No. 6 Salisbury Shuts Out Seahawks
Salisbury, Md. - The No. 6 Salisbury University baseball team continued its nation-leading win streak with their 25th consecutive victory on Wednesday afternoon at Sea Gull Field. The Sea Gulls (25-1, 12-0 CAC) defeated Capital Athletic Conference foe St. Mary's College of Maryland, 7-0, behind the one-hit pitching performance of freshman Dustin Herbert before a crowd of 124.
Herbert (7-0) had another strong start for the Gulls as he threw a complete game one-hitter to grab his seventh win of the season. Herbert struck out six batters and allowed just one walk in the nine-inning contest as he lowered his ERA to 0.96 for the season. The young left-hander leads the SU pitching staff in strikeouts (48) and innings pitched (46.2), the last 24 of which were scoreless.
The eventual game-winning run came early for SU when in bottom of the first inning senior Justin Armiger hit a fly ball to center field to score junior Jordan Crystal from third base. The Gulls added six insurance runs over the next three innings to keep the Seahawks (13-15, 6-7 CAC) at bay.
Sea Gull senior Randy Boyle extended his record-breaking hit streak to 26 games when in the bottom of the second inning, Boyle connected on a single to right field to drive in two runs for the Sea Gulls. Boyle has hit safely in every game for Salisbury this season.
Sophomore Mike Celenza smashed a two-RBI double to left-center in the fourth inning to round out the scoring for SU. Freshmen Will Evans (2-for-4, one stolen base) and Andrew Miller (2-for-3, one stolen base) were the only Gulls to have multiple hits on the day.
Freshman infielder Matt Baden (Sunderland, Md./Huntingtown) notched the Seahawks' lone hit in the game with a leadoff single to right center in the fourth inning.
Senior right-hander Brian Briggs (Laurel, Md./Hammond) suffered the loss on the mound, evening his record to 3-3 on the year.
The Seahawks will look to exact revenge this Saturday when Salisbury crosses the Bay to wrap up the three-game series with a doubleheader at the Hawk's Nest. The first pitch is slated for noon.
