Stony Brook posted a come-from-behind, 11-10, win to force a deciding game Saturday at the America East Baseball Championship at Centennial Field, but Northeastern scored 10 runs over the first four innings in the second game and posted an 11-0 victory to win its third America East Championship, and first since 1997. The Huskies are the first No. 4 seed to win the championship.
The Huskies (27-22) came out of the gates quickly in the deciding game, as Mike Steinberg led off the Northeastern half of the first with a double, and Arman Sidhu chased him home with a two-base hit of his own. Sidhu came home later in the inning on a misplayed ball by Stony Brook starting pitcher James Swejkowski, and the Huskies held a 2-0 advantage.
Back-to-back home runs by Matt Morizio and Steinberg chased Swejkowski and doubled the Northeastern advantage to 4-0 after two innings. A Brad Czarnowski single in the bottom of the third scored Omar Pena with the Husky’s fifth run of the game.
A two-run single by Championship Most Outstanding Player Miguel Paquette increased the advantage to 7-0. Pena doubled to left center and Czarnowski followed with a three-run homer run to right, pushing the lead to 10-0 after four innings. Northeastern added a run in the sixth on a RBI single by Chris Emanuele.
Jordan Thomson (5-5) picked up the win for Northeastern, going the distance and allowing no runs on just three hits. Swejkowski (3-3) was credited with the loss for Stony Brook.
Stony Brook (33-21) forced the deciding game with an 11-10 win the first game of the day. Trailing 7-1 after three innings, the Seawolves rallied with 10 runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Lee Lipschutz was the hitting star for Stony Brook, belting a solo home run in the fifth, and a grand slam in the sixth on an 0-2 count, which turned out to be the game-winning RBI.
With the score tied at 1-1 entering the bottom of the second, the Huskies took a 4-1 lead on a solo home run by Pena, and a two-run blast by Czarnowski, and extended their lead to 7-1 in the third with a three-run home run off the bat of Paquette.
Stony Brook began its rally off of Northeastern starter Devin Monds in the bottom of fourth, plating five runs, all with two outs. With a runner on first with two outs, the Seawolves strung together five consecutive hits, highlighted by a two RBI single by Jim McCurdy, a run scoring triple from Andrew Larsen, and two-run home run to left off the bat of Matt Devins to pull Stony Brook to within one, at 7-6. Lipschutz’s first home run of the day knotted the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the fifth, but the Huskies regained the lead in the next half inning when Tim Bush connected on a three-run homer to left.
Kevin Fitzgerald (3-3) picked up the win, pitching four and one third innings of relief. Will Brumfield allowed only one hit over the last two and one third innings to earn his first save of the season. Bush took the loss for Northeastern.
Paquette, a first baseman, is joined on the all-championship team by pitchers Justin Hedrick and Thomson of Northeastern, catcher Aaron Izaryk of Maine, second baseman Jim McCurdy of Stony Brook, third baseman Joe Drapeau of Maine, shortstop Sidhu of Northeastern, outfielders Larsen and Lipschutz of Stony Brook, outfielder Czarnowski of Northeastern, and designated hitter Steinberg of Northeastern.
Northeastern advances to the NCAA Championship. The regional sites and pairings will be announced on Monday at 12:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2.
America East Baseball Championship
at Centennial Field, Burlington, Vt.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Game 1-- No. 3 Stony Brook 4, No. 2 Maine 2
Game 2?No. 4 Northeastern, 2, No. 1 Vermont 1
Friday, May 23, 2003
Game 3?Maine 5, Vermont 1
Game 4?Northeastern 5, Stony Brook 4
Game 5?Stony Brook 6, Maine 3
Saturday, May 24, 2003
Game 6?Stony Brook 11, Northeastern 10
Game 7?Northeastern 11, Stony Brook 0