April 10, 2009

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Baltimore, Md. - Freshman Tyler Johnson (Chatsworth, Calif.) hurled a three-hit shutout to lead the Stony Brook University baseball team to an 8-0 victory over the UMBC Retrievers in the first game of an America East doubleheader this afternoon at The Baseball Factory Field. Tom Meaney hit a walk-off three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lead the Retrievers to a 7-4 win in the second game. Stony Brook is now 14-13 overall and 4-2 in the America East.

Johnson cruised to his team-best fourth win of the season as he retired the last 10 batters he faced in the seven-inning game. The right hander struck out seven and walked just two.

Stony Brook grabbed an early lead in game one, scoring two runs in the third. The Seawolves loaded the bases with nobody out for sophomore Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario), who grounded into a double play that allowed junior Robert Dyer (Selden, N.Y.) to come home with the first run of the contest. Senior Chad Rebecca (Mount Prospect, Ill.) then came home a batter later when UMBC (5-20, 1-5 AE) third baseman Curtis Schickner mishandled sophomore Nick Thode's (Huntington Station, N.Y.) ground ball.

The Seawolves pushed their lead to 3-0 in the fourth on an RBI single from Rebecca. Stony Brook then broke the game open with four runs in the fifth, highlighted by run-scoring singles from Thode and senior Michael Tansey (Valley Stream, N.Y.).

Witkowski, Tansey and senior Steven Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y.) led the Seawolves with two hits apiece in the first game. Ed Bach took the loss for the Retrievers as he allowed eight runs, six earned, and 12 hits in his 7.0 innings of work.

Stony Brook jumped to an early lead again in game two, scoring three runs in the first. Witkowski doubled to lead off the game and then came home on a run-scoring single from Marshall, who then scored the second run on a two-out UMBC error. Junior Jeremy Nowak (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) capped the inning with an RBI single to right field.

UMBC answered with two runs in the bottom of the first though as Brad Brainer singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a Wink Nolan single. Shawn Retz then reached on an infield single with Brainer coming around to score on a Seawolves throwing error. Meaney followed by grounding into a double play which allowed Nolan to come home with the second run of the frame.

The Retrievers then grabbed a 4-3 lead in the third on a solo home run from Retz and a two-out RBI single from Rich Conlon. Stony Brook tied the game with a run in the sixth as Mazzurco led off with a single, moved to second on a single from freshman Pat Cantwell (West Islip, N.Y.) and then came around to score on a UMBC error.

The score remained tied until the ninth when Brainer singled with one out and then moved to second after senior right hander Mike Errigo (Bayside, N.Y.) walked Nolan. Nowak then came into relieve Errigo and got Retz to fly out to center for the second out of the inning. But Meaney followed with the three-run home run to left to give the Retrievers the victory.

Errigo took the loss for the Seawolves, allowing four earned runs in 8.1 innings. Witkowski and Mazzurco each recorded three hits to lead the Stony Brook offense. Travis Pearson picked up the victory for UMBC as he hurled 2.0 innings of scoreless relief.

The teams will wrap up the four-game series on Saturday. First pitch for the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m.