SALISBURY, Md. – The 12th-ranked Salisbury University baseball team broke out the big bats early and never looked back, roasting the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins 32-2 in seven innings on Thursday afternoon at Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.
The Sea Gulls shot out of the gate with a seven-run first inning, which
Nathan Tondreault bookended by scoring on a wild pitch and plating another with an RBI single.
Griffin Shirk accentuated the flourish with a two-run homer to right, the first of his collegiate career.
Salisbury benefited from some wild Marlin pitching in the second, tacking on nine more runs on only three hits.
Trent Waire legged out an RBI infield single to cap the rally and make it 16-0 SU.
Shirk provided another power stroke in the fourth with an opposite-field grand slam as part of a 12-run inning that made it 28-2.
Cole Swift got in on the fun in the fifth with a two-run bomb that got SU to the 30-mark, and
TJ Morris belted his own two-run round-tripper in the sixth to give the game its final 32-2 margin.
GAME NOTES
- Griffin Shirk had a monster day at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 with two home runs – including a grand slam – three runs scored, and eight RBIs.
- Trent Waire went 2-for-3 with three runs and five rib-eyes.
- Jackson Inman and Jay Newton each scored four runs and drove in a pair.
- Cole Swift and TJ Morris clobbered two-run homers.
- Mardela High School graduate Carson Hughes made his collegiate debut, going 1-for-1 with a walk, run, and RBI.
- Cole Williams (5-0) recorded the final out of the second inning with a strikeout to pick up the win.
- Ethan Hirschfeld lasted 1.2 innings in his start, giving up no runs on two hits with two walks and two punchouts on 42 pitches.
- Tyler Katz, Peyton Youngbar, Ben Bennett, Peter Onuschak, and Daniel Hesson each tossed an inning in relief from the third through seventh.
- Salisbury hit the 30-run plateau for the second time this season after hanging 30 on Moravian to open the season on Feb. 14. The 32 runs are SU's most in a game since beating Washington College 35-6 on Mar. 23, 2023.
- The win was the Sea Gulls' 20th of the season and marks the 31st consecutive completed season Salisbury has won at least 20 games. The streak dates back to 1995 and the head coaching tenure of late SU Hall-of-Famer Dean Deshon.
After a Friday off, the Sea Gulls will play four games in four days beginning with a road jaunt to Randolph-Macon on Saturday. First pitch from Ashland, Va. is set for 2 p.m.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 207 conference championships, and have produced 54 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
