May 14, 2001

Brookville, NY - Second-seeded New York Tech got four RBI from Ryan Nevins and built a 7-2 lead after four innings on its way to an 11-4 win over Stony Brook (35-16) and the New York State Baseball Conference championship Monday at New York Tech. The win over the Seawolves was the second in as many days for the Bears.

Leading 1-0 going into the third inning, Stony Brook starter Kevin Willi gave up a two-run homerun to Bryan Goelz to make the score 3-0. Two batters later, Tom Merkle hit a solo shot, chasing Willi from the game.

Mike Russo's solo homerun led off the bottom of the third inning and Alex Trezza's double down the right field line closed the gap to 4-2. That's as close the Seawolves would get the rest of the day.

In the fourth, Nevins hit a three-run homerun off reliever Dave Mischo, giving the Bears a 7-2 advantage.

Matt Salmon's sacrifice fly in the fourth inning brought home a run and Rich Graham crossed the plate on a passed ball in the fifth to draw Stony Brook to within 7-4.

But relief pitcher Tom Park came on in the sixth for the Bears and shut down the Seawolves offense. He allowed just one hit and two base runners over the final four innings.

In the meantime, Ryan Goldberg brought home a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and the Bears added three more in the eighth and ninth innings to put the game away.

The Seawolves got to the championship game on the arm of Lee Reynolds and the bat of Rich Graham. Earlier in the day, Reynolds pitched a complete-game three-hitter as the Seawolves beat Pace, 6-1, for the right to advance to the championship. Graham went 3-for-5 in the game, collecting four RBI.

With more than 20 new faces and six new starters, the Seawolves finished the 2001 season with 35 wins - the second highest total in school history.