UNION, N.J. – The College at Brockport Baseball team travelled to New Jersey to open the season against two preseason nationally ranked opponents and emerged unscathed on the day with a 7-5 win against Stevens Institute of Technology and a 5-0 victory over host Kean University on Sunday.
Brockport (2-0) flashed a potent offense with some quality arms to back it up. Austin Spindler started versus the No. 5 ranked Kean and paired with Nick Jerolimov and Kyle Perez to hold the Cougars scoreless on their own turf. Brockport's lone four-year pitcher Tyler Clifford started strong but needed some aid from newcomer Sam McCumiskey, who picked up the win, and Seve Kowalski to help Brockport secure the game.
On the day Brockport outhit its two nationally ranked opponents 23-14 while looking sharp in all facets of the game that head coach Justin Beach outlined in the season preview for what it will take to be a top contender this season. Those categories were pitching well with men on base, manufacture runs on offense and playing high level defense.
The Golden Eagle defense, which led the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) last season in double plays look to be picking up where they left off after turning five today. One of the double plays was a clutch game-ending double play against Stevens started by pitcher Kowalski on a ground ball back up the middle.
Brockport 7 – Stevens 5
The Brockport offense totaled 13 hits against Stevens as all nine Golden Eagles in the batting order had at least one hit. Brett Sanders, Chris Davis, Ryan Jurgens and Luke Gilbert all had two hits apiece. Both of Gilbert's hits including a second inning double knocked in a run as he finished with two runs batted in.
Clifford was pitching well against the Ducks until an error in the fifth caused some trouble for the senior right hander. With two outs in the fifth and two men on, McCumiskey was called upon in relief getting the next batter to fly out to right field. He pitched into the eighth inning prior to Kowalski coming in to nail down the save.
Davis and Joe Bender both led the team with two runs apiece while Davis, Gilbert and Drew DeBlasiis showed off their speed with stolen bases. Newcoming catcher Paul Ludden finished the day 1-for-5 with a double and a run batted in.
Brockport 5 – Kean 0
In the second inning of a scoreless contest Brockport's outfield relay overcame a two out error throwing out a base runner at the plate. The relay was started by Josh Martin in left field sent to short stop Brett Sanders before catcher Ludden hung in front of the plate and the advancing runner. Ludden tagged out the potential run as the runners slide attempted to evade his tag.
Brockport struck first in the fifth inning when Jack Wallwork raced home on a bases loaded passed ball. Sanders responded with a well-placed ground ball advancing the Luke Gilbert for another run and a 2-0 lead. Paul Ludden knocked in his second run of the season with a liner out to right field, plating Dane Cala.
Sanders helped add two more in the seventh inning, first plating Cala after the junior singled and stole second. Sanders scored three batters later on a single by Chris Davis.
With the added run support starting pitcher Austin Spindler was relieved of his duties after pitching six scoreless innings, giving up only three hits. Nick Jerolimov relieved Spindler, quickly working a three up, three down scoreless seventh.
In the bottom of the eighth and a runner in scoring position with no outs, Jerolimov was in a two balls two strikes count. He nearly snuck a breaking ball in the strike zone for the called strike but it missed just high. Instead he dialed up some extra heat on his next fastball and blew it by the Kean batter. Jerolimov wasted little time with the next two batters as one grounded out to shortstop and the next batter flew out to right field.
Kyle Perez came into the game to close out the ninth and worked around a lead off walk. Keane hit a high chopper up the middle that Sanders flipped to Wesley Burghardt for the 6-4-3 double play. Perez easily fielded a ball bounced back off the turf towards him before flipping it to first baseman Wallwork for the final out of the game.
Cala led the team in hitting in the second game as he collected three hits while demonstrating his ability to disrupt the pitchers game as a distraction on the bases. The speedster picked up his first career stolen base as a Golden Eagle. Burghardt was the only other Golden Eagle to finish with multiple hits going 2-for-5 during the second game. Ludden replicated his previous game catching all nine innings while going 1-for-5 with a run batted in on a double.
Brockport stays on the road as it travels to North Carolina this week with its first of three games coming against Pitt-Greensburg on Friday at 7 p.m. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Golden Eagle scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.