The Stony Brook baseball team won all for games at the Bojangles tournament last weekend, beating Winthrop and Michigan twice each.
The Seawolves took the first two games of the Bojangles Classic against Michigan and Winthrop. Stony Brook defeated Michigan in the first game 3-1, behind eight shutout innings from junior Nick Tropeano (West Islip, N.Y.) and rallied in the second game to beat Winthrop 4-3.
The Seawolves gave Tropeano early support by scoring a run in the first inning off of sophomore William Carmona’s (Hempstead, N.Y.) RBI single. Stony Brook scored another run when senior Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario) scored on sophomore Maxx Tissenbaum’s (Toronto, Ontario) double play.
Tropeano struck out 10 and retired the side in order in six of his eight innings pitched. He was able to lower his ERA to 1.37 and only ran into trouble once. He was able to get Adam Robinson to strike out looking with runners on the corners in the fifth inning.
Sophomore Tanner Nivins (Kitchener, Ontario) scored on a passed ball in the second inning.
Carmona got a double play and a ground out in the ninth inning to earn his first save after allowing a run.
In the second game of the day Stony Brook scored two runs in the first inning after loading the bases. Senior Stephen Marino (Lake Grove, N.Y.) hit a sacrifice fly and sophomore Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) reached safely on an error to score another run.
After Winthrop scored three runs to take the lead, the Seawolves added runs in the fifth and sixth innings to go back on top. Freshman Joshua Mason (Woodland Hills, Calif.) led off the fifth inning with a single and scored on a Tissenbaum single to tie the game at three.
Freshman Brandon McNitt (Chino Hills, Calif.) replaced junior Tyler Johnson (Chatsworth, Calif.) in the sixth inning and held the Eagles scoreless for the rest of the game.
Nivins walked and moved to second on a ground out in the sixth inning. He ended scoring the eventual game-winning run on a Mason single.
Winthrop was able to put a runner on third in the ninth inning but was unable to score the tying run. McNitt threw a wild pitch with a runner on second, but Cantwell got the ball and threw it to McNitt, who tagged out the runner trying to score. McNitt then got the final out of the game to give Stony Brook its second win of the day, to improve to 4-4.
In the second day of the Bojangles Classic the Stony Brook Seawolves baseball team once again won both games against Michigan and Winthrop.
In the first game the Seawolves defeated Michigan 3-1 behind the strong pitching of freshman Frankie Vanderka (Levittown, N.Y.). Vanderka threw six shutout innings and struck out five batters, and sophomore G.C. Yerry (Shokan, N.Y.) pitched 1.2 innings of shutout ball to earn a save.
Stony Brook scored their first run in the fourth inning off a Jankowski single and added another run off of a Nivins single in the sixth inning. Michigan answered with a run of their own in the top of the seventh inning off of Michael O’Neill’s homerun, but the Seawolves scored another run in the bottom of the eight off a Tissenbaum single.
Bobby Brosnahan was the losing pitcher for Michigan, as he allowed one earned run in four innings.
The second game of the day had a lot more scoring in it, but Stony Brook prevailed 10-9 in the end.
The Seawolves went up early as they scored two runs in the top of the first inning. A few singles and walks loaded the bases and Nivins brought in a run with a single of his own. With the bases still loaded, Jankowski walked to bring in the second run of the inning. But Winthrop took the lead back by scoring three runs of their own. Two doubles, a single, and a sacrifice fly did the job for the Eagles.
Stony Brook took the lead back in the third inning by scoring two more runs. Marino hit a sacrifice fly with runners on second and third to tie the game at three. Jankowski singled to left to bring in another run and put Stony Brook back on top, 4-3. But Winthrop added three more runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. With the bases loaded Matt Lobacz hit a bases-clearing double to put Winthop on top 6-4.
The Seawolves did not stay for long, as they tied the game in the sixth inning. Mason tripled in Jankowski, who reached on a single and advanced on a wild pitch. Mason scored after Kevin Courtney (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) grounded out to second base.
Stony Brook retook the lead in the seventh inning, by exploding for four more runs. After Tissenbaum was hit by a pitch, Marino doubled him in to give Stony Brook the lead again. Marino then scored on a Nivins single to put the Seawolves up 8-6. After Nivins advanced to third on an error and a groundout, he scored on a Cantwell single. The Seawolves scored their fourth run of the inning on Marshall’s single and an error on the play. Winthrop answered with two runs off of a Lobacz single in the bottom half of the seventh inning.
A few singles in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Winthrop another run, but Carmona was able to get a double play to end the game.
Yerry got the win for the Seawolves as he allowed two runs in 4.1 innings and Carmona received a save for his 2.2 innings pitched. Mitchell Knox got the loss for Winthrop, by allowing three runs in one inning of work.
Stony Brook takes on Iona for a doubleheader, Wednesday at 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM.
