SALISBURY, Md. – The third-ranked Salisbury University baseball team used a total team effort to roast the St. Mary's (Md.) Seahawks, 18-1, on Thursday afternoon in a Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) matchup at Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.

BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Sea Gulls set up a big first inning behind back-to-back walks by Justin Meekins and Kavi Caster. Cameron Hyder came up next and laid down a sac bunt that the third baseman threw away, allowing both runners to score and Hyder to land on third.
• Two batters later Luke Weddell singled Hyder home, and two batters after that Sky Rahill mashed a double to center that brought home Weddell, giving Salisbury an early 4-0 lead.
• After picking up another run on a Jacob Ference single in the third, Salisbury blew the doors off with a six-run fourth. Caster opened the floodgates with a two-run triple, then after a groundout and a walk Weddell beat out a bunt single which allowed Caster to score and make it 8-0.
• With runners on second and third after a passed ball, Stephen Rice rolled into an RBI groundout, and Rahill followed by clobbering a two-run homer to right, punctuating the rally and pushing the Sea Gull lead to 11-0.
• Salisbury scored in six straight innings to close the game and seven of eight frames overall. Hyder picked up an RBI in the fifth, and in the sixth Trent Saunders and Scott Cameron each earned rib-eyes on a bases loaded walk and double, respectively.
• Zach Geesaman's two-out RBI single got the Sea Gulls one run in the seventh, then in the eighth three more came home on a Ryan Teaman single, Cullen McAuliffe double and Adam Tommer single.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Clayton Dwyer (4-0) barely needed the run support in his first start of the season. Dwyer spun five scoreless innings, scattering three hits and walking none while striking out nine on just 61 pitches (42 strikes). Dwyer currently leads the C2C with 43 strikeouts and his 0.67 ERA is nearly three-quarters of a run better than the second-best mark.
• Sky Rahill finished 2-for-3 with a double, homer and three RBIs to lead the Sea Gull onslaught.
• Kavi Caster went 1-for-2 with a triple, two RBIs, two runs and two walks, while Luke Weddell went for a pair of hits, runs and RBIs each.
• The Sea Gulls emptied their bench throughout the game, using 22 position players and sending 20 different men to the plate. Fourteen SU players combined for the team's 17 hits, with 11 different players driving in runs.
• Brandon Epstein, Justin McDermott, Aaron Combs and Benji Thalheimer each tossed an inning in relief and helped limit the Seahawks to just five hits on the day.
• With the win Salisbury improves to 7-1 in C2C play, outscoring conference foes 96-29. The Sea Gulls now own a two-game lead over second-place Christopher Newport.

ST. MARY'S GAME NOTES

• Connor Coursey took the loss for the Seahawks, surrendering 11 runs (eight earned) on seven hits in four innings. He also walked four batters and hit three.
• Sam Smith drove in the only run of the game for SMCM, plating Dillon Waters in the seventh on a groundball to third base that resulted in an error.

UP NEXT

• The Sea Gulls now embark on a stretch of seven straight games away from Salisbury. First up is a pair of late-week games at No. 15 Shenandoah.
• First pitch from Winchester, Va., on Sunday is slated for 4:30 p.m.
• Salisbury's next home game will be Wednesday, May 5 against St. Mary's.