STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Evan Giordano has a flare for the dramatic.
Last season, he provided a postseason walk-off hit, completing a three-run comeback in the top of the ninth to defeat UAlbany in an elimination game. Today, with the America East regular season title on the line, he came in clutch again, providing a three-run home run to cut the deficit to one in the sixth and the walk-off, title-clinching hit in the bottom of the 10th to give the Seawolves a 6-5 victory over NJIT.
Giordano's walkoff completed a five-run comeback over the final five innings of the day, as Stony Brook turned a 5-0 deficit into a 6-5 win, taking advantage of Hartford's win over Maine to clinch its seventh regular season championship.
Cole Durkan started the rally, sending a fly ball into left that was dropped. He was then called out as he ran past runner
Ryan Micheli for the second out of the inning. Giordano's homer cut it to one, then
Evan Fox singled, advanced to second then scored on
Matt Brown-Eiring's infield single to tie the game at five.
Josh O'Neill turned in the best outing of his career, going 6.2 innings in relief and keeping the Highlanders at bay, stranding runners in scoring position in each of the final three frames, including runners on second and third in the top of the ninth.
STATS AND NOTES
- This is the Seawolves' seventh America East regular season title, joining 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2021.
- Giordano finished with 13 home runs on the year, tying Dylan Resk (2017) and Michael Tansey (2009) for fourth-most in a single season. His eight RBI on the weekend brought him up to 49 on the year, good for seventh-most in a single season.
- O'Neill's 6.2 innings of relief mark the longest outing of his career, along with his six strikeouts. Over the final month of the season, he allowed three earned over 23.2 innings of work, an 0.76 ERA.
- Stony Brook finished the campaign 14-7 at home, winning six of their last seven at Joe Nathan Field. They were 11-4 in conference play.
- Fox reached in all five plate appearances today, going 3-for-3 with a pair of walks. He finished the weekend 8-for-13 with three runs and three RBI.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"This is one of the most satisfying moments of my coaching career. Especially, with this senior group, they've been through COVID, they've been through the disappointment of not finishing the tournament last year and then with our move to the CAA, to not be able to play in the conference tournament this year... we talked about a lot of things to play for this year but this was the number one thing. This was the number one team thing. We can't win a championship and get to an NCAA regional, so let's win the regular season championship. It was a long season and we went through a lot of highs and lows, especially in non-conference and midweeks, but on the weekends, boy they were locked in" - head coach
Matt Senk.
"I wasn't coming out of that game. I felt like I had so much more juice left in the tank every time I went out. I had everything working for me and we were able to just attack. Yesterday, all the walks killed us and you have to make them beat you so today we were just attacking." - junior pitcher
Josh O'Neill.
"With not having playoffs this year, this was the goal all year. With them coming in, we knew it was going to be a battle every time we stepped on the field and it's nice to come out on top again." - senior third baseman
Evan Giordano
For an inside look at the Stony Brook baseball program, be sure to follow them on
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.
