Fordham onto the Atlantic 10 Finals tomorrow at 12:00 with a 4-2 over University of Dayton. pic.twitter.com/99NX0k0Bhd
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2019
Yesterday was a thrilling day for two local Division-I Colleges.
Stony Brook and Fordham both won close games to advance to their respective Conference Championships on Saturday. The Sea Wolves held off a late Binghamton rally to hold on, 5-4, and they will face No. 3 Binghamton today at noon in the America East Championship. Fordham defeated Dayton, 4-2, to advance to the Atlantic-10 Championship.
Let’s start with Stony Brook’s game. The Seawolves got off to a quick 1-0 lead in the second inning on a wild pitch that scored Brandon Alamo. The Bearcats used a two-run home run in the sixth inning to regain the lead, 2-1, against Bret Clarke.
The Sea Wolves did not waste any time, though, coming back. Brandon Alamo‘s RBI ground out tied it up and Sean Buckhout’s three-run shot gave them the 5-2 lead. Incredibly, it was Buckhout’s first career home run. He certainly picked the right time for it.
When it appeared the game was in hand, the Bearcats clawed back with one in the eighth on a sac fly by Daniel Franchi and another in the 9th on an RBI ground out.
Clarke wound up notching his eighth win of the season, against zero losses and Sam Turcotte earned his seventh save of the season.
Dylan Resk was the only Seawolves hitter with multi-hits.
If Stony Brook loses the first game today, they will play again 45 minutes after the final out. They last won the America East in 2015.
Line it up. SEAWOLVES WIN!#SeawolvesUnited | #AEBASE pic.twitter.com/f6J6bvsgQz
— Stony Brook Baseball (@StonyBrookBASE) May 24, 2019
Fordham has won three consecutive games to begin the Atlantic-10 tournament but, like Stony Brook, they need one more.
Yesterday, they defeated Dayton, 4-2.
Nick LaBella hit an RBI double in the second inning to give them a 1-0 lead.
Their starting pitcher, Anthony DiMeglio, was outstanding throwing seven innings and allowed one ER. His defense abandoned him in the sixth inning as a ground ball turned into a two-run error and gave Dayton a 2-1 lead.
LaBella tied it up in the bottom of the inning on a safety squeeze to score Alvin Melendez. They took the lead on an RBI double by Jason Coules in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the ninth, LaBella ripped an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-2.
Anthony Zimmerman came on in the eighth inning and notched the six-out save to nail down the victory.
With their 37th victory, Fordham set a program record, previously set in 1988 and 1990.
If they can win one more game, they will capture their second Atlantic-10 Conference Championship in history, with the first coming in 1998.
