The Stony Brook baseball team wrapped up its first homestand of the season over the weekend, playing three games against Quinnipiac. Stony Brook swept the series, led by strong pitching performances and plenty of run support to improve to 12-9.

The Seawolves set the tone early in the first game on Saturday, pushing across four runs in the first inning. Sophomore outfielder Chris Hamilton delivered the runs in one blow, driving a grand slam to right field off Bobcats senior starting pitcher Chris Enns.

The team jumped on Enns again in the second inning, getting the first three batters on base. Sophomore outfielder Michael Wilson drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, and senior infielder Bobby Honeyman lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score another, making it 6-0.

Enns was chased out of the game after two innings, and the Seawolves stayed hot against freshman pitcher Arthur Correira. Sophomore infielder Nick Grande led off the fourth inning with a double off Correira, and junior catcher Sean Buckhout reached base with a walk two batters later.

Hamilton put a ball in play to right field in the next at-bat, and the catch was dropped, allowing both runners to score. The Seawolves capped off their scoring in the fifth inning, when Wilson doubled home two runners to make it 10-1.

Sophomore starting pitcher Brian Herrmann gave Stony Brook a deep outing, lasting two outs into the seventh inning. He gave up home runs in the fourth and seventh innings, while allowing only two runners to reach scoring position. He earned his third win of the season, one less than he earned all of last season, as Stony Brook took game one 10-4.

Stony Brook sent junior starting pitcher Bret Clarke to the mound, seeking its first doubleheader sweep of the season in game two. Clarke responded with his strongest performance of the year, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and securing his second victory.

Clarke was especially effective in getting ground balls on the afternoon. He earned nine outs off grounders, including a 1-5-3 double play ball to get the first two outs of the sixth inning that limited Quinnipiac’s only scoring opportunity.

The first two batters reached base, breaking Clarke’s no-hit bid and immediately putting him in trouble, before Clarke worked the grounder back to himself. Quinnipiac sophomore outfielder Andre Marrero spoiled the shutout, punching a single to center field to score a run, but Quinnipiac couldn’t get any other runs across.

The Seawolves supported Clarke with a burst of runs in the middle innings. Senior outfielder Andruw Gazzola led off the fourth inning with a walk, and advanced to second on a Grande single. Wilson worked a walk to load the bases, and a wild pitch allowed Gazzola to come home and score the first run of the game. Honeyman followed up with a single through the left side that scored Grande and put the Seawolves up 2-0.

Gazzola reached base with one out on a throwing error by the pitcher, and reached second base. Grande singled to left field, scoring Gazzola. Wilson tripled down the right field line to bring home Grande, and scored himself on a ground ball from Honeyman that was misplayed by the third baseman putting Stony Brook up 5-0 after five innings.

Senior closer Aaron Pinto came on in a non-save situation in the seventh up 5-1, getting the final three outs to secure the victory.

Stony Brook looked to secure the series sweep on Sunday. Quinnipiac worked its best start to a game in the series, getting its first lead of the weekend in the first inning. Quinnipiac sophomore infielder Dylan Lutz worked a leadoff walk, and Marrero drove him home on a double down the line in right field.

Redshirt-sophomore starting pitcher Greg Marino shut the door on the Bobcats from there. Marino pitched his best game of the season, tossing seven innings and striking out seven while allowing just two hits. Marino worked into a quick groove, retiring 12 straight batters from the first through fifth innings.

The offense picked Marino up immediately, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good. The team executed a double steal with runners on first and third to score its first run, then Buckhout singled home the runner from second. Junior infielder Brandon Alamo singled Buckhout home two batters later to make it 3-1 Stony Brook.

The runs kept coming in the third inning, as the Seawolves began to capitalize on several errors by the Bobcats. The first two batters reached base for the Seawolves in the inning, and Hamilton laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners.

The Bobcats attempted to get the runner at second, but the throw was mishandled, allowing the lead runner to head home. Alamo hit a grounder to third that was also misplayed, and another run scored. A grounder by junior outfielder Cristian Montes and a single from junior infielder Brandon Janofsky pushed across two more runs in the inning, making it 7-1.

Quinnipiac gave Stony Brook two more runs in the fourth off errors. The first two runners reached on errors, and were advanced by a bunt. Wilson scored on another misplayed ball by the second baseman, who was pulled after the play. Montes singled for the first hit of the inning, and pushed across a run to give Stony Brook a 9-1 lead.

Sophomore pitcher Sam Turcotte came on in the eighth, and allowed an unearned run to score before closing the game out 9-2.

Stony Brook heads out for a single game on the road against LIU Brooklyn on March 27, before returning home for a series against UMass Lowell on March 30 and 31.