Courtesy of Stony Brook Athletic Communications
TEMPE, Ariz.-- Matt Minor allowed four runs in 8.0 innings of work and Andrew Giobbi
went 4-for-4 with three RBI as the No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores defeated
the No. 4 Stony Brook University baseball team, 9-4, on Saturday
afternoon at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark to
eliminate the Seawolves from the 2008 NCAA tournament. Stony Brook ends
its season with a record of 34-26.
"Arizona State and Vanderbilt are tremendous teams and it was an honor to compete against them," Stony Brook head coach Matt Senk
said. "Our losses here were certainly not for lack of effort and I'm
very proud of my team for the way they competed all season."
The Commodores, who pounded out 16 hits on the day, jumped to
an early lead with a run in the first as Pedro Alvarez tripled with one
out and then came home on a triple down the right-field line from Ryan
Flaherty. Dominic de la Osa then lifted a fly ball to right, junior
Mike Tansey (Valley Stream, N.Y.) made the catch and nailed Flaherty at
home trying to score to end the inning.
Vanderbilt tacked on two more runs in the second on RBI singles
from Giobii and Shea Robin. But with Giobii at second and Robin at
first, designated hitter Jonathan White bunted and Stony Brook senior
starter Gary Novakowski
(Prospect, Conn.) made a headlong dive to snag the ball in midair for
the first out of the inning. He then got up and threw to second baseman
Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario) at first to double off Robin for the second out and Marshall relayed the ball to junior Keith Fier (Armonk, N.Y.) at second to double off Giobbi and complete an unlikely triple play.
SBU got on the board in the third as Tansey doubled with one
out, moved to third on a Fier sacrifice bunt and then came home on a
sacrifice fly from junior Justin Echevarria (Uniondale, N.Y.). The Seawolves threatened in the fifth inning as junior Steven Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y.) led off with a double and then moved to third on a single to left from freshman Stephen Marino
(Lake Grove, N.Y.). But Minor then struck out Tansey for the first out
of the inning to bring up Fier. The Seawolves put on the suicide
squeeze but Fier popped the bunt up in the air to Minor who made the
catch and then threw to third to double off Mazzurco and end the
threat.
After allowing the three runs in the first two innings, Novakowski
settled down and put together three straight scoreless innings. But
Steven Liddle tripled to right-center field with one out in the sixth
and the Seawolves turned to sophomore Jeremy Nowak
(Cheektowaga, N.Y.) to face Giobbi who lined one to right field that
was just deep enough to score Liddle with the Commodores fourth run.
Nowak then hit Robin with a pitch and followed that with a walk
to White to bring up Macias who grounded one through the right side to
score Robin and make it 5-1. Alvarez drove in the final run of the
inning with another run-scoring single to right. The Commodores added
three more runs in the seventh on a two-run double from Liddle and a
RBI single from Giobbi.
The Seawolves got three runs in the seventh on a Marino RBI
single and a two-run error by Alvarez at third, but Minor recovered to
pitch a scoreless eighth and Chase Reid followed that with perfect
ninth to secure the victory for the Commodores.
Novakowski took the loss in his final career start for the
Seawolves, allowing four runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work.
Junior Michael Barbot (Bronx, N.Y.) was terrific in relief once again for SBU, hurling 3.0 scoreless innings.