May 22, 2003

Final Stats

Burlington, Vt. - Sophomore Jonathan Lewis pitched eight strong innings and Lee Lipshutz rapped out three hits to help Stony Brook earn a 4-2 win over the No. 2 seed Maine Black Bears in game one of the America East tournament. The win pushes No. 3 Stony Brook into Friday's winner's bracket where it will face the winner of Thursday night's tilt between No. 4 Northeastern and No. 1 Vermont.

The Seawolves got on the board first in the top of the second inning. Mike Russo and Cole Cicatelli began the frame with back-to-back singles to give SBU runners on first and third with nobody out. Ed Kull then bounced into a fielder's choice that caught Russo in a rundown between third and home. Russo did a good job of delaying the tag which allowed Cicatelli to advance to third and Kull down to second. Andrew Larsen followed with a sacrifice fly that plated Cicatelli and SBU grabbed a 1-0 lead.

SBU tacked on another run when Lee Lipshutz led off the third inning with a double, the first of his three hits on the afternoon, and advanced to third on a Jim McCurdy single. Garrett Renner's groundout to second base scored Lipshutz for a 2-0 lead.

The Black Bears reached Lewis for a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. A single by Joe Drapeau and a two-out double by Ryan Quintal put runners on second and third for the Black Bears. Mike Livulpi smacked a hard ground ball to second that glanced off Jim McCurdy's glove and went into short right field for an error that scored both Drapeau and Quintal to even the score at 2-2.

Stony Brook bounced right back in the next inning. Lipshutz once again ignited the rally with a leadoff single and came around to score on Matt Devins' RBI single to left field to put the Seawolves back on top.

The Seawolves added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Larsen scored on a passed ball for a 4-2 lead.

Lewis was in control all afternoon long, scattering eight hits, striking out four and walking none in eight-plus innings of work.

The sophomore hurler was lifted after giving up a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth to Quintal.

Head coach Matt Senk called upon America East all-rookie selection Matt Restivo to seal the win and Restivo came through. He induced Jesse Carlton to ground into a 5-4-3 double play and that got Mike Ferriggi to ground out to second to end the game.

Lipshutz went 3-for-4 with two runs scored while Larsen was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored.

Stony Brook now awaits the winner of the Vermont/Northeastern game that will be played Thursday night. Friday's first pitch is 3:30 p.m.