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Friday, April 6, 2012

Baseball sweeps Binghamton to open conference play


Stony Brook, N.Y. - Senior Pat Cantwell (West Islip, N.Y.) scored the game-winning run with one out in the eighth and senior Tyler Johnson (Chatsworth, Calif.) threw a complete game five-hitter as the Stony Brook baseball team opened America East play with a 2-1 victory over the Binghamton Bearcats on Friday at Joe Nathan Field. SBU completed the doubleheader sweep with a 9-2 win in the second game.
Johnson (3-1) allowed just one run in the opener, which was a scheduled seven-inning game. Sophomore Brandon McNitt (Chino Hills, Calif.) allowed two runs in 5.0+ innings to earn the win in game two.
Junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) and sophomore Kevin Courtney (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) had two hits in each contest while junior William Carmona (Hempstead, N.Y.) went 3-for-4 with two RBI in the second game.
Neither team was able to push across a run through the first seven innings of the opener. Stony Brook's best scoring opportunity came in the sixth, putting runners on second and third with one out.
But Binghamton (8-14, 0-2 AE) starter Mike Augliera struck out Carmona and got junior Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ontario) to ground out to third to get out of the jam. The Bearcats finally broke through against Johnson in the eighth, scoring on a two-out infield single from John Howell.
But the Seawolves (19-8, 2-0 AE) rallied back as Jankowski singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth and Cantwell then reached on a hit by the pitch. Carmona advanced the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt and Augliera then intentionally walked Tissenbaum to load the bases.


Stony Brook then executed a squeeze play to tie the game as freshman Kevin Krause (Staten Island, N.Y.) pushed his bunt past Augliera which not only allowed Jankowski to come with the tying run but also allowed Krause to reach first safely to keep the bases loaded.
Freshman Steven Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y.) then chopped the ball to third and Cantwell raced home, just beating the throw of Joe Stubbs to give the Seawolves the victory.
Binghamton scored first in the second game, pushing across two runs in the fourth. The Seawolves answered right back with two runs in the bottom of the inning on a Courtney RBI double and a Goldstein run-scoring single.
The Seawolves took the lead in the fifth as junior Tanner Nivins (Kitchener, Ontario) led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and then scored on a single through the right side from Jankowski.
The Bearcats put together a rally in the sixth as Jake Thomas opened the inning with a single to drive McNitt from the game.
Sophomore Frankie Vanderka (Levittown, N.Y.) came on in relief and walked Dave Ciocchi to put runners on first and second. But Vanderka got Jordon Smucker to pop up to second and then got Daniel Nevares to ground into an inning ending double play.
Stony Brook then put the game away with six runs in the sixth. Nivins two-run single made it 6-2 and Carmona hit a two-run triple three batters later.
The teams wrap up the three-game set on Saturday at Joe Nathan Field. First pitch is set for noon.