Stonehill Splits Season Opener Against Felician

Skyhawks take first game, 1-0, lose in walk-off fashion in game two, 4-3

Bryan Galligan earned the win in his
2012 season debut for Stonehill.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (February 24, 2012) – Stonehill College, ranked sixth overall in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) preseason East Regional Poll, opened up its 2012 season by splitting a pair of games at the Ripken Experience Northeast Challenge at The Ripken Experience – Myrtle Beach today. The Skyhawks earned a 1-0 victory in game one over Felician College but dropped the second game of the twin bill, 4-3, in walk-off fashion.

Stonehill 1, Felician 0 (nine innings)

Senior right-handed pitcher Bryan Galligan (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) tossed six scoreless innings with two strikeouts and freshman Billy Horobin (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan) manufactured the game-winning run to lead Stonehill in game one.

Galligan yielded just four hits in his 2012 season debut while issuing three walks. Freshman Jim Duff (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) breezed through two-and-one-thirds scoreless innings allowing just one hit, no walks and two strikeouts and senior left-handed pitcher Michael Von Stein (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) notched his first save of the year closing out the final two-thirds of the ninth.

Horobin scored the Skyhawks lone run of the contest in the fourth inning on a wild pitch. Horobin manufactured the run by drawing a walk, advancing to second on a Michael Zeiner (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) walk and moving to third on a balk by D.J. Stinsman (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township – St. Andrew's) before the ensuing wild pitch.

Stonehill collected five hits in the game, all by different players. Senior Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) went 1-for-4 with a double, sophomore Billy Karalis (Pawtucket, R.I./Bishop Feehan) was 1-for-3 with a triple, junior James DeAlto (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) had a 1-for-4 showing at the plate, Horobin was 1-for-3 with one run and a walk and senior Steven Popp (Unionville, Conn./Farmington) went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Michael Magnussen launched his first
home run of the season in the third
inning with two outs.

Felician 4, Stonehill 3 (seven innings)

Stonehill jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Felician rallied with four runs in the final three innings to claim the come-from-behind victory, 4-3, in seven innings.

Senior left-handed pitcher Eric Haughn (Pembroke, Mass./Pembroke) earned a no-decision in his first start on five innings of work, one run, three hits, three strikeouts and one walk. Freshman Ryan Rougeot (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) yielded a pair of runs in one-third of an inning pitched on three hits. Von Stein, who entered the game in the sixth, completed one inning and gave up one run on one hit and two walks.

Sophomore Colin Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) gave the Skyhawks an early 1-0 lead in the second inning with a two out single and senior Michael Magnussen (Carver, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) added to the lead with a solo home run in the third inning, also with two outs.

Karalis collected Stonehill's only other hits in game two of the doubleheader going 2-for-3 at the plate including an RBI single in the sixth inning that gave the Skyhawks a 3-1 lead at the time.

Stonehill (1-1, 0-0 NE-10, 0-0 Northeast Division) returns to action tomorrow in Myrtle Beach, S.C. against Post University for a doubleheader with game one scheduled for 10:00 a.m. The Skyhawks first home game of the season is scheduled for Thursday, March 29 against Assumption College at 3:30 p.m.

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