March 8, 2008

Box Score

Hammond, La. - Freshman Nick Thode (Huntington Station, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 with two RBI and senior Tom Koehler (New Rochelle, N.Y.) allowed just four hits in 7.1 innings to pick up the victory as the Stony Brook University baseball team defeated Southeastern Louisiana 7-5 in game one of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field. Ty Summerlin hit a walk-off single with one out in the ninth inning to give the Lions a 2-1 victory in game two. Stony Brook goes to 3-2 after the split while the Lions go to 6-5.

Koehler (2-0) struck out seven in his 7.1 innings of work to pick up his second victory of the season in game one while junior Jeremy Nowak (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) picked up his second save with a perfect ninth, striking out two. Junior Steve Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y.) also added two hits and two RBI.

The Seawolves fell behind 2-0 in game one but came back with four runs in the sixth. Freshman Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario) and junior Chad Rebecca (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) reached to begin the inning to bring up sophomore Mike Stephan (Patchogue-Medford, N.Y.) who laid down a sacrifice bunt that the Lions mishandled, allowing Marshall to score.

Thode then came up and laced a double to center to score Stephan and Marshall, giving SBU a 3-2 lead. Nowak followed with a single down the right-field line to score Thode and give Stony Brook a two-run advantage. Mazzurco extended the Seawolves lead in the eighth with a two-run double and then came around to score on a Marshall RBI groundout that put SBU up 7-2.

Southeastern Louisiana scored three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to knock out Koehler but Nowak came in start the ninth and retired the side in order to give Stony Brook the victory.

Game two turned into a pitcher's duel as senior Gary Novakowski (Prospect, Conn.) and Josh Black each matched zeroes for the first seven innings. The Lions threatened in the fourth loading the bases with one out, but Novakowski got an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam.

The Lions finally got on the board in the bottom of the eighth on a one-out RBI double from Josh Cryer. But the Seawolves responded in the top of the ninth as Marshall walked to lead off and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Stephan. Marshall then advanced to third on a wild pitch and came into score on a Thode sacrifice fly to tie the game at one.

Southeastern got off to a quick start in their half of the ninth, as Cass Hargis led off by driving a hard ground ball into the hole at shortstop and beating out the throw for an infield single. After a sacrifice bunt by Xavier Qualls, Summerlin drove a single up the middle scoring Hargis for the 2-1 Lions win.

The Seawolves conclude the three-game series with Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday at Noon.