San Diego, Calif. – Stony Brook University’s baseball team pounded out 16 hits and nearly rallied from an 11-3 deficit with seven ninth-inning runs but it wasn’t enough as the San Diego State Aztecs held on for a 11-10 victory over the Seawolves on Monday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Stony Brook falls to 7-11 with the loss. Trailing 11-3 entering the ninth, the Seawolves almost rallied to send the game to extra-innings. Senior Chris Maier (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and freshman John Adornetto (Commack, N.Y.) started the rally with run-scoring singles that cut the Aztec lead to 11-5. Maier then scored on a wild pitch and senior Robert Dyer (Selden, N.Y.) followed with an RBI single. A sacrifice fly from freshman William Carmona (Hempstead, N.Y.) made it 11-8 and senior Michael Stephan (Patchogue, N.Y.) then doubled to drive in Dyer and bring the tying run to the plate. The Aztecs brought in reliever John Pecoraro and freshman Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ontario) promptly greeted him with a run-scoring single to make it 11-10. But Pecoraro then struck out sophomore Sal Intagliata (Franklin Square, N.Y.) to end the game. Tissenbaum led the Seawolves with three hits while Dyer, Stephan, junior Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario) and sophomore Pat Cantwell (West Islip, N.Y.) chipped in with two each. SBU jumped to an early lead as Cantwell doubled to lead off the game and then moved to third on a bunt single from Marshall. Junior Stephen Marino (Lake Grove, N.Y.) followed with an infield RBI single to drive in Cantwell. Marshall then stole third and score on a fielder’s choice from Dyer. San Diego State answered with two runs in the bottom of the first on run-scoring hits from Cory Vaughn and Jordan Van Hoosier. But the Seawolves grabbed the lead back in the second as Intagliata reached on a fielder’s choice and eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout from Cantwell. The Aztecs responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by a bases-loaded triple from Jomel Torres, to take a 6-3 lead. San Diego State blew the game open in the sixth as Chris Wilson hit a three-run home run. The Aztecs then tacked on two more in the seventh to make it 11-3. The teams will wrap up their two-game set on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 9 p.m. EST.
