ST. MARY'S CITY, MD – Visiting Washington College won its 12th straight baseball game en route to a 13-3 victory over host St. Mary's (MD) at the Hawk's Nest this afternoon in non-conference baseball action. The Shoremen are now 13-1 on the season and off to their best start since 1937 when the team went 14-1, while the Seahawks drop to 12-7 with the setback. The win was WC's biggest in the series versus St. Mary's since a 16-6 victory in 1987.
This is the third time Washington has won 12 straight in its history, which is the single-season mark for consecutive wins by the Shoremen Nine. The other two times were in 1897 and 1937 and both of those 12-game winning streaks started with the season opener. The 1897 squad went a perfect 12-0.
The Shoremen wasted little time getting on the board scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first inning to grab a 2-0 lead as they took advantage of two errors by the Seahawks. With two outs, junior Tyler Cotterell (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) roped a two-run double to left field to plate junior Sean Connole (Mt. Airy, MD/St. John's Catholic) and senior John Rolewicz (Bear, DE/Salesianum).
In the bottom of the second, St. Mary's had runners at second and third with two outs, but senior pitcher Shane Mattingly (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) induced Stefano Muscatelli into a foul pop out to Cotterell at first to escape the inning unscathed.
In the top of the third, senior Ryan Normoyle (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) plated sophomore Nick Marinelli (Ellicott City, MD/Marriotts Ridge) on a double to center to put the visitors up by a 3-0 score. In the next frame, junior CY Daniel Wu (Kowloon, Hong Kong/International Secondary School) scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Connole to make it 4-0.
Washington increased the lead to 5-0 in the top of the fifth when freshman Scott Matthews (Goshen, NY/Don Bosco Prep (NJ) drove in Normoyle on an infield single to third.
The Shoremen opened up the game as they poured on four more runs in the top of the seventh inning to grab a 9-0 lead. Normoyle scored on Cotterell's single to center to make it 6-0 and Rolewicz dented the plate on a sacrifice fly to center off the bat of sophomore Ian Remington (Guilford, CT/Guilford) to push the lead to 7-0. Cotterell scored on a wild pitch for the third run of the frame and Matthews reached the dish on a Wu two-bagger to left-center for the fourth and final run of the top of the seventh.
St. Mary's got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI triple by Eric Skrzyniarz to right-center that chased home Brad Dioguardo and Skrzyniarz would come around to score on an RBI groundout to shortstop by Luke Green.
WC added four more runs in the top of the eighth and St. Mary's scored once in the last of the ninth to provide the final margin.
For the Shoremen, Normoyle went 3-for-5 with three stolen bases and two runs scored, while Cotterell went 2-for-3 with a game-high three RBI and added two runs scored. Matthews went 3-for-4, while Wu went 2-for-4 as both scored and drove in a run. Marinelli and Rolewicz crossed the plate twice. On the mound, Mattingly got the win and is now 3-0 on the year. He went six-plus innings, striking out 10 Seahawks, while surrendering just seven hits and one walk. He allowed two runs, one of which was earned. It was the third straight start that the senior has punched out 10 batters, with the other times being on March 4 versus CCNY and March 12 against Anna Maria. Washington had 18 hits in the win.
Skrzyniarz, Corey Napier and Zach Nadolny each had two hits for St. Mary's, with Skrzyniarz scoring twice for the hosts. On the mound, Carlos Cruz took the loss and drops to 1-1. He went six innings, allowing five runs, three of which were earned. He allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out four. St. Mary's had 10 hits in the game and had seven errors.
The Shoremen go for 13 in a row tomorrow afternoon at Athey Baseball Park versus visiting Catholic at 3:30 p.m. A win tomorrow will give Washington its longest single-season winning streak in the program's history.