Senior outfielder Billy Karalis went 2-for-4 with a double in Stonehill's 7-2 loss to Adelphi tonight. |
Skyhawks commit five errors, including three in the first inning
MANCHESTER, N.H. (May 10, 2014) – Northeast Division third seed Stonehill College had its run in the 2014 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championship ended this evening with a 7-2 loss to Southwest Division fourth seed Adelphi University at Penmen Field.
Senior Billy Karalis (Pawtucket, Rhode Island/Bishop Feehan) and sophomore Brian Campbell (Franklin, Massachusetts/Mount Saint Charles) led Stonehill at the plate with a pair of hits each, while senior Dan Fratus (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North) went 1-for-3 with a solo home run.
Senior Charles DeFrancesco (Lincoln, Massachusetts/Lincoln-Sudbury) took the loss for the Skyhawks after giving up six runs (two earned) on seven hits in three innings of work. Sophomore Mike Krupczak (Springfield, Massachusetts/Cathedral) did a nice job in relief, as he tossed four frames while giving up just one hit and one unearned run to go with four strikeouts.
Junior outfielder Cliff Brantley (Staten Island, New York/Port Richmond) paced the Panther offense, as he went 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and two runs, while senior third baseman Richard Mejia (Jackson, New Jersey/Perkiomen School) was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.
Sophomore Brian Campbell went 2-for-4 at the plate as well. |
Senior righthander Stephen Bove (Brooklyn, New York/Bishop Ford) earned the win for Adelphi after going the distance and giving up two runs on nine hits. Bove also recorded four strikeouts and did not issue a walk.
Adelphi scored four times in the top of the first inning with the help of three hits and three errors and never looked back. Brantley led off with a double, and after the second batter walked, Mejia reached on the first of five Stonehill errors, allowing Brantley to score. Two batters later, freshman Robert Vani (Garden City, New York/Chaminade) drove in a pair of runs with a single up the middle to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. Junior Alex Zykoff (Hopewell Junction, New York/Arlington) wrapped up the scoring in the inning with an RBI double to right field.
Stonehill got one run back in the bottom of the second, as Fratus blasted a solo shot over the center field fence, but the Skyhawks would not score again until their last at-bat.
The Panthers added two more runs in the fourth to increase their lead to five. Freshman infielder Michael Stack (Wantagh, New York/Wantagh) led off with an infield single, before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Stack came in to score on a single by Brantley and a fielding error, and Mejia delivered a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
Adelphi would score one more time in the seventh, while the Skyhawks plated their second run in the bottom of the ninth.
Stonehill (30-20, 17-10 NE-10), ranked sixth in the most recent NCAA Division II East Regional Rankings, will have to wait until tomorrow night to find out its NCAA Tournament fate. The selections will be announced on NCAA.com at 10 p.m. Adelphi (24-22, 14-12 NE-10) advances to tomorrow's Championship round against host and top-seeded Southern New Hampshire University. The Penmen can claim the NE-10 title with one win over the Panthers, while Adelphi would have to defeat Southern New Hampshire twice.
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