Sunday, June 3, 2012
Baseball storms past Missouri State to advance to Regional Final
Seawolves become first America East team to advance to Regional Final.
Coral Gables, Fla. - Sophomore Kevin Courtney's two-out three-run double in the seventh broke a 7-7 tie and capped a seven-run inning as No. 4 Stony Brook baseball team staved off elimination with a 10-7 win over No. 2 Missouri State on Sunday at the Coral Gables Regional. SBU advances to take on UCF at 7 p.m. in the Regional Final.
The Seawolves need two wins over UCF to win the Regional. A Stony Brook win tonight against UCG would force a winner take all game on Monday at 7 p.m.
Sophomore Frankie Vanderka (Levittown, N.Y.) worked 6.2 innings of relief to earn the victory. Vanderka came on with one out in the second and allowed a two-run home run but then did not allow a run over his last 5.0 innings of work before leaving following a lead off single in the ninth.
Junior Travis Jankowski (Lancaster, Pa.) had three hits and Courtney had two hits and three RBI.
Stony Brook becomes the first America East team to advance to a Regional Final since the NCAA went to the Regional format in 1999 and its 48 wins ties an America East record.
SBU trailed 7-3 entering the seventh but the Seawolves then struck for seven runs, sending 12 men to the plate. Freshman Steven Goldstein (East Meadow, N.Y.) drew a two-out bases loaded walk to tie the game 7-7 and Courtney followed with his second double of the inning to clear the bases and put Stony Brook up 10-7.
Vanderka pitched a scoreless eighth before junior James Campbell came on after Vanderaka gave up a single to lead off the ninth. Campbell gave up a single to the first batter he faced and then walked Brent Seifert after retiring Spiker Helms.
But Campbell struck out Keenen Maddox and Luke Voit to end the game.
It was the third straight appearance for Campbell, who pitched 3.0 innings on Saturday.
Missouri St scored seven runs over the first two innings, jumping to a 7-2 lead. Stony Brook got a run back in the fourth before erupting for the seven runs in the eighth.
