March 23, 2005

Box Score (Game 1) | Box Score (Game 2)

Northridge, Calif. - The Stony Brook baseball team concluded its weeklong West coast road swing with a doubleheader at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday afternoon, falling 9-5 to the Matadors in Game 1 and 4-3 on a walkoff home run by Raymond Ravago in Game 2. With the losses, the Seawolves fell to 5-11 on the season.

Ravago broke a 3-3 tie with a solo blast over the left field wall with one out on a 2-2 pitch by Stony Brook's Kris Bakey. The Seawolves battled all day, coming back from a 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, but were unable to come home with the win despite 10 hits on the afternoon.

Cal State Northridge struck first in Game 2, plating the first run of the contest in the bottom of the third inning. Starter Matt Restivo should have been out of the inning unscathed, but a passed ball on strike three with two outs allowed Johnny Coit to reach base safely. Coit advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a single by Jeff Tezak to give the Matadors a 1-0 lead. CSUN added another cheap run in the bottom of the fifth as Coit singled, advance to second on balk, was sacrificed to third and scored on wild pitch.

The Seawolves bounced back in the top of the sixth as Andrew Larsen led off the inning with a double down the third base line and scored on a single by Stephen Didsbury to pull within a run at 2-1. Stony Brook evened the ballgame 2-2 three batters later as Tom Pennino singled to left field and Didsbury beat the throw home with the game tying run.

Northridge broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the inning as Tezak led off the inning off the inning with a double off the centerfield wall and pinch runner Drew Aguailar scored on a bloop single by Paul Wilson to give the Matadors a 3-2 advantage after six innings of play. The Seawolves played catch up again in the top of the seventh as Matt Devins came through with a clutch two-out single to plate Chris Sipp and tie the game again at 3-3.

Bakey (1-2) suffered the loss while Restivo went seven innings on the mound for the Seawolves, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks while striking out four. Larsen went 3-for-5 at the plate with a run scored while Isidro Fortuna was 2-for-3 with a walk. CSUN pitchers struck out 12 Stony Brook batters on the afternoon.

Game 1 began on Tuesday afteroon and was halted due to rain with one out in the top of the third inning with Cal State Northridge leading 4-1. Stony Brook took 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI groundout by Pennino before the Matadors answered with four runs in the bottom of the second inning to jump in front of the Brook 4-1. An RBI single up the middle by Mark Hagstrom opened the scoring and a bases loaded single by Raymond Ravago plated two runs before Tezak added a sac fly to plate Alberto Quintana with the fourth run of the inning. Northridge put a quick run on the board when play resumed on Wednesday as Tezak doubled in a run in the bottom of the third inning to give the Matadors a 5-1 edge.

Stony Brook rallied to tie the ballgame at five with four runs on four consecutive hits in the top of the sixth inning. Sipp drew a walk and Larsen cut the Seawolves deficit in half at 5-3 when he lined an 0-2 pitch over the left field wall. Didsbury and Devins followed with back-to-back singles before Fortuna plated both runners with his team leading seventh double of the season.

The Matadors answered in the bottom of inning, loading the bases without the benefit of a hit as Matt Lyons walked two batters and hit another before Northridge designated hitter Luke Reardon made the Seawolves pay with a line drive single to center that plated two runs and gave CSUN a 7-5 lead after six. John Voita hit a solo home run and Erik Hagstrom added an RBI double in the eighth to extend the Matadors lead to 9-5 and that would be the way the ballgame would end as the Brook was unable to mount a rally in the ninth.

Larsen went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and a run scored to lead a Seawolves attack that totaled 13 hits and saw five Seawolves tally two hits apiece. Lyons (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing three runs on four hits and five walks while striking out two.

Cal State Northridge first baseman Michael Paulk's 34-game hitting streak was snapped in Game 1 as he went 0-3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch.

The Seawolves are back in action on Friday when they travel to Princeton for a doubleheader with the Tigers beginning at 12 p.m.