Salisbury, Md. – After notching a four-run victory yesterday over nationally-ranked Salisbury University, the St. Mary's College of Maryland baseball team could not repeat on the Eastern Shore Saturday afternoon. St. Mary's (7-6, 2-4 CAC) suffered two setbacks at the hands of the No. 23 Sea Gulls. Salisbury (6-3, 5-1 CAC) posted 8-5 and 11-1 decisions over the Seahawks.
Salisbury jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first game following the first three innings before the Seahawks finally got on the board in the fourth inning with two runs. Senior Joey Kavanagh (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) reached on an error by the Salisbury shortstop to lead off the inning. Kavanagh then advanced to second on a single by junior Nick Urso (Newtown, Conn./Newtown) before going to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior Ian Simpson-Shelton (Upper Marlboro, Md./DeMatha). Senior Bobby Corton (Owings Mills, Md./Calvert Hall) singled up the middle to score both Kavanagh and Urso.
The Sea Gulls added two more runs in the fourth before St. Mary's scored twice in the fifth to cut the lead back to four runs. Junior Eric Gronbeck (Owings, Md./Northern) doubled to left center to start off the inning before junior Keith Johnson (Great Mills, Md./Great Mills) cracked a two-run homer.
The Seahawks added one more in the seventh and final inning when senior Mark Dattilio (Hagerstown, Md./N. Hagerstown) doubled to right center to get on base, advanced to third on an error by the Sea Gull third baseman and scored on first-year Erick Skrzyniarz's (Bethesda, Md./Winston Churchill) single down the right field.
Junior RHP Michael Victory (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) suffered the loss in the first game as Victory gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits with three strikeouts in 2.2 innings.
In the second game, senior LHP Dustin Herbert (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) shut down St. Mary's as Herbert (2-0) held the Seahawks to just one run on two hits while striking out eight batters with no walks in a complete game win. Herbert received plenty of run support as Salisbury exploded for eight runs in the second inning and connected for three home runs, three doubles, and one triple.
The Seahawks notched their lone run in the sixth inning when sophomore John Stewart (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's, Annapolis) led off with a double followed by senior Brad Shepherd's (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) single through the left side, advancing Stewart to third. Stewart then scored on sophomore Mike Schmidt's (Burtonsville, Md./Blake) sacrifice fly.
Sophomore RHP Carlos Cruz (Lexington Park, Md./Great Mills) took the loss on the mound as Cruz allowed 10 runs (seven earned) on eight hits in 1.2 innings of action.
St. Mary's returns to action on Tuesday, March 8 when the Seahawks welcome Cazenovia College to the Hawk's Nest for a three-game non-conference series. Tuesday's nine-inning game starts at 2:00 pm.