St. Mary's City, Md. – Six-run sixth inning doomed any hopes of the St. Mary's College of Maryland baseball team (10-9, 3-6 CAC) claiming the season series with Wesley College (15-3, 3-2 CAC) as Wesley posted a 10-4 victory in Capital Athletic Conference action Sunday afternoon.
St. Mary's staked a 2-0 lead in the second after senior shortstop Matt Baden (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) singled to left field to score senior designated hitter Brad Shepherd (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) who reached base with a walk. Junior second baseman Eric Gronbeck (Owings, Md./Northern) followed suit with a single of his own to bring home first-year right fielder Eric Skrzyniarz (Bethesda, Md./Churchill) who reached on a fielder's choice to first base.
The Wolverines tallied two runs of their own in the fifth to tie up the game. This week's CAC Hitter of the Week, junior Rob Benedict (Drexel Hill, Pa.) doubled to left field to score sophomore Corey Jefferson (Wilmington, Del.) who had led off with a single. With runners on second and third, sophomore Steve Perone (Skillman, N.J.) grounded out to first base, allowing junior Ryan Polk (Croydon, Pa.) to score. Polk had singled up the middle to reach base.
Wesley then unleashed for six runs on six hits and one Seahawk error in the sixth inning. Jefferson and junior Geoff Kimmel (Lawrenceville, N.J.) each drove in two runs while Benedict had an RBI as well.
The Seahawks cut Wesley's six-run lead to four with a pair of scores in the bottom of the sixth. Gronbeck picked up his second RBI of the afternoon as he singled to right field to drive home sophomore centerfielder Mike Schmidt (Burtonsville, Md./Blake) who recorded a lead-off walk. Baden then came home on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by junior third baseman Keith Johnson's (Great Mills, Md./Great Mills).
The Wolverines added runs in the eighth and ninth to bolster their lead while first-year reliever Zach Stuart (Palmyra, Pa.) gave up just three hits and struck out three to save the game.
Baden and Gronbeck were both 2-for-4 at the plate to pace the Seahawks. Baden also stole his team-leading eighth base of the season.
Junior RHP Michael Victory (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) suffered his third straight loss, yielding eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits. Victory fanned three and walked just one in 5.1 innings.
St. Mary's will be back in action this Friday, March 18 when the Seahawks travel to Pennsylvania to take on York College in another three-game league series. First pitch for Friday's nine-inning game is at 3:30 pm. The teams will play a doubleheader the next day, starting at 1:00 pm.