SALISBURY, Md. - The Salisbury
University baseball winning streak now stands at 32 straight as the
No. 5 Sea Gulls swept a Capital Athletic Conference doubleheader
Sunday, the final day of the conference regular-season, against
rival University of Mary Washington. Salisbury scored 34 runs in
the two games combined against Mary Washington as the Gulls won
16-2 in seven innings and 18-9 in the second game to improve to a
conference record 18-0.
Salisbury (32-1, 18-0 CAC) is only the second team to finish the
CAC regular-season with a perfect mark. Mary Washington completed
the feat back in 2005 with a 10-0 mark when the conference only had
five teams and the teams only faced each twice. The Eagles are the
only team in conference history to finish unbeaten in both the
regular-season and the conference tournament, but the Sea Gulls
will try to match that record as the conference tournament will
begin on Tuesday, April 15.
Top-seed Salisbury will host sixth-seed York (Pa.) College on
Tuesday at Sea Gull Field. The Sea Gulls went 3-0 against the
Spartans this season as the maroon and gold outscored York 24-3.
The double elimination tournament will conclude next weekend at the
site of the highest remaining seed. SU is the two-time defending
CAC champion as the Gulls seek their eighth title overall.
Mary Washington (20-10, 12-6 CAC) struggled all day especially
on the mound and defensively as they walked 19 Sea Gull batters and
committed 10 errors in the field.
The Sea Gulls collected 16 hits in both games and were paced
offensively by freshman Will Evans who had a
career day at the plate. The shortstop was 5-for-9 on the day with
eight RBI including a two-run home run to right-center field in
game one.
Junior Jordan Crystal (5-for-9) also added five
hits and drove in six runs. Senior Mark Bostwick
(4-for-10, five runs) and freshman Andrew Miller
(4-for-9, five runs, three RBI) each had four hits while junior
Randy Boyle (3-for-6, two runs, two RBI) and
sophomore Mike Celenza (3-for-7, three runs, two
RBI) chipped in with three hits apiece.
Freshman pitching sensation Dustin Herbert
(9-0) got the start in game one as he entered with a 1.13 ERA and a
team leading 54 strikeouts. The left-hander tossed six effective
innings to earn the win as he allowed two runs on five hits with
three strikeouts.
Salisbury led 7-2 early but put the first game out of reach in
the fourth when the Sea Gulls scored six runs to knock out UMW
starter Jeff Brill (1-1) after three and a third innings. SU sent
11 batters to plate in the fourth inning. Four singles, a double
and six runs later the Gulls held a commanding 13-2 advantage over
the Eagles.
Game two saw Eagles' starter Dylan White (0-2) get two quick
outs on a double play as Boyle was called out on strikes and
Crystal was thrown out attempting to steal second. The offense came
alive after that as they tagged White for eight earned runs on six
hits including four consecutive singles between the shortstop and
third baseman. Zach Hendrix came in to relieve White and did not
fair much better as he gave up 10 runs (three earned) over three
and a third innings.
Senior Ryan Bennick (9-0) started the second
game and picked up his ninth win of the season as he threw six
innings, gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out three.
Mary Washington came alive in the fifth and seventh innings
scoring three and five runs, respectively, but it was too little,
too late as Salisbury had already built an 18-0 lead. Eric Rehbein
tossed four shutout innings where he yielded one hit to close out
game two for the Eagles. UMW was led offensively by Nick Espinosa
(five hits) and Alex Rossi (four hits).
