April 14, 2002 – Dwayne Whitaker’s homer in the bottom of the seventh inningmade a winner out of righthanded hurler Anthony Stutz as Stony Brook (14-13,4-4) posted a 2-1 victory in game one of a doubleheader against Binghamton.Binghamton (12-21, 5-3) bounced back in the nightcap behind the strong pitchingof Mike Weglinski to earn an 8-2 win and a split of the weekend series withthe Seawolves.
Game one was a pitcher’s duel between Stutz and Binghamton’s Jacob Thiel. TheSeawolves got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when Lee Lipschutzdoubled to lead off the bottom of the inning. Two batters later, R.J. Etzelsingled him home for a 1-0 lead. The Bearcats evened the score at one in thetop of the fourth on a T.J. Kowalchuk RBI single that scored Tyler McGonigal.
Both pitchers then settled down and pitched scoreless baseball until the bottomof the seventh. Whitaker led off the Seawolves’ seventh by driving a Thiel fastballover the center field fence for his sixth homerun of the season to help Stutzimprove to 2-2 on the year. Stutz went seven innings, giving up one run on fivehits and striking out seven. Thiel was the hard luck loser, giving up two runson four hits in six innings of work.
Binghamton wasted no time in jumping on the Seawolves in game two. The Bearcatstouched up starter Dan Hoffman for two runs in the first before Hoffman waslifted after only retiring one batter. Ray Zimmerman came on to put out theBinghamton rally to keep the score at 2-0 but a Kowalchuk RBI double off Zimmermanin the third scored Tony Berube for a 3-0 advantage. Rich Graham got the Seawolvesback in the game in the bottom of the inning, blasting a two-run homer overthe left field fence that cut the BU lead to 3-2.
That would be as close as Stony Brook would get as Binghamton added two runsin the fifth and put the game away in the sixth by scoring three runs with twoouts. A Shawn Collyer homer was followed by a two-run double by Kyle Louckslater in the inning to extend the lead to 8-2. Weglinski went the distance forBinghamton yielding only two runs while scattering seven hits and striking outfour. Tim Collar finished 2-3 at the plate with three runs batted in and Kowalchukfinished with three hits and two RBI.
Stony Brook is back in action on Tuesday when it travels to Wagner. First pitchis 3:30 p.m.
