St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland baseball team had been winless against Salisbury University in six games until Friday afternoon when St. Mary's (7-4, 2-2 CAC) handed the 23rd-ranked Sea Gulls (4-3, 3-1 CAC) their first Capital Athletic Conference loss of the season. The Seahawks came up with a 5-1 victory behind sophomore RHP Devon Jerrard (Hunt Valley, Md./Boys' Latin) complete game effort.
Jerrard recorded his first career complete game as he fanned five batters, walked just one, and allowed only one run on three hits. With today's performance, Jerrard lowered his team-leading ERA from 1.80 to 1.42. After Salisbury knotted the game at 1 in the top of the fourth, he hurled five perfect innings with Salisbury going three up, three down the rest of the way.
St. Mary's broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth with two runs. Drawn walks by junior designated hitter Nick Urso (Newtown, Conn./Newtown) and sophomore catcher Stefano Muscatelli (Warwick, R.I./Toll Gate) sandwiched a strikeout by senior first baseman Ian Simpson-Shelton (Upper Marlboro, Md./DeMatha) before No. 9 hitter Bobby Corton (Owings Mills, Md./Calvert Hall) connected on an infield single to load the bases.
Urso scores on senior second baseman Matt Baden's (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) sacrifice fly to right field while Muscatelli plated a run on a single to right field by junior right fielder Eric Gronbeck (Owings, Md./Northern). Salisbury starter Chris Greiner (Baltimore, Md./Mt. St. Joseph) put an end to the inning by getting sophomore shortstop Corey Napier (Leonardtown, Md./St. Mary's Ryken) to pop up to first base.
The Seahawks sealed the win in the eighth with two more runs courtesy of three Salisbury errors. After cracking a single to lead off the inning, Muscatelli advanced to second on Corton's sacrifice bunt and then crossed home plate on a throwing error by first-year shortstop Joey Jones (Baltimore, Md./Eastern Tech). Baden, who reached on Jones' error and then went to second on the same play, advanced third on Gronbeck's fly out to right field before scoring on a fielding error by sophomore third baseman Matt Beck (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown).
Gronbeck, the team's No. 2 hitter, and Corton each picked up two hits to pace the Seahawks while Baden and Johnson each had a double.
St. Mary's wraps up its three-game series with Salisbury tomorrow on the Eastern Shore with a doubleheader starting at 12:00 pm.