DOVER, Del. - The Salisbury University baseball
team opened up its Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) season on
Wednesday afternoon and for the first time in school history the
Sea Gulls took the field as the No. 1 team in the country. SU did
not disappoint as it plated seven runs in the top of the first
inning en route to a 16-5 victory over Rt. 13 rival Wesley College.
The win is the program's 44th consecutive regular-season victory as
the game earned a mention on ESPN's SportsCenter (details below).
All-American pitcher Eric Willey (3-0), gave up
only three earned runs in eight innings of work, led the way for
the Sea Gulls (10-0, 1-0 CAC). The senior continued his impressive
start to the season as he fanned a season-high 10 batters and
limited the Wolverines (5-3-1, 0-1 CAC) to just seven hits. He
allowed one walk and retired 10 of the last 11 Wesley batters he
faced in the victory.
The Sea Gull offense collected 16 hits on the day. Sophomore
shortstop Will Evans (two doubles) led the charge
as he used a 4-for-6 day at the plate to tally a career-high five
RBIs and two runs. Sophomore Chad Wolfe (one RBI)
was 3-for-4 and scored twice while senior second baseman
Randy Boyle notched three RBIs and three runs. SU
had two other players record multiple hit games in junior first
baseman Mike Celenza (three runs, two RBIs) and
sophomore outfielder Andrew Miller (one run). The
maroon and gold blasted three home runs on the day as Boyle,
Celenza and Evans all connected.
SU wasted no time getting on the scoreboard against the
Wolverines. Miller singled to lead off the game and quickly scored
on Boyle's first home run of the season. Celenza and junior catcher
Ryan Smith singled before Celenza scored on a
sacrifice fly by senior Cody Collins. SU would cap
its scoring off for the inning when Evans emptied the bases with a
three-run double. That was the final blow for Wesley starting
pitcher Bobby Buttafugo (0-1) who recorded one out in the first
inning and surrendered seven runs.
SU led 8-0 after the second inning before the Wolverines came to
life with four hits and plated three runs off Willey. The Sea Gulls
pushed across another run in the third to lead Wesley, 9-3.
The Sea Gulls scored seven runs in the final three innings of
play. SU scored three in the seventh and two in the eighth and
ninth innings. In the eighth, Celenza hit a two-run home run and
Evans followed suit in the ninth.
Wesley had five players collect base hits in the game led by
three Wolverines who had two hits apiece including Kevin Murphy
(one double, two RBIs), Stu Madden (one run, one RBI) and Bill
Hogdon (one triple, one run).
The Sea Gulls will finish its three-game series against Wesley
with a home doubleheader on Saturday, February 28, at 1 p.m.
NOTE: Salisbury's game against Wesley was
selected by ESPN for its "SportsCenter Game Count" segment for
February 25 out of 535 games nationwide. The Sea Gull victory was
mentioned during the 6 p.m. broadcast on Wednesday evening as a
full-screen graphic showing the Salisbury's school logo and
information about the regular-season winning streak was on-air for
nearly a minute. The daily "SportsCenter Game Count" segment is a
tally of all professional (including minor league) and
NCAA-recognized championship games (basketball, soccer, ice hockey,
baseball, and football in Division II and III) scheduled to be
played in America each day. The total includes teams from
American-based leagues playing games in Canada. A product of ESPN's
Stats and Analysis department, "SportsCenter Game Count" will run
on the weekday 6 p.m. ET and weekend morning SportsCenters. The new
segment debuted on January 24, 2009.
