April 20, 2008

Box Score

Burlington, VT. - Freshman Stephen Marino (Lake Grove, N.Y.) went 4-for-4 with a career-best five RBI as the Stony Brook University baseball team pounded out a season-high 17 hits on its way to a 15-7 victory over Vermont on Sunday afternoon at Centennial Field. Stony Brook improves to 20-15 overall and 8-4 in the America East while Vermont falls to 16-14 and 4-4.

The Seawolves came up in the sixth with the game tied at 4-all but junior Steven Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y.) singled to lead off, moved to second when junior Chad Rebecca (Mount Prospect, Ill.) reached on an error and then came home on a two-run double from Marino. Junior Brian Witkowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) drove in the third run of the inning on a fielder's choice and freshman Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario) followed with an RBI triple to make it 8-4.

Stony Brook blew it open in the seventh as Rebecca and Marino singled with one out to bring up junior Justin Echevarria (Uniondale, N.Y.) who slammed a three-run home run to make it 11-4. Vermont responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning on a Kyle Massie bases-loaded triple but the Seawolves answered right back with three more in the eighth on a Rebecca sacrifice fly and another two-run double from Marino.

Sophomore Jeremy Nowak (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) picked up the win for SBU, allowing six runs and eight hits in 6.2 innings while striking out seven. Mazzurco tallied three hits and scored two runs for the Seawolves while Marshall added two hits and three RBI.

Vermont took an early lead with two runs in the first on a Miguel Magrass RBI triple and Matt Duffy run-scoring double. Stony Brook cut the lead to 2-1 in the third as Marshall singled to lead off, moved to third on back-to-back wild pitches and then came home on a RBI fielder's choice from Marshall. SBU took its first lead in the fourth on a RBI single from Rebecca and sacrifice fly off the bat off Marino.

UVM tied it in the bottom of the inning on a Brad Currier RBI double before Stony Brook regained the lead in the fifth as Witkowski singled to lead off and then came home on a RBI double from sophomore Mike Stephan (Patchogue, N.Y.). The Catamounts tied it one last time in the bottom of the fifth on another Duffy RBI double.

Duffy led the Vermont offense with three hits and two RBI while Massie added two hits and three RBI. Justin Albert took the loss for the Catamounts, giving up eight runs and 10 hits in 5.1 innings of work.

The Seawolves return to action on Tuesday, traveling to take on in-state rival Hofstra. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.