Stony Brook sweeps Maine Black Bears off to 0-4 AE start

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STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Justin Echevarria hit a two-run homer and Michael Tansey had three hits and two RBIs as Stony Brook defeated the University of Maine 5-4 on Sunday to complete a four-game weekend sweep of the Black Bears in America East baseball at University Field.

Stony Brook, which earned a 7-2, 12-3 doubleheader sweep over the Black Bears on Saturday and a 7-3 win Friday, is now 12-12 overall, 4-0 in conference play. Maine fell to 5-18, 0-4 in America East.

Rob Leonard led off the bottom of the second of Sunday’s game for the Seawolves with a double to center field. Tansey followed with an RBI single to right-center, and with one out, Echevarria homered off the scoreboard in right-center to give Stony Brook a 3-0 lead.

Maine drew within 3-1 in the top of the third as Tavis Hasenfus reached on a bunt single, went to second on an error, and scored on a triple by Matt McGraw.

But Seawolves starter Kurt Jung kept Maine’s hitters off balance and was aided by two key double plays.

In the fourth inning with runners on first and third, Jung induced Brian Hackett into a 6-4-3 twin-killing. Two innings later, with runners on first and second, Kevin McAvoy lined a shot off Jung that shot out to the shortstop Keith Fier. Fier stepped on second and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

Stony Brook scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to extend its lead to 5-1.

Hasenfus hit a two-out, solo home run in the seventh to cut the gap to 5-2. Curt Smith tripled and scored on an RBI single by McAvoy in the eighth, and McGraw added an RBI single in the ninth to drive home Hackett with Maine’s final run.

Jung earned the win, scattering six hits over 7 2/3 innings while striking out five, walking three, and yielding two earned runs.

A.J. Balsinde pitched the first seven innings for Maine, allowing 10 hits and five earned runs.

On Saturday, Stony Brook amassed 19 runs on 24 hits in earning the doubleheader sweep.

In the first game, Stony Brook plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the first as Leonard ripped a triple to left-center to plate Brian Witkowski and Michael Stephan.

The Seawolves added a run in the second and two in the fourth when Echevarria hit a solo home run and Stephan was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to extend the Stony Brook lead to 5-0.

Maine pulled within 5-2 after plating a run in the fifth and one in the sixth, but Stony Brook added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Gary Novakowski earned the win, allowing only two unearned runs in five innings.

Echevarria hit a home run and a double with two runs scored and an RBI for the Seawolves.

Greg Norton pitched a complete game for Maine, scattering 10 hits while allowing six earned runs.

McAvoy had two singles for the Black Bears, while Joel Barrett and Hackett each had an RBI single.

In the second game, the Seawolves jumped on Maine starter Nolan Boike for three runs in the bottom of the first, and went on to score runs in every inning except the third.

Jon Kalkau threw a five-hitter for Stony Brook. He struck out four batters and allowed only five hits. Chris Sipp had two singles and two doubles for the Seawolves with two RBIs and four runs scored.

Hackett doubled and singled with an RBI for Maine, while Smith also drove home a run.

SEAWOLVES 5, BLACK BEARS 4

(Sunday’s Game)

Maine (5-18) Stony Brook (12-12)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Cather, cf 3 0 0 0 Witkowski, cf 3 0 1

McGraw, 2b 5 0 2 2 Sipp, 2b 4 0 0

Smith, 3b 5 1 2 0 Stephan, dh 2 1 0

Barrett, 1b 3 0 0 0 Leonard, 1b 3 1 0

Lugbauer, c 3 0 0 0 Tansey, rf 4 1 2

McAvoy, dh 4 0 2 1 Cruz, 3b 4 0 0

Jackson, lf 3 0 0 0 Echevarria, c 4 1 2

Hackett, ss 4 1 0 0 Traylor, lf 4 1 0

Hasenfus, rf 4 2 2 1 Mazzurco, lf 0 0 0

Fier, ss 3 0 2 0

Totals 34 4 8 4 Totals 31 5 10 5

Maine 001 000 111 – 4

Stony Brook 030 011 00x – 5

E-McGraw; Cruz, Echevarria; LOB-Maine 8, Stony Brook 7; 2B-Smith, McAvoy; Leonard, Traylor; 3B-McGraw, Smith; HR-Hasenfus; Echevarria; DP-Stony Brook 2; S-Cather; Leonard, Fier; SF-Witkowski; SB-Fier

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Balsinde (L, 0-3) 7 10 5 5 2 4

Forrest 1 0 0 0 0 2

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Jung (W, 4-2) 7 2/3 6 3 2 3 5

Lyons (S, 2) 1 1/3 2 1 1 0 3

HBP-Barrett (by Jung); WP-Balsinde; Lyons 2; T-1:55; ATT-59

SEAWOLVES 7, BLACK BEARS 2

(Saturday’s First Game)

Maine (5-16) Stony Brook (10-12)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Cather, cf 4 0 0 0 Witkowski, cf 3 2 0

McGraw, c 4 0 2 0 Sipp, 3b 1 0 0

Smith, 3b 2 0 1 0 Stephan, dh 2 1 2

Barrett, 1b 4 0 1 1 Leonard, 1b 3 0 2

Lugbauer, dh 3 0 1 0 Tansey, rf 4 0 0

McAvoy, rf 3 1 2 0 Nowak, 3b 3 0 0

Jackson, lf 1 0 1 0 Echevarria, c 3 2 1

Hackett, ss 2 0 1 1 Mazzurco, lf 2 2 0

Menendez, 2b 3 1 0 0 Fier, ss 2 0 1

Totals 26 2 9 2 Totals 23 7 10 6

Maine 000 011 0 – 2

Stony Brook 210 202 x – 7

E-Smith 2, McAvoy; Fier, Novakowski; LOB-Maine 8, Stony Brook 7; 2B-Witkowski, Stephan, Echevarria; 3B-Leonard; HR-Echevarria; DP-Maine 1, Stony Brook 1; S-Jackson 2, Hackett; Witkowski, Sipp 2, Mazzurco; SB-Witkowski

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (L, 2-3) 6 10 7 6 2 5

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Novakowski (W, 1-1) 5 8 2 0 0 3

Lyons 2 1 0 0 1 2

HBP-Stephan 2 (by Norton); PB-Echevarria; T-1:55; ATT-137

SEAWOLVES 12, BLACK BEARS 3

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Maine (5-17) Stony Brook (11-12)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

McGraw, lf 4 1 1 0 Witkowski, cf 5 3 1

Jackson, dh 2 0 0 0 Sipp, 2b 5 4 2

Hasenfus, dh 1 0 0 0 Stephan, dh 1 3 1

Smith, 3b 2 0 1 1 Nowak, ph 1 0 0

Barrett, 1b 3 0 0 0 Leonard, 1b 3 1 1

Lugbauer, c 3 0 0 0 Tansey, rf 4 0 2

McAvoy, rf 1 0 0 0 Traylor, lf 0 0 0

Ostrander, cf 2 1 1 0 Cruz, 3b 2 2

Hackett, ss 3 1 2 1 Echevarria, c 4 0 1

Menendez, 2b 2 0 0 0 Dyer, ph 1 1 0

Mazzurco, lf 3 0 0 0

Fier, ss 2 0 0 0

Maier, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 23 3 5 2 Totals 32 12 14 10

Maine 001 000 2 – 3

Stony Brook 302 322 x – 12

E-Smith 2, Menendez; Cruz 2; LOB-Maine 5, Stony Brook 9; 2B-McGraw, Ostrander, Hackett; Witkowski 2, Sipp 2, Stephan, Tansey, Dyer; DP-Stony Brook 1; S-Jackson; Leonard; SF-Smith; Cruz; SB-McAvoy

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Boike (L, 1-1) 2 1/3 4 5 3 3 1

Mendoza 1 2/3 5 3 3 1 1

Clegg 2 5 4 3 1 1

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Kalkau (W, 3-0) 7 5 3 2 2 4

HBP-McAvoy (by Kalkau); T-2:30; ATT-137