Nick Grande makes a nice play moving away from home plate. Stony Brook leads 3-0 after 1 inning pic.twitter.com/CE6OpChqg2
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 13, 2019
Stony Brook bounced back from Tuesday’s defeat by Iona with a smooth 9-3 victory over LIU Brooklyn.
The offense got out to a quick start in the first inning with a three-spot. RBI singles by Brandon Alamo, Chris Hamilton and a sac fly by Evan Giordano gave them so cushion, and they never looked back.
Bret Clarke made his first outing of the year and he was sharp; going two shutout innings and striking out two batters. He was named our 2016 Rookie of the Year. If he can rediscover that form, it will be a huge boost for the Sea Wolves. He topped out at 91 MPH in his outing.
He was relieved by hard-throwing freshman Ben Fero, who was very impressive. He showcased his 88-90 MPH heater, along with a great change up and sharp slider in 81 MPH range. He allowed just one hit, while striking out two. It appears he has established himself as a reliable strike thrower, having begun his collegiate career with five shutout innings. I believe he will be a high-leverage reliever by the time conference play gets into full swing this weekend.
Junior Brandon Bonnano added two shutout innings, yielding two walks but striking out two batters. He’s another hard-thrower, he was 88-89 MPH with a nasty two-seamer that–at times–had so much movement that hitters simply refrained from swinging as it tailed out of the strike zone.
They also threw Liam Pulsipher, Kyle Johnson and Connor Clark for an inning each to close out the game. Pulsipher allowed two runs and Clark allowed one in the ninth.
The offense was clearly the story. They got to the LIU Brooklyn staff early and often, and took their energy out of the game.
Nick Grande had two hits and scored two runs, Chris Hamilton had two hits and drove in three runs, Brandon Alamo had two hits and scored a run and Brandon Janofsky had two hits and scored a run.
It was a great win for the Sea Wolves, who had struggled recently. They will begin America East conference play this weekend with a three-game set against UMBC, beginning with a double header on Saturday.
