Second baseman Adam Genners committed two errors in the first two innings for the Manhattan Jaspers and the Stony Brook Seawolves took advantage of this, plating five unearned runs en route to a 10-3 victory in an NCAA non-conference baseball matchup Wednesday afternoon at Joe Nathan Field.
“We’re always talking about taking advantage of any mistakes the other team makes,” manager Matt Senk said. “Clearly that was tough for their guy. But we took advantage of it.”
Robert Chavarria reached on the first error by Genners when he mishandled a grounder, scoring Toby Handley from third base. Chavarria then touched home after Johnny Caputo laced a double past left-fielder Jason Patnick and to the fence, giving Stony Brook a 2-0 lead.
Caputo’s hit streak is now up to double digits at 10 after this double. He also bunted a single past the pitcher in the third inning to make it a multi-hit day.
“His aggressiveness and doing a good job of jumping on his pitch has allowed him to get on this streak,” Senk said. The junior is starting to find his groove, upping his average to .253 on the season.
The second error occurred an inning later, when Handley’s grounder slipped through Genners’ legs, allowing Jeremy Giles to touch the plate. One batter later, Jack Parenty hit a frozen rope to the center field fence, scoring Handley and Andruw Gazzola.
Both errors proved costly, and with an excellent start from Nicholas DiEva, Manhattan found it impossible to get themselves back in it.
The freshman pitcher earned his second win of the season in his second collegiate start, no-hitting the Jaspers after three innings. But, as according to plan, Senk pulled the plug after that.
“We need him for the weekend,” he said.
The numbers speak for themselves for the Cherry Hill, New Jersey native. He has given Senk 17.1 quality innings, striking out 20 batters and only allowing seven earned runs. The defense has not helped him on batted balls, as the run total doubles to 14 when looking at total runs allowed.
Gazzola joined in on the hit parade in the third, lacing a double to the right-field fence, plating Caputo after his bunt single.
This was the first earned run allowed by starter Steve Arntsen, who would only last until the end of the third.
In the fourth, Brendan Bisset hit a soft grounder past the outstretched dive of Giles, plating Joe McClennan from third. Aaron Pinto allowed the run, but would settle down afterwards, getting out of the jam with just the lone score crossing the plate.
Stony Brook would answer with a run in the fifth via a Gazzola RBI fielder’s choice, and then a trio in the sixth to put the game well out of reach for the Jaspers.
This weekend the Seawolves will welcome the UMBC Retrievers to Long Island for a three-game series. Tyler Honahan and Daniel Zamora are the probable starters for the doubleheader on Saturday, but as always, the weather will have to cooperate if the Seawolves want to play their first full three-game set as scheduled this season.
“It would be nice if we could just play the games when they’re scheduled to be played,” Senk said. “I think the guys overall have handled it well.”
