The Stony Brook Seawolves baseball team (13-16-0, 3-2-0) had nine wins before Saturday‘s double-header against UMBC (7-20-0, 3-3-0), none of which were shut-outs.
That all changed Saturday as Nick Tropeano and Tyler Johnson threw two complete-game shut-out victories, 5-0 and 6-0 respectively.
In the first game, the first inning ended with no score, but the Seawolves broke out for three runs off four hits in the bottom of the second inning.
Sophomore Pat Cantwell notched two RBIs, and freshman Maxx Tissenbaum and senior Justin Echevarria brought home one apiece.
The mid-game bad weather couldn’t douse Tropeano’s spirits as he finished the game with a season-high nine strikeouts for his third win of the season.
Johnson was similarly impressive.
He also struck out nine, a season record, while allowing only three hits, two of which came in the seventh inning.
He took a no-hitter into that inning when designated hitter Michael Pesci hit a single to the left side.
After Echevarria threw out Pesci as he tried to steal third, Johnson made up for letting the first two batters on base by getting left fielder Bryan Russo to ground into a double play.
When asked later if he thought that this double-header victory as the highlight of the season, Johnson said, “So far, yeah. We have been struggling with our bats, so Tropeano and I both knew that we had to have strong outings. The defense was great behind us. It really helped us out.”
Head Coach Matt Senk agreed with Johnson that the day was a success, saying, “To sweep a double-header is always a highlight. It puts us in a position to sweep the weekend. That’d be great.”
And they did.
The Seawolves routed the Retrievers Sunday afternoon, pouncing the visitors 22-1 in front of roughly 200 fans.
Junior Stephen Marino led the Seawolves with four hits and nine RBIs, as the team recorded the series sweep and improved its record to 14-16 overall, 4-2 in conference play.
Stony Brook will make the short trip to Hofstra to take on the Pride Wednesday. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.
