SALISBURY, Md. – The sixth-ranked Salisbury University baseball team banged out a season-high 25 hits, including 10 for extra bases, hammering Albertus Magnus College, 24-0, in seven innings at the SU Baseball Field on Friday.
Every starter collected at least one hit, one run and one run batted in as Salisbury (10-2) scored 24 for the first time since beating Hilbert College, 24-0, in Cocoa Beach, Fla., on March 17, 2009.
Senior Evan Graci and Juniors Bill Root and Ken O'Neill each tied or set career highs with four hits apiece. Root finished 4-for-6 with a double, triple, stolen base, two RBIs and three runs scored at the top of the lineup, while O'Neill was 4-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Graci batted 4-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Junior catcher Matt Cuervo knocked in a game- and career-high five runs with a pair of doubles and scored twice as the Sea Gulls scored in all but one inning.
Freshman right-hander Jeff Oster was lights out in his second start, throwing five perfect innings with five strikeouts on 63 pitches to earn the win on the mound. Classmates Connor Shockley and Jeff Geary pitched the sixth and seventh, respectively, before the game was halted.
Salisbury stormed out to a 10-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, sending 15 men to the plate. Senior left fielder Nick Gentry gave the Gulls a 2-0 lead with a two-run home run to right-center field on the first pitch he saw. It was the Bel Air, Md., native's second career blast and the first of the season for SU.
Three batters later, Kyle Hayman doubled to left-center field, scoring Graci prior to Johnny Schiotis adding a two-run single and Root a two-run triple to make it 7-0. Gentry followed with his second hit and third RBI of the inning, and Quinn Griffith and O'Neill chipped in with an RBI double and single, respectively, to cap the uprising.
Albertus Magnus starter Mike Barillaro couldn't make it out of the inning, recording just two outs. He surrendered nine hits and five earned runs, before giving way to Matthew Finkenzeller, the second of five pitchers for the Falcons (1-6) on the day.
Salisbury tacked on six more runs in the third, four in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the sixth for its fourth consecutive win.
The Sea Gulls open Capital Athletic Conference play, hosting York (Pa.) College in a three-game series starting on Saturday with a doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.