Two Seawolves led Orleans to the East Division title on Wednesday, the last day of the regular season. All-star righthander Tyler Johnson allowed just one hit over 6 2/3 scoreless innings to get the win in the first game of a doubleheader against Chatham, clinching the division. Johnson pitches primarily off a mid-80s sinker with serious life, and he effectively mixed in a slider and changeup.
"When I've got all three pitches working, especially with these kind of defensive guys behind me, it makes it real easy to pitch," Johnson said. "I just like to throw that (sinker), let it do its thing and get some ground balls."
Johnson's Stony Brook teammate, second baseman Maxx Tissenbaum, powered the Orleans offense, singling home a run in the fifth and driving a three-run homer to right field on a fastball from Trae Davis (Baylor) in the eighth, breaking the game open. Tissenbaum, who hit .344 as a freshman and .343 as a sophomore for the Seawolves, entered the day hitting just .216 with one homer, but his disciplined approach never wavered, as evidenced by his 14-9 walk-strikeout mark.
"I told him I was really proud of him for maintaining that good attitude and work ethic," Orleans head coach Kelly Nicholson said. "He played a lot for us last summer, and he was really good. He can hit. He's a good baseball player, and I think he's gotten a lot better defensively. He's going to walk more than he strikes out, he puts the ball in play—really a good contact guy."
Ace Nick Tropeano may be gone, but there is a lot of reason for Stony Brook to be excited heading into next season—as this summer illustrated.
"We had a real good year this year at school, and unfortunately we got left out of the regionals, but we've got a lot of good players up here," Johnson said. "Hopefully we're opening the world's eyes to our team and what we can do. It's been real fun, especially seeing my teammates do well up here too."
