After falling behind early due to a pair of miscues, the Stony Brook Baseball team showed resilience for a 7-5, come-from-behind victory versus NYIT on Tuesday morning.
Throughout this season, the Seawolves have shown an ability to come back in games after falling behind. This was again the case against the Bears, as head coach Matt Senk’s team trailed 5-2 in the sixth inning.
Three straight Seawolves reached to load the bases for freshman left fielder Dylan Resk. The clean-up hitter came through with a two-run single to cut the deficit to one. Senior first baseman Johnny Caputo followed his teammate’s lead with a two-run single of his own, putting Stony Brook up 6-5.
Caputo’s two runs batted in were his 25th and 26th of the season, leading the team in the category, while Resk now has 16 runs batted in this season.
After grabbing the lead, the Seawolves relief pitching was dominant as the bullpen allowed only one hit from the sixth inning on. After junior shortstop scored on a passed ball in the top of the ninth inning to bring the lead to 7-5, sophomore pitcher Teddy Rodliff pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to convert his seventh save of the season.
Stony Brook’s eventual victory came after a slow start.
NYIT opened the bottom of the first inning with a single, on which junior center fielder Toby Handley committed a throwing error. The blunder was only the beginning of Stony Brook’s woes. The Seawolves’ starting pitcher, sophomore Cole Creighton, had a hard time finding his control, walking two Bears and throwing a wild pitch. All four runs that Creighton surrendered in the inning were unearned.
In the third inning, junior pitcher Connor Doyle entered the game for the Seawolves. The right-hander was nothing short of spectacular. Doyle pitched six innings, striking out eight batters while only giving up two hits, without surrendering a run.
Doyle was the winning pitcher for Stony Brook, earning his tenth win of the season. NYIT junior pitcher Matt Diaz was tagged with his third loss of the year.
With the win, Stony Brook now has a .500 winning percentage with a record of 20-20.
The Seawolves will have three days off before visiting the Binghamton Bearcats for an America East weekend series. Binghamton is currently in first in the conference, while Stony Brook is 1.5 games back in second. The Seawolves will have a tall task ahead of them as the Bearcats are undefeated at home this season, boasting a 9-0 home record.
