ORONO, Maine – Sophomore 1B Chris Hamilton (Schenectady, N.Y.) combined to hit for the cycle and drive in seven runs in two games on Friday to lead the Stony Brook baseball team to a pair of victories and stave off elimination in 2018 America East Conference Championship at Mahaney Diamond.
 
The fourth-seeded Seawolves' (32-24, 12-12 AE) got past No. 5 seed Maine 11-4 in the afternoon's elimination game and then upended second-seeded UMass Lowell 6-5 in the evenings' elimination game.
 
Stony Brook will now play top-seeded Hartford on Saturday, needing two wins to claim the championships.
 
The Maine Game Turning Point
Sophomore 1B Chris Hamilton (Schenectady, N.Y.) drove a ball to right center field that cleared the bases and brought in senior DH Andruw Gazzola (Coram, N.Y.), junior 2B Brandon Janofsky (Jackson, N.J.) and sophomore SS Nick Grande (Smithtown, N.Y.) to give Stony Brook a 7-0 and break the game open in the second inning. 
 
The UMass Lowell Game Turning Point
Sophomore 1B Chris Hamilton (Schenectady, N.Y.) belted his sixth home run of the season over the hedges in right field at Mahaney Diamond. It was a solo shot in the top of the eighth inning that broke a 5-5 tie.
 
Quoting Head Coach Matt Senk
"I'm so proud of our guys and the effort that these guys put forth today. The resiliency and toughness. The execution. They did everything they had to do with their backs against the wall. I could not be more proud of them."
 
Notes/Stats

• Sophomore SS Nick Grande (Smithtown, N.Y.) recorded his 76^th, 77^th and 78^th hits of the season with a double in the second inning and single in the fourth and sixth against UMass Lowell. His 78 hits move him into a tie for sixth place on Stony Brook's single season list.
• Grande swiped his 32^nd base of the season against UMass Lowell and is now four steals away from tying Stony Brook's single season lead Travis Jankowsky's record of 36 set in 2012.
• Grande's two hits against UMass Lowell of Friday also marks his 22^nd multi-hit game
• Senior RHP Aaron Pinto (West Covina, Calif.) tossed the final three innings of the win against UMass Lowell and earned his fifth victory of the season.
• Senior LHP Teddy Rodliff (Quincy, Ma.) pitched 1.2 innings in relief on against UMass Lowell for his 78^th career appearance.
• Senior 3B Bobby Honeyman (Massapequa, N.Y.) singled in the fourth inning against Maine for his 200^th career hit.
• Sophomore RHP Aaron Glickstein (Dix Hills, N.Y.) made his first career start on the mound vs. Maine. He pitched a career-high 5.2 innings of work and earned his third win of the season and his career.
• Senior LHP Cole Creighton (Levittown, Pa.) pitched 3.1 innings of work to close out the win against Maine and pick up his second save of the season and his career.
• Junior LF Dylan Resk (Ardsley, N.Y.) had a pair of hits vs. Maine on Friday for his fifth multi-hit game of the season.
• Sophomore 1B Chris Hamilton (Schenectady, N.Y.) had two hits vs. Maine and three more against UMass Lowell for his eighth and ninth multi-hit games of the season. Hamilton also drove in a total of seven runs on Friday with four against Maine and three in the UMass Lowell game, marking the sixth and seventh multi-RBI games of the season.
• Hamilton blasted his sixth home of the season in the eighth inning against UMass Lowell. It is his seventh of his career.
• Hamilton hit for the cycle on the day (two games behind) with a single and triple against Maine and a double and home run against UMass Lowell.
• Senior LF Andruw Gazzola (Coram, N.Y.) had two hits vs. UMass Lowell on Friday for his 11^th multi-hit game of the season.

On Deck?
Stony Brook will play Hartford on America East Conference Championship Saturday needing a pair of wins over the Hawks to claim the title. The first game at Mahaney Diamond will get underway at 1 p.m.