SALISBURY, Md. – The No. 7 Salisbury University baseball team stretched its winning streak to seven games as the Sea Gulls swept St. Mary's (Md.) College, 7-1 and 8-7, in a Capital Athletic Conference doubleheader at the SU Baseball Field on Sunday.
Junior right-hander Andrew Levy (4-1) pitched a complete game two-hitter, leading SU (17-3, 9-2 CAC) to the win in the opener. He allowed one earned run while striking out five and walking two.
Bill Root paced Salisbury offensively in the first game, batting 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Chris Connor also picked up a pair of hits and a run driven in for the Sea Gulls.
Salisbury took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Root led off with an infield single before consecutive walks to Nick Gentry, Tyler Bennett and Connor gave the host a 1-0 advantage. With one out, Matt Beck had a sacrifice fly to center field to score Gentry and Johnny Schiotis added an RBI single up the middle, plating Bennett.
Zach Nadolny scored in the top of the second to get St. Mary's (13-10, 5-6 CAC) on the scoreboard. He started the inning with a base hit to left field and Keith Johnson doubled, also to left, to put runners on second and third. Alex Lenovitz's sacrifice fly to center then made it 3-1.
Salisbury put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth. Quinn Griffith singled to start the frame and Beck followed with a sacrifice bunt. Griffith moved to third on failed pickoff attempt by SMC reliever Carlos Cruz and scored on another throwing error by Cruz when Schiotis hit into a fielder's choice that made it 4-1.
Joey Jones doubled to center prior to Ken O'Neill's squeeze bunt that chased Schiotis in for a 5-2 SU edge. Root kept the line moving with an RBI single and scored when Gentry reached on an error by SMC shortstop Corey Napier.
St. Mary's starter Devon Jerrard (3-3) took the loss in 3 1/3 innings; he allowed four hits, three earned runs and five walks while fanning five.
Trailing, 1-0, in the bottom of the third inning of the second game, SU used a bases-loaded, one-out single through the left side by Bennett to take the lead. Two batters later Griffith singled to left to score Root with two outs for a 3-1 lead.
With one out and runners on first and third in the fourth, O'Neill stole second to set the stage for a Gentry two-run single that scored Root and O'Neill to push the Salisbury advantage to 5-1.
The Sea Gulls scored three more times in the sixth, insurance runs that they needed as St. Mary's made a comeback in its last at-bat.
Sam Coe relieved Wick Eizenberg (1-4) in the sixth for the Seahawks and immediately hit Schiotis. Jones' sacrifice bunt pushed Schiotis to second before Coe plunked O'Neill. Root then singled up the middle to score Schiotis and advanced to second on the throw home. After a strikeout, Bennett found a hole on the left side of the infield to extend the SU lead to 8-1 as Root and O'Neill came in.
St. Mary's sent 10 men to the plate in the top of the seventh and nearly pulled off a stunning comeback. Johnson started the inning with a single off SU started Devin Gardner (3-1). The senior induced a fly ball out from Lenovitz, but surrendered a hit and a walk, respectively, to Nick Urso and pinch hitter Eric Skrzyniarz. With the bases loaded, Brad Dioguardo reached on an error by Gardner to score Urso, cutting the lead to 8-2.
Stephen Miller came in for Gardner and got Eric Gronbeck to ground out to second but Skrzyniarz scored on the play to make it an 8-4 game. Nadolny lined a double to left-center field to plate two more prior to a Napier single pulling the Seahawks to within 8-7.
Danny Druzgala came on to end the rally with a fielder's choice groundball to shortstop to earn his first save.
Gardner picked up the win for Salisbury in 6 1/3 innings. He allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks and struck out three.
Eizenberg took the loss for SMC, surrendering five earned on seven hits and one walk; he fanned two.
Offensively, Bennett was 2-for-4 with four RBIs for SU while Gronbeck and Nadolny each drove in two runs for St. Mary's. Napier posted two hits for the Seahawks.
The teams will close the series on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.