Fuller's 19 K's Deals Big Blow To Skyhawks
New Haven, Conn. - Behind sophomore hurler Jim Fuller's 19 strikeouts, Southern Connecticut won their school-record 14th game in a row and in the process dealt a serious blow to Stonehill's postseason playoff hopes with an 11-0 win on Thursday afternoon at the The Ballpark at SCSU.
Fuller was dominant in victory, holding the Skyhawks to one hit over eight innings and allowing just one walk to pick up his ninth win of the season. He struck out the side in the second and fourth innings and had at least two strikeouts in every inning.
After Matt Orr (Wilton, Conn.) collected an infield single to shortstop, Fuller retired the next 13 batters before giving up a walk to Dave Fradette (Goffstown, N.H.) with one out in the seventh.
The loss for Stonehill drops them to 14-13 in Northeast-10 action, a half of a game behind Bentley for the sixth and final spot in the Conference postseason tournament.
Stonehill still has three games left in NE-10 play, all against fifth place UMass-Lowell, while the Falcons play two more contests versus last place Southern New Hampshire.
The Owls got all the runs they would need in the first when an
RBI double from Karl Derbacher and a two-run homer from Anthony
Fiorillo gave them a 3-0 lead. After tacking on single runs in the
fourth and fifth, SCSU exploded for five runs in the sixth,
highlighted by a three-run double from Justin Cox.
Matt Giusti (Hopkinton, Mass.) took the loss (7-4)
for Stonehill, going five innings and giving up five runs (four
earned) on six hits. He walked one, threw a wild pitch and struck
out two.
The Skyhawks return to action on Saturday for their final home game of the season - a 3 p.m. tilt with the River Hawks on Lou Gorman Field.