SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 9 Salisbury University
baseball team capped off its six-game homestand with a doubleheader
sweep of the College of Staten Island on Saturday afternoon at Sea
Gull Field in front of a crowd of 125. The Sea Gulls took the first
game by a score of 8-1 and finished off the sweep with a 9-3
victory in game two.
Salisbury (9-0) got off to a slow start, a day after a huge
victory over top-ranked SUNY Cortland, but the offense found its
grove late in game one and carried that momentum into the second
game to take two from the Dolphins (0-2), who were making their
season debut. SU has won 43 straight regular-season games dating
back to last season.
The Sea Gulls struggled offensively through the first four
innings of the first game as CSI starter sophomore Patrick Gale
(0-1) mixed his pitches well to keep SU off balance. Salisbury
finally got to Gale in the fifth as sophomore Andrew
Miller (2-for-3, two runs) started the rally with a
one-out single to left. Senior Randy Boyle (two
runs) reached on an error by the second baseman which sent Miller
to third. After a Boyle stolen base, junior Mike
Celenza (one run) was intentionally walked to load the
bases. Junior Ryan Smith (one run) came through
with a two-run single up the middle to plate both Miller and Boyle
to give the Sea Gulls a 3-1 lead. Senior Cody
Collins (1-for-3, two runs, three RBIs) delivered the
final blow, a three-run home run to right center field, to knock
Gale out of the game and extend the SU lead to five, 6-1.
Salisbury tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the
sixth to back sophomore starting pitcher Dustin
Herbert (2-0) as he went six strong innings and yielded
just one earned run on three hits while striking out five Dolphins.
Freshman Bill Morton tossed a scoreless seventh to
close out the game.
The offense got on the board early in game two as senior
Jordan Crystal (3-for-4, three runs, three RBIs)
drilled a solo home run to right field in the second inning. The
bats came alive in the third as the Sea Gulls pounded out five
hits, four for extra bases, which included back-to-back triples to
center field by Crystal and Morton (2-for-4, RBI). Three Sea Gulls
crossed the plate in the inning to build a 4-0 advantage through
the first three innings of play.
After the Dolphins got on the board in the top of the forth on a
two-out RBI-single by sophomore Mark Glennerster, the Sea Gulls
broke the game open in the bottom half of the inning. SU exploded
for five runs capped off by Collins's (2-for-4, one run) three-run
double to the right-center gap to put Salisbury up by eight, 9-1.
Glennerster accounted for all of the Dolphins' offense in game two
as he collected two more RBIs in the sixth inning with a single
back up the middle.
Sophomore Alex Duda (1-0) got the call in game
two and tossed four effective innings as he allowed one earned run
on six hits. Salisbury used a trio of relievers, sophomore
Mark Peterson (two strikeouts),
freshman Trevor Abbott (one strikeout) and
sophomore Drew Baldwin to close out the final
three innings. Senior Jon Reyes (0-1) took the loss for the
Dolphins as he allowed six earned runs on seven hits and struck out
two in three and one-third innings of work.
The maroon and gold will ride their hot start into
conference play this week as they will travel up Route 13 on
Wednesday, February, 25, to take on rival Wesley College in their
first Capital Athletic Conference game of the season which is
slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. Salisbury will return home on
Saturday, February, 28, as it will turn around and host the
Wolverines in a doubleheader at Sea Gull Field. The Sea Gulls were
a perfect 18-0 in conference play last season and outscored Wesley,
17-5, in the three-game series.
