Skyhawks Drop 7-5 Decision To Owls
Easton, Mass. - Southern Connecticut extended its winning streak to 13 games with a 7-5 come from behind win over host Stonehill on Wednesday afternoon on Lou Gorman Field.
Stonehill was holding a 5-4 lead after four innings and the game stayed that way until the top of the seventh when the Owls scored three runs to take control of the game. Kevin Bowerman opened the inning by reaching on an error and advanced to second on a single from Karl Derbacher. Anthony Fiorillo then singled, scoring Bowerman. A fielder's choice by Andrew Babb plated Derbacher and Fiorillo came around to score an error on the same play.
Stonehill had chances to score in the final two innings, getting runners on base but failed to produce any more runs.
The Owls got on the board in the top of the first when back to back singles, an error and a hit batsman loaded the bases. Starter Mat Lindenmayer (Penfield, N.Y.) worked his way out of the inning relatively unscathed after getting a strikeout and two groundouts, one of which scored SCSU's Mike Diaz.
Stonehill responded with a run in the bottom half of the frame, when a hit, a walk, a fielder's choice, and an RBI groundout from Shane Franz (Cazenovia, N.Y.) evened the score.
The Skyawks took the lead in the second when with two outs, Brendan Shepard (Boxford, Mass.) tripled to right field. Mitch Davis (Bow, N.H.) followed with a sharp single up the middle to score Shepard. Stonehill tacked on another run on in the third when Ryan Healey (Lynn, Mass.) blasted a solo shot to right to lead off the inning.
Southern Connecticut regained the lead in the fourth when Lindenmayer issued four walks and Diaz provided the biggest blow, a two-run single.
The lead changed hands again when the Skyhawks scored two in the bottom of the fourth on a wild pitch and an RBI single from Javier Guzman (San Juan, P.R.).
Lindenmayer lasted only 3.2 innings, allowing five hits and four earned runs, while walking four. Freshman Dan Corrigan (Portsmouth, R.I.) took the loss in relief, although he pitched well, going 5.1 innings and giving up five hits and two earned runs.
Ed Bethke got the win for the Owls in relief, tossing five shutout innings, yielding just three hits and one walk.
Guzman and Shepard were the only two Skyhawks to record more than one hit, while Bowerman led the SCSU attack with a 3-for-4 day.
The loss for Stonehill drops their record to 23-20 overall and 14-12 in the Northeast-10, while the Owls move to 31-15 and 21-6 in league play.
The two teams will renew acquaintances on Thursday when they square off in New Haven at 3:30 p.m.