Skyhawks pound out eight runs on 14 hits

Senior Michael White hurled eight innings of shutout baseball against Bridgeport.

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. (March 16, 2012) – Senior left-handed pitcher Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) and freshman right-hander Ryan Rougeot (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) combined to pitch a five-hit shutout as Stonehill College, ranked seventh overall in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Regional Poll, blanked the University of Bridgeport, 8-0, in non-conference action on Friday afternoon.

White notched his first victory of the season (1-1 overall, three starts) on eight innings pitched, four hits, one walk and six strikeouts. Over his final three innings, White retired all nine batters he faced in order while Rougeot fanned one batter and gave up one hit in the ninth.

Junior left-hander Garrett Rogers (Rennselear, N.Y./Schenectady CC) was handed the loss over four innings of work, four hits, two runs (both earned), two walks and three punchouts.

Offensively for the Skyhawks, White went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in while senior Steven Popp (Unionville, Conn./Farmington) produced an identical line at the plate. Sophomore Colin Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two doubles, freshman Dan Pidgeon (Darien, Conn./Darien) went 2-for-5 with two RBI's and senior Michael Magnussen (Carver, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) had a 2-for-2 showing with one run scored and two runs driven in.

Popp gave Stonehill an early 1-0 advantage in the top of the first inning by driving in junior Michael Zeiner (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) with a RBI double.

In the fifth inning, Popp pushed the Skyhawks ahead to a 2-0 lead with a run-producing single to left field. Zeiner got the inning going as he was hit-by-a-pitch and advanced to second base on a single from White. Both baserunners moved into scoring position by successfully executing a double steal before Popp plated Zeiner with a single. White was thrown out at third base on a 7-5 putout on the play.

Stonehill broke open the game in the sixth inning with a four-run frame.

Sophomore Billy Karalis (Pawtucket, R.I./Bishop Feehan) led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third base on a Shepard double. After Pidgeon struck out looking, Magnussen smacked a two-run double to increase the gap to 4-0. White capped the scoring in the frame with a two-run double.

In the ninth inning, sophomore Dan Fratus (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) notched a leadoff base hit, Karalis flew out to left field, Shepard collected his second double of the game and Pidgeon followed with a two-run single to make it 8-0.

Stonehill (11-5, 0-0 NE-10, 0-0 Northeast Division) concludes its trip to Florida with a single game against Pace University, non-conference, tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in Winter Park, Fla. on the campus of Rollins College. The University of Bridgeport (1-5, 0-0 ECC) returns to action on Tuesday, March 20 against Pace at 3 p.m.