Vestal, N.Y – Stony Brook’s baseball team scored five runs in the seventh to break a 6-6 tie and the Seawolves set a season-high with 22 hits in addition to tying a season-best for runs on their way to a 17-7 victory over the Binghamton Bearcats in the opener of a three-game set between the America East’s top two teams.
The first-place Seawolves improve to 35-10 overall and 16-2 in the America East with the victory and are just two wins from setting the program record for victories in a season. Stony Brook also tied a school record for America East wins in a season.
Freshman Joshua Mason (Woodland Hills, Calif.) went 4-for-5 with four RBI to lead SBU while sophomore Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ontario) added a career-high five hits and scored five runs for the Seawolves. Stony Brook scored 11 runs in their final three at-bats and tallied a run in all but one inning.
Senior Stephen Marino (Lake Grove, N.Y.) tied a career-best with four hits and junior Pat Cantwell (West Islip, N.Y.) chipped in with three hits and three RBI. Junior right-hander Nick Tropeano (West Islip, N.Y.) struck out eight batters in 6.0 innings to pick up the victory. Tropeano improved to 10-1 on the year as he tied the school record for wins in a season.
The teams entered the seventh tied 6-6 but sophomore William Carmona (Hempstead, N.Y.) led off the inning with a home run and the Seawolves then loaded the bases with one out. Mason followed with a two-run single to make it 9-6.
The Seawolves then perfectly executed a squeeze as junior Sal Intagliata (Franklin Square, N.Y.) dropped a bunt down the first-base line as sophomore Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) came home with Stony Brook’s 10th run of the game.
Cantwell drove in the final run of the inning with a single to left. Mason and Jankowski added a pair of two-run singles in the eighth to put the game away.
The Seawolves jumped to a 1-0 lead as Cantwell singled to lead off the game and eventually came home on a two-out RBI single from Tissenbaum. Stony Brook tacked on two runs in the second on a two-run single from Cantwell.
SBU added a run in the fourth on an RBI groundout from sophomore Tanner Nivins (Kitchener, Ontario). Binghamton struck back in the third on a two-out two-run home run from C.J. Lukaszewski.
But Stony Brook got a run back in the fourth on a two-out RBI single from Marshall. The Bearcats loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth and Bereszniewicz came through with a two-run single to make trim the SBU lead to 5-4.
But Tropeano struck out Lukaszewski to get out of the inning and Tissenbaum then led off the fifth with a home run to center. Binghamton tied it in the bottom of the fifth though on a two-run home run from Peter Bregartner.
The teams will wrap up the three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.
