LOWELL, Mass. - For the fifth time in program history, the Stony Brook University Seawolves are the America East Baseball Champions after a wild, 16-11, win over UMBC on Saturday night at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass. With the victory, the Seawolves earn the conference’s automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Championship.
Stony Brook became the first team since 2012 and only the third in the last 13 years to win both the America East regular-season and conference tournament titles. The Seawolves also accomplished the feat in 2012 before their magical run to the College World Series.
Sophomore Cameron Stone stood on the mound for the final out for the third-straight tournament game and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2015 championship for his efforts. Stone threw 4.1 perfect innings out of the bullpen in the tournament with two saves. He capped the title game with 1.2 scoreless innings and one strikeout.
Joining Stone on the All-Championship team were teammates Bobby Honeyman, Daniel Zamora and Robert Chavarria. Honeyman drove in a pair in the title clinching game, while Chavarria reached base 10 times in three games including five walks on Saturday. Zamora earned the win on the hill in game one.
UMBC finished the season with 34 wins, the second-most in program history while making their first appearance in the title round of the tournament. The Retrievers earned a spot in the championship round with a, 10-2, win over Hartford earlier in the day.
Three Retrievers earned spots on the All-Championship Team including starting pitcher Conrad Wozniak, who earned the win in the team’s first game of the tournament, Connor Hax and Jake Barnes. Hax had at-least one RBI in each of the tournament games and Barnes had seven total hits, including four in the final game vs. Stony Brook.
In what was the highest-scoring tournament game since 1996, UMBC jumped out to a quick lead, scoring seven times in the first inning against Stony Brook starter Ryley MacEachern. Mitch Carroll had the big hit in the inning, bringing home two with a double down the right field line as the Retrievers held a 7-0 lead.
The top-seeded Seawolves responded with a record-breaking inning, scoring 11 runs in the second, the most runs ever scored in a single inning in a tournament game, to take an 11-7 lead. Six of the runs in the second were scored with two outs, as Malcolm Nachmanoff, Cole Peragine and Toby Handley each came through with two-out RBIs. Handley had two hits and two RBIs in the second inning alone and finished with four hits on the day.
UMBC starter Joe Vanderplas was knocked from the game after going 1.1 innings, being charged with six runs with just one earned. Kevin Little went a third of an inning in the second before Connor Staskey came in to get the final out. Staskey went 5.0 innings in the contest.
UMBC scratched across two more in the bottom of the second on a Barnes single and a Carroll sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to 11-9.
Stony Brook doubled the lead to four in the fourth on singles by Jack Parenty and Casey Baker to make it 13-9. Baker extended his hitting streak to 18-straight games.
UMBC continued to stay within striking distance by getting single runs in the bottom of the fourth and the bottom of the fifth, but still tailed 14-11 through five.
The Stony Brook bullpen then took over, shutting down the Retrievers over the final four innings with the combination of Chad Lee and Stone. Lee went 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just two walks and one hit before giving way to Stone to seal the victory. Tim Knesnik earned the win on the mound after relieving MacEachern in the second, allowing three runs over four innings.
The Seawolves added two more insurance runs in the top of the eighth with Baker scoring on a wild pitch and Honeyman singling in a run to left.
The contest featured 27 runs, 31 hits and 26 walks as the Seawolves set an America East Championship team single-game record by drawing 16 walks on the evening. Shortstop Jeremy Giles set a tournament single-game record with six walks in the game. The Seawolves also came up with clutch hits, finishing 6-for-14 with two outs and going 10-for-24 with runners in scoring position.
Stony Brook did all of the offensive damage with only one extra-base hit in the entire tournament, while improving to 26-1 when leading after six innings.
Stony Brook will discover its fate in the 2015 NCAA Championship on Monday, May 25 during the NCAA Selection Show at noon on ESPNU.
All-Tournament Team
Luke Morrill, Maine
Sam McKay, Hartford
Trey Stover, Hartford
Conrad Wozniak, UMBC
Jake Barnes, UMBC
Connor Hax, UMBC
Bobby Honeyman, Stony Brook
Daniel Zamora, Stony Brook
Robert Chavarria, Stony Brook
Cameron Stone, Stony Brook – Most Outstanding Player