SBU Sports: Baseball falls to St. John’s 8-4
Erik Paulsen tallied a one-out single in the first, and Chanz Doughty followed with a two-out walk to give the Seawolves two runners on. However, the Red Storm escaped the threat with a strikeout to keep the game scoreless.Matt Sgambati got the start for Stony Brook and retired the first two batters of the game before stranding a runner on first to end the inning.Scott Gell led off the second with a single, but a flyout and double play erased the baserunner. In the bottom half, St. John’s struck for three runs to take a 3-0 lead. Alex Jankowski entered and closed the inning with a strikeout.
After a 1-2-3 top of the third, Aidan Colagrande came on and worked out of a jam, inducing a double play to strand two runners.
Stony Brook threatened in the fourth, as Doughty singled to left and advanced to third following an error and a groundout by Johnny Pilla. But once again, the Red Storm ended the inning with a groundout to first, preserving their lead.
St. John’s extended its lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three more runs to make it 6-0.
Following a scoreless top of the fifth, Vincent Mariella kept the Red Storm off the board in the bottom half, ending the frame with a caught-stealing from Gell.
Paulsen collected his second hit of the day with a one-out single in the sixth, but St. John’s turned a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. The Red Storm then added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth on one hit and two Seawolves errors to push the lead to 8-0.
Stony Brook went down in order in the seventh. Ryan Dieguez entered and stranded the bases loaded with a flyout to right, keeping the Red Storm scoreless in the inning.
The Seawolves broke through in the top of the eighth, scoring three runs on two hits. Brett Davino, Cam Santerre, and James Schaffer each drew walks to load the bases. Paulsen drove in Davino with a single to right, and Nico Azpilcueta followed with a two-run single up the middle, cutting the deficit to 8-3.
In the bottom of the eighth, Dieguez stranded two more runners in scoring position with a swinging strikeout to end the frame.
Stony Brook added one more run in the ninth, but St. John’s closed it out to secure the 8-4 victory.
The team heads to Wilmington this weekend for a three-game series against UNCW. The opener is set for Friday, May 9 with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. on FloCollege.
