LOWELL, Mass. - Top-seeded Stony Brook and second-seeded UMBC both earned wins on the first day of the 2015 America East Baseball Championship at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass. on Thursday. No. 1 Stony Brook beat No. 4 Hartford, 2-0, while No. 2 UMBC beat No. 3 Maine, 9-5.
Hartford and Maine will play an elimination game on Friday at 1 p.m. with the Hawks as the home team. Stony Brook and UMBC will play in the winners' bracket at 5 p.m. with the winner of that game advancing to the 2015 championship round. Both games will be streamed live on AmericaEast.TV. Recap Thursday's action:
Game 1 – No. 1 Stony Brook 2, No. 4 Hartford 0
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Sophomore Daniel Zamora tossed eight shutout innings as top-seeded Stony Brook beat No. 4 Hartford, 2-0, in game one of the America East Baseball Championship at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass.
Zamora was outstanding, striking out eight while scattering six hits s he earned his seventh win of the year. He held the top five of the Hartford order to a combined 0-for-13. Cameron Stone came in to shut the door on the win, earning the save with a perfect ninth inning.
Freshman Andruw Gazzola had a pair of hits in the game for the Seawolves, including driving in the first run of the game with a two-out single in the bottom of the fourth. He was the lone Seawolf with multiple hits in the contest, while Robert Chavarria, Casey Baker, Bobby Honeyman and Malcolm Nachmanoff had one each.
Hartford threatened in the top of the fifth, putting runners on first and second and one out. Trey Stover hit a ground ball to short that Jeremy Giles flipped to Chavarria to get the out at second, but the relay to first was late to get Stover. Wilson, who was on second, tried to score on the play but was thrown out at the plate by Casey Baker in a rare, 6-4-3-2, double play.
The Hawks then ran into some bad luck in the sixth. With Nick Campana on first, Erik Ostberg hit a shot down the first base line that hit off of Baker’s glove and then off the umpire to keep the ball in the infield as Campana advanced to third and Ostberg was safe at first. Zamora then got Bengston to ground to second to end the threat.
Stony Brook would tack on one more run in the sixth when Chavarria singled to bring home Jack Parenty and stake the top seed to a 2-0 advantage.
Kyle Gauthier also was impressive on the mound for Hartford, allowing just two runs over eight innings. The Hawks were not able to generate any offense against Zamora, leaving nine on during the game while going 0-7 with runners in scoring position.
Zamora allowed just one runner to reach over his final two innings of work before giving way to Stone. The sophomore reliever struck out two of the three batters he faced to put Stony Brook into the winners bracket.
Game 2 - No. 2 UMBC 9, No. 3 Maine 5
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The second-seeded UMBC Retrievers pounded out 13 hits to earn their first-ever America East tournament win, 9-5, over third-seeded Maine in game two of the 2015 America East Baseball Championship.
Playing in just their second conference tournament and first since 2008, the Retrievers received an excelled start from America East Pitcher of the Year, Conrad Wozniak. The junior went seven innings, allowing just one run while scattering six hits and striking out four.
Every Retriever who played in the game recorded at-least one hit with First Team All-Conference first baseman Anthony Gatto leading the way with three hits to go with two runs scored and two steals. Jake Barnes, Mitch Carroll and Hunter Dolshun each had a pair of hits while Andrew Casali and Connor Hax had two RBI each.
Hax got the momentum going for UMBC in the second inning, hitting a two-run home run over the right field fence to make it, 2-0. That sparked a streak of five-straight innings where the Retrievers would score at-least one run.
The Retrievers scored two more in the third and then broke the game open with three in the fourth to make it, 7-0. Kevin LaChance started the rally with an RBI single through the right side, while Dolshun and Switalksi also added RBIs in the inning.
A Carroll single in the fifth and a Casali sacrifice fly in the sixth rounded out the the scoring.
Maine got on the board with a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth by Brett Chappell. It was the only run the Black Bears would get off Wozniak.
With Wozniak out of the game, Maine's bats came alive. With the bases loaded in the eighth, Kevin Stypulkowski laced a two-run bases loaded double down the right field line to cut the deficit to 9-3. Maine would push one more across in the eighth and one in the ninth, but were unable to finish the late rally.
UMBC will face Stony Brook in the winners' bracket at 5 p.m. while Maine will battle Hartford in an elimination game at 1 p.m. on Friday.