The Stony Brook baseball team hosted its first home series of the season over the weekend, playing three games against the Wagner Seahawks. The Seawolves pitching staff allowed 28 runs in the series, dropping all three games. The weekend sweep lowered Stony Brook’s record to 7-7, with six losses in the team’s last seven games.
The first game of the series on Saturday got away from Stony Brook quickly, as Wagner put up seven runs off sophomore starting pitcher Brian Herrmann in the first three innings. After walking the leadoff hitter and allowing a single to right field, sophomore infielder Nick Grande committed a fielding error, setting Wagner up with the bases loaded and no one out in the first.
Wagner junior catcher Phil Capra sent a ball to left field, sending the runner from third home on a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, junior Will Johnson drove two more runners home on a single to center field.
Wagner knocked Herrmann out of the game in the fifth inning, when sophomore outfielder Freddy Sabido hit a two-run inside-the-park home run to center field. Junior outfielder Cristian Montes crashed into the wall, allowing Sabido and Capra to score. Montes was shaken up but remained in the game.
Herrmann exited the game with a gaudy stat line, allowing nine runs –seven earned – on six hits and four walks while striking out three in four plus innings. Redshirt-sophomore pitcher Aaron Glickstein and freshman pitcher Nick Insognia were tasked with mop-up duty for the remainder of the game. The Seahawks tacked on five more runs off the pair, winning the game 14-6.
Stony Brook’s offense had a decent performance on the day, thanks in large part to sophomore outfielder Chris Hamilton. He led off the third inning with a drive to right field for his first career home run. Hamilton also hit a single in the seventh that allowed Montes and junior infielder Brandon Janofsky to score.
The second game of the series was a doubleheader, and began less than an hour after the first game ended. The umpiring crew suspended the game in the seventh inning however, since there wasn’t enough light left to continue. The game started back up Sunday before game three and concluded at the end of the seventh.
The game took a bad turn early for junior starting pitcher Bret Clarke, who recorded the first two outs and got the third hitter to ground to Grande at short. Junior infielder Brandon Alamo dropped Grande’s throw to first, allowing the inning to continue. Two batters later, Sabido took Clarke deep to right-center for a three-run homer.
The Seahawks added another run off Clarke in the third, when junior outfielder Dylan Resk dropped a fly ball from Sabido, allowing the batter to reach second base. Capra followed up by lacing a double to right-center, scoring Sabido and extending the Seahawks’ lead to 4-0.
The Seawolves clawed back into the game slowly. Freshman catcher John Tuccillo led off the third inning with a double, and sophomore outfielder Michael Wilson drove him home on a sacrifice fly to get the Seawolves on the board. In the fifth inning, freshman infielder Michael Palazzolo hit his first career home run, a solo shot to right-center, to make it 4-2.
Stony Brook’s pitching lost its momentum in the seventh, allowing two runs before the suspension and another after the game resumed the next day. Senior pitcher Cole Creighton gave up a double to score the first run. Senior pitcher Teddy Rodliff entered the game and committed an error, allowing the second to score. A fielder’s choice brought home the last run of the inning to make it 7-2, and Stony Brook’s offense couldn’t rally in the bottom half of the seventh.
The series’ finale played out similarly to the previous two games. Redshirt-sophomore starting pitcher Greg Marino ran into trouble in the second inning. Marino walked senior outfielder Anthony Godino and surrendered a triple to Johnson. Pecora followed up with a single through the left side, putting the Seahawks up 2-0.
Wagner went right back to work in the third inning. Senior infielder Nick Mascelli battled with Marino to earn an 11-pitch walk, and senior infielder Sean Mazzio bunted the next pitch for an infield single. Capra took Marino deep to right field in the next at-bat for a three-run homer, putting Wagner up 5-0.
Marino couldn’t escape the fourth inning, as the Seahawks plated two more runs to extend their lead. Senior pitcher Kevin Kernan relieved Marino after the latter failed to record an out in the inning and held the Seahawks scoreless for three innings. Senior closer Aaron Pinto entered the game in the seventh and was extremely sharp, allowing just one hit while striking out five.
The Seawolves’ offense was dormant for most of the game but rallied in the bottom of the eighth inning. Janofsky led off with a double to left-center, and Montes lined a single to advance him to third. Hamilton made three consecutive hits for the Seawolves with a single down the first base line, scoring Janofsky to break the shutout. Grande hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Montes, and Wilson doubled to send Hamilton home, making it 7-3.
Junior catcher Sean Buckhout popped up to second, but the ball was dropped, allowing him to reach base. Senior infielder Bobby Honeyman worked a four-pitch walk, and suddenly the Seawolves had the tying run at the plate. Unfortunately for Stony Brook, the rally ended there as pinch-hitting senior outfielder Andruw Gazzola struck out and Palazzolo grounded out to the shortstop to end the inning. Stony Brook went down in order in the ninth to close out the 7-3 loss.
Stony Brook’s game against Sacred Heart on Tuesday, March 13 was postponed due to inclement weather, so its next matchup will be a two-game series at home March 17 and 18 against Binghamton at 12 p.m.
