BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Stony Brook Seawolves opened up their weekend this afternoon in Blacksburg with a 6-3 defeat to the Virginia Tech Hokies at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
Sophomore Eddie Smink (1-2) got the ball for the squad this afternoon as he made his team-high third start of the season. The right-hander went a season-best 6.0 innings, allowing four runs (earned), two walks, and struck out two batters over 87 pitches. After Smink, junior JT Raab tied a team-high with his third appearance out of the pen. The native of Long Island allowed two runs (earned), two hits, and tallied two strikeouts over the final two innings.
Fox's three-hit day led the Seawolves offensively as he marked a new season-best. Senior Matt Brown-Eiring put together a standout performance at the plate as well, going 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After both teams were quiet in the first two innings from Smink retiring six of the first seven Hokies, Stony Brook would make noise in the third inning from a single from Matt Miceli and Fox to give the Seawolves two runners on base with no outs. However, the Hokies kept the Seawolves at bay and would tally the first two runs of the game in the next inning from two RBI doubles to give VT the early 2-0 lead.
Smink would settle in the fourth and fifth inning by retiring six of the seven hitters in the frames. Stony Brook again found themselves with runners on base from base-knocks by junior
Nicholas Solorzano and Fox in the fifth. But, the Hokies again kept Stony Brook from scoring by getting a fly-out to centerfield that would end the inning.
A single and fielder's choice RBI by the Hokies in the sixth inning but VT ahead 4-0. The Seawolves fought back in the next time at the plate by scoring two-runs with two-outs in the inning. Back-to-back knocks by senior
Ryan Micheli and Fox, followed by a walk from graduate student
Cam Santerre that would load the bases. Junior
Evan Goforth put the ball in play and made the most of a Hokies error that allowed Fox and Micheli to score. Graduate
Brett Paulsen would make the score 4-3 by drawing the bases loaded walk but the Hokies got a line-out to end the Seawolves rally.
After Raab sat down Virginia Tech in the seventh in order, the Hokies would score two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to stretch their lead to 6-3 and ultimately securing the victory. More details to come.
STATS AND NOTES
- Stony Brook's highest scoring inning was the seventh, when it pushed three runs across.
- Stony Brook allowed eight hits, their second fewest of the season (six against Northwestern St. and LSU on Feb. 23).
- The Seawolves out-hit the Hokies at a 9-8 clip.
- Stony Brook pitchers faced 35 Virginia Tech hitters in the game, allowing 10 ground balls and 10 fly balls while striking out four.
- Fox led the Seawolves, compiling three base knocks in the ballgame. It marked a new season-high for hits in a game for Fox.
- Brown-Eiring led the Seawolves at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double. Brown-Eiring now has six games this season with at-least two hits and has a hit in 8 of 9 games this season. He is leading the team with his .424 average.
- Smink has now tossed at least 5.0 innings in all three of his starts this season.
- Raab tied the team-high with his third appearance of the season.
- This was the first meeting all-time between these two programs.
UP NEXT
The Seawolves will return to the field tomorrow for their second of three games in Blacksburg. First pitch against the Hokies is set for 3:00 p.m. and can be streamed live on the ACC Network.
