No. 2 Salisbury Blanks St. Mary’s Twice
Salisbury, Md. - The nationally-ranked Salisbury University baseball team avenged Wednesday's 2-1 road loss by shutting out St. Mary's College of Maryland, 7-0, in Saturday's Capital Athletic Conference doubleheader at Sea Gull Field in Salisbury.
In Salisbury's 3-0 win in the first half of the twin bill, junior RHP Chad Wolfe (Thurmont, Md./Catoctin) picked up the complete game victory as Wolfe (3-1) pitched 7.0 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and one walk, scattering just four hits.
No. 2 Salisbury (19-4, 7-3 CAC) established a 2-0 lead in the first inning behind sophomore Andrew Miller's (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) two-run homer in the Sea Gulls' second at-bat of the inning.
The Sea Gulls tacked on their third run in the third inning as junior Mike Celenza (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) came home on sophomore Brad Baylis' (Pocomoke, Md./Pocomoke) single to center field. Baylis finished the game with a 2-for-2 effort at the plate.
Sophomore leftfielder Mark Dattilio (Hagerstown, Md./N. Hagerstown) paced the Seahawks in the first game at the plate with a 2-for-3 effort. Sophomore RHP Mikel Iraola (Silver Spring, Md./DeMatha) suffered the loss on the mound as Iraola (2-2) gave up three runs on four hits in 3.0 innings.
Salisbury came into today's game ranked No. 2 in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll and No. 19 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III poll.
Junior LHP Kyle Starr (Lusby, Md./Patuxent) recorded the 4-0 victory in the nightcap as Starr (2-0) pitched a one-hit win, giving up only one hit to sophomore designated hitter Brad Shepherd (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) in the seventh inning. Starr struck out five and walked four in 6.1 innings.
The Sea Gulls once again opened up with a two-run homer in the first inning with Celenza connecting on the long ball this time. In the fourth inning, Baylis then hit a single down the right field line to bring home senior Jordan Crystal (Frostburg, Md./Lindenhurst), who reached on a fielding error by sophomore shortstop Matt Baden (Sunderland, Md./Huntingtown), for a 3-0 margin. Salisbury sealed the win when sophomore Brian Green (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) led off the fifth inning with his second home run of the season.
Sophomore RHP Barrett Enix (Suffolk, Va./Nansemond-Suffolk Academy) took the loss as Enix (2-3) allowed four runs (one unearned) on four hits in 4.1 innings.
St. Mary's looks to get back in the win column tomorrow when the Seahawks host Gallaudet University in a league doubleheader at 1:00 on Senior Day.
