With his pitch count inching towards the 105-pitch limit, UCONN-commit Joe Wozny knew he could empty the tank.
He reached back and threw his hardest pitch of the morning at 87 MPH past the batter for his 15th and final strikeout of the day. He was removed in favor of reliever Emmanuel Ajewole, who promptly sealed the deal for the 4-3 victory for the Stony Brook Bears over Port Jeff.
“In the later innings–especially after the first inning where I walked a guy and was a little shaky–I really settled in and found my fastball and was hitting spots. I was keeping the ball low so when they did put it in play it was on the ground,” said Wozny.
Port Jeff got on the board first in an unusual way in the first inning when an error a walk and a stolen base put runners on second & third with one out. A wild pitch scored the first runner and the throw to the plate with Wozny covering resulted in a rare obstruction called for the second run.
He was dominant after that.
Stony Brook got one run back in the third inning on an RBI single by Ajewole to score Aidan Mega.
Wozny struck out seven batters in a row during one stretch from the third to fifth innings.
His offense mounted a rally in the fifth inning that was ultimately the difference. Seamus Scalon led off with a single to center field and Aidan Mega singled through the left side. Wozny reached on a dropped error by the left field and they tied the game up when the following batter, Tim Wozny walked. The go-ahead run scored on a wild pitch and David Choi extended the lead to 4-2 with a single.
Port Jeff inched closer in the sixth inning on an unearned run on an infield error, but Wozny stepped up when it mattered and recorded the inning ending punch out.
With the victory, they improved to 7-3 on the season, while Port Jeff dropped to 3-7.
