St. Mary's City, Md. – Sophomore lefty Wick Eisenberg (Towson, Md./Friends School) fanned a career-best seven batters in helping the St. Mary's College of Maryland baseball team halt their two-game skid with a 5-2 victory over non-conference foe, Cazenovia College, Tuesday afternoon. Eisenberg (1-0) hurled 7.0 solid innings as he scattered five hits, giving up just one run and one walk.
Senior RHP Matt Becraft (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) came in for Eisenberg in the eighth inning, recording his second save of the season as Becraft allowed just one run on two hits against eight batters faced.
Following three scoreless innings, the Seahawks (8-6) finally got on the scoreboard when junior Nick Urso (Newtown, Conn./Newtown) connected on a double to right field to score junior Keith Johnson (Great Mills, Md./Great Mills), who had reached on an error by senior Josh Tucker (West Monroe, N.Y./Central Square) to start off the fourth inning.
St. Mary's stretched its lead to four in the sixth inning as the Seahawks scored three runs on one hit. The first three Seahawk batters of the inning drew walks to lead the bases before senior Bobby Corton (Owings Mills, Md./Calvert Hall) grounded out to the third baseman to score Urso. Senior Matt Baden (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) singled through the left side, allowing seniors Ian Simpson-Shelton (Upper Marlboro, Md./DeMatha) and Brad Shepherd (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) to plate runs while Baden advanced to second on the play. Junior RHP Josh Seymour (Camden, N.Y./Camden) ended the inning without additional runs by getting sophomore John Stewart (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's, Annapolis) to fly out to centerfield.
Cazenovia (0-1) avoided the shutout in the seventh when Tucker singled to left center to score sophomore Erich Lange (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga) who had drawn a walk to lead off the inning. Eisenberg put an end to the rally by having junior Colin Parry (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) ground out to him.
The Seahawks added their final run in the eighth when junior Eric Gronbeck's (Owings, Md./Northern) infield single to third base provided the opportunity for Corton to score. The third batter of the inning, Corton reached on a fielder's choice.
The Wildcats tallied their second run in the ninth as junior Anthony Desarro (New Hartford, N.Y./New Hartford) scored on junior Derrek Root's (Marathon, N.Y./Marathon) single to left center. Desarro had singled to left field before advancing to second on a wild pitch by Becraft. Becraft cut the rally short again as he got sophomore Adam Wiley (Marathon, N.Y./Marathon) to fly out to right field and Tucker to foul to him.
Baden was the offensive leader for the Seahawks at the plate as he went 3-for-4 with two RBI while senior Joey Kavanagh (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) and Shepherd each had two hits.
St. Mary's returns to action tomorrow as the two teams play a doubleheader starting at 12:30 pm.