RBI single to center, and a three-run homer over the centerfield fence from Caputo made it 11-1 and blew the game open.
The Retrievers did not have a chance against pitcher Brandon McNitt and his defense.
The senior allowed only two runs on six hits over six innings, striking out nine batters.
The Seawolves had 24 hits on Friday, with 15 of them coming in game two. Peragine, Baker, Krause, Chavarria, Caputo and sophomore Jack Parenty all had at least one multi-hit game in the doubleheader.
Peragine led the Seawolves offensively, going 6-for-8 on the day.
After a rain delay halted Saturday’s game in the second inning, Stony Brook had a six-run third inning.
Senior Josh Mason started the inning with a leadoff infield single, and ended up on third after back-to-back UMBC errors loaded the bases.
Krause hit an RBI single to center, and Peragine followed two batters later with an RBI single to right.
The Seawolves scored another run on a wild pitch, and back-to-back RBI base hits from Baker and Caputo drove in two more. Another wild pitch brought Baker home for the final run of the inning.
SBU led 6-0 after sending 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
In the fifth, with the score 7-2, Krause blasted a bases-loaded triple to left, scoring all three runners and making it 10-2.
Sophomore starter Tyler Honahan and three relievers kept the Retrievers in check, retiring 21 of the last 23 batters they faced.
Honahan allowed three runs on three hits over six innings, and sophomore Tim Knesnick, senior Bryan Tatelman and freshman Cameron Stone each added one scoreless inning of relief.
The Seawolves had 10 hits to UMBC’s three on Saturday, drawing three walks and leaving only six men on base.
Krause had four RBIs on the day.
After the three-win weekend, the Seawolves are 16-4 in the America East.
This means that they can finish no worse than second place in the conference.
Stony Brook is currently a half-game ahead of Hartford in first place, and the two teams will finish the regular season with a three-game series at Joe Nathan Field next weekend.
The winner of the series will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming America East Championship.
