Game 1: Stony Brook 12, UMBC 5
Stony Brook Baseball got off on the right foot, winning game one of Friday’s doubleheader on the road in Maryland against UMBC. Senior catcher David Real drove in a game-high four runs in the 12-5 Seawolves win.
Real started the scoring with a double down the left field line in the top of the second, giving Stony Brook a 1-0 lead. In the top of the fifth inning, Real broke the game wide open with a base-clearing double, extending the team’s lead to 8-2.
The win was driven by three starters. Along with Real, senior first baseman Casey Baker and sophomore right fielder Dylan Resk drove in at least two RBIs in the offensive outburst.
Resk hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to left center field, giving the team a 12-4 lead. The home run was the sophomore’s twelfth of the season, giving him the outright lead in the America East. It’s also the most home runs for a Stony Brook player since Willie Carmona, who had 12 himself back in 2012.
Senior shortstop Jeremy Giles had a three-hit game, his season high. The senior’s batting average sits at .193 after going 4-for-12 against the Retrievers.
Baker reached base five times in the first game, working three walks to go with his two hits. This was the second time this season that the senior earned three walks in a game, the first time being against Sacred Heart back in April.
Freshman starting pitcher Brian Herrmann slogged through seven innings – the starter allowed four runs on seven walks and two hits. The Northport native picked up his second consecutive win, good for his fourth of the season. The freshman’s 3.54 earned run average is eighth in the conference.
Game 2: Stony Brook 7, UMBC 1
The Seawolves completed the doubleheader sweep of the Retrievers, with a 30-minute rain delay throwing a monkey wrench into the team’s plan. Junior relief pitcher Aaron Pinto threw five innings out of the bullpen after the delay forced redshirt freshman Greg Marino out of the game.
Pinto came into the game with the team leading 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning. The right hander worked five innings of one-run ball, allowing a pair of walks and four hits. The junior made his longest appearance of the season, all while lowering his ERA to 3.03.
Senior centerfielder Toby Handley had his best game of the series in game two, going two-for-four with a run and a walk. He garnered two walks in the series against the Retrievers, bringing his season total to 45, four shy of the single season record set by Cole Peragine in 2012.
Designated hitter Resk put the team on his back and drove in three runs on three separate singles. His first single gave the Seawolves a 1-0 lead in the first inning, a lead the team would only build on.
The offensive consistency carried over from the first game – all nine Stony Brook starters reached base at least once and the team worked five walks.
UMBC junior starting pitcher Matt Chanin was bounced after 4.1 innings and surrendering four runs, three of which were in the fifth inning. Resk again made his presence known in that fifth inning, driving an RBI single through the left side, extending the Stony Brook lead to 4-1.
The team scored three more runs off the Retrievers’ bullpen, putting the game out of reach. The nail in the coffin was a RBI double by freshman right fielder Chris Hamilton in the top of the seventh inning, making the score 7-1.
Game 3: UMBC 2, Stony Brook 1 (10 innings)
The Retrievers exacted revenge for their defeat in the doubleheader by outlasting the Seawolves in an extra inning walk off win on Senior Day.
UMBC junior right fielder Collin Stack hit a double off the right field wall, driving in the game-winning run. The team mobbed its hero just on the lip of the outfield grass and dog piled on each other celebrating the win which ensured UMBC would be the No. 2 seed in the America East Tournament.
For a majority of the afternoon, neither team could generate offense. Resk hit an RBI single in the top of the eighth inning that finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Stony Brook a 1-0 lead. That seemed like it would be enough to ensure a sweep of the series.
Junior starting pitcher Kevin Kernan had been dealing all afternoon – he had worked eight scoreless innings going into the last frame of the game, working a one hitter and striking out four. The eight and one-third innings was the longest start of the season for the junior.
However, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Retrievers sophomore left fielder Raven Beeman hit a game-tying home run far over junior left fielder Andruw Gazzola’s head. All of Kernan’s hard work was rendered a waste by the home run. After the following batter weakly grounded out to second base, Kernan was pulled for junior relief pitcher Teddy Rodliff.
Rodliff had come into the game with the eleventh best ERA of all relievers in the conference, but would struggle in the tenth. Rodliff surrendered a leadoff double to senior catcher Hunter Dolshun. Dolshun was subsequently sacrifice-bunted over to third base
Rodliff saved his own neck when the following batter, freshman third baseman Christian Torres, laid down a suicide squeeze. Rodliff scooped the ball up with his glove hand and flipped it from his glove to his catcher, Real, who sweep-tagged Dolshun before he could touch the plate.
But that tremendous fielding play was for naught.
Stack hit a fly ball off the right field wall and drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning.
Stony Brook, in failing to complete a series sweep, falls to a 12-10 conference record and will have to settle for the No. 3 seed in the America East tournament. Stony Brook begins conference tournament play on Wednesday, May 24 in Lowell, Massachusetts against Hartford. Stony Brook went 2-4 against Hartford during the regular season.
