May 9, 2009

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

West Hartford, Conn. - Freshman Tyler Johnson (Chatsworth, Calif.) hurled a three-hitter and senior Brian Witkowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) hit two home runs to lead the Stony Brook University baseball team to a 7-2 win over the Hartford Hawks in the first game of an America East doubleheader this afternoon at Campus Field. Senior Mike Errigo (Bayside, N.Y.) tossed a three-hit shutout and the Seawolves pounded out 21 hits on their way to a 16-0 victory over the Hawks in the second game. Stony Brook is now 26-18 overall and 11-7 in the America East.

Witkowski went 3-for-3 with three RBI in game one, tallying his second two-home run game of the season. Johnson allowed just two runs and three hits in his 7.0 innings of work as he tossed his third complete game of the year. The right hander walked three and struck out five.

The Seawolves jumped to an early lead in the opener as Witkowski led off the game with a triple and then came home on an RBI single from sophomore Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario). Hartford nearly scored in the first, loading the bases with one out. But Johnson then struck out Matt Walker before getting Andrew Siano to ground into a force out to end the threat.

Stony Brook added a run in the third as Witkowski led off the inning with a home run to right-center field. The Seawolves pushed their lead to 4-0 in the fourth on sacrifice flies from senior Chad Rebecca (Mount Prospect, Ill.) and Witkowski.

Junior Robert Dyer (Selden, N.Y.) extended the Seawolves lead to 6-0 in the fifth, smashing a two-run home run to left-center field. Witkowski hit his second long ball of the day in the sixth, a two-out solo shot to left.

Hartford scored its only runs of the game in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run home run from Andy Drexel. Ben Sobocinski took the loss for the Hawks, allowing six runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings.

The Seawolves jumped to an early lead in game two as well, scoring two runs in the third on RBI singles from junior Michael Stephan (Patchogue, N.Y.) and sophomore Nick Thode (Huntington Station, N.Y.). Stony Brook added a run in the fifth on a run-scoring single from Dyer.

SBU then put the game away in the sixth, exploding for five runs. Rebecca and Witkowski drove in the first runs of the inning with back-to-back RBI doubles before Marshall hit a run-scoring single up the middle to put the Seawolves up 6-0. Dyer drove in the final two runs of the frame with a two-run double.

Stony Brook tacked on four more runs in the sixth, highlighted by a solo home run from Stephan and a two-run home run off the bat of Witkowski. The combined three home runs in the doubleheader gives Witkowski a team-high 11 for the season.

Errigo, meanwhile, was brilliant as he scattered a double and two singles in throwing his first complete game of the season. The right hander struck out five and did not walk a batter. Marshall tallied a game-high four hits in game two while Dyer, Stephan and Witkowski each drove in three runs.

The teams will complete the four-game series on Sunday with a doubleheader at Campus Field. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.