WINCHESTER, Va. – The No. 12 Salisbury University baseball team took to the road for the second time in the last three days to take on No. 1 Shenandoah University in a battle of nationally ranked teams. The Sea Gulls defeated the top team in the nation by the final score of 8-4 behind the bat of Jay Perry and arm of Pete Grasso.
This is the Sea Gulls first victory over the nation's top ranked team in the country since May 8, 2010 when Salisbury split a series with then No. 1 Johns Hopkins University winning game two by the final score of 6-4.
Grasso wasted no time getting the road team on the board and helping out his own cause launching a solo shot to center field to give the maroon and gold a 1-0 advantage in the first inning. He continued his offensive prowess recording his third hit of the afternoon in the fifth inning knocking an RBI single into left field that plated Scott Ardoin to push the visitors' lead to 3-0.
Tom LaBriola extended the Salisbury (31-9) advantage to four, two batters later, with an RBI single into center field that plated Grasso.
Shenandoah (33-6) found its offensive rhythm in the bottom of the sixth inning, plating four runs to knot the game at four all. The Hornets used a two-run RBI double, an error, and a RBI single to score all four runs.
The Sea Gulls were not shaken at all however, scoring four runs in the top half of the seventh inning to retake the lead. Jack Barry drove in the go ahead run with an RBI bunt single to give the Gulls a 5-4 lead. Jay Perry capped the scoring and put the game out of reach with his ninth home run of the season with a three-run blast to left field making the score line read 8-4 in favor of the visitors.
Grasso turned in a solid performance on the mound picking up his eighth win of the season to remain perfect. He went six innings allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out five batters. Micah Wells picked up his first save of the season going the final three innings allowing no hits and more importantly no runs while striking out six total batters.
Wells allowed one base runners in total while forcing back-to-back fly outs to end the game and give the Gulls the upset victory over the Hornets.
Grasso finished the day 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored while Perry finished the afternoon going 3-for-4 with a team-high three RBI and a run scored. Overall, the Salisbury offense cranked out 14 hits and eight runs, taking advantage of five Shenandoah errors.
The maroon and gold return to action on Sunday, May 7 when they host the Catholic University of America. The start time has yet to be announced.
