May 23, 2008

Box Score

Farmingdale, N.Y. - Junior Justin Echevarria (Uniondale, N.Y.) hit a walk-off RBI double with one out in the bottom of the ninth to lead the No. 2 Stony Brook University baseball team to a 4-3 victory over No. 3 UMBC in the opening round of the 2008 America East Tournament on Thursday night at Farmingdale Field. The Seawolves advance to take on top-seeded Binghmaton on Friday night at Farmingdale Field. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Stony Brook improves to 32-24 with the victory while UMBC falls to 21-28.

Junior Michael Tansey (Valley Stream, N.Y.) doubled to lead off the ninth and then moved to third on a wild pitch. But junior Keith Fier (Armonk, N.Y.) followed by grounding one to shortstop Rich Conlon who came home with the ball and got Tansey at the plate for the first out of the inning. Echevarria then came up and drilled the ball over the centerfielder's head allowing Fier to come all the way around from first with the winning run.

Sophomore Jeremy Nowak (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) picked up the victory for Stony Brook, hurling a scoreless ninth. Austin Drewyer took the loss for UMBC, allowing one run in 2.0 innings of work.

The Seawolves took an early lead with a run in the second as junior Steven Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y.) doubled with one out and then came home on a run-scoring single from freshman Stephen Marino (Lake Grove, N.Y.). SBU added to its lead in the fourth on a solo home run from sophomore Mike Stephan (Patchogue, N.Y.).

Stony Brook struck for another run in the third as freshman Chad Marshall singled to lead off, moved to second on a wild pitch and then came home on two-out RBI double from Marshall. The Retrievers cut the Seawolves lead to 3-2 in the seventh on a two-run two-out bases loaded single from Steve Russo. UMBC got another run in the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out for Wink Nolan who drilled a RBI single to tie it at 3-all.

Senior Tom Koehler (New Rochelle, N.Y.) started for Stony Brook and went 6.2 innings, giving up two runs and six hits while striking out nine. Marino paced the SBU offense, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.