St. Mary's City, Md. – St. Mary's College of Maryland President Dr. Joseph Urgo threw out the first pitch on a gusty Saturday afternoon to celebrate the 2011 Seahawk home opener, bringing good fortune to the team in the process. St. Mary's (3-2) swept the visiting Beavers of The City College of New York (0-2) with a 25-2 rout in the first game followed by a 10-6 win in the nightcap.
The first game was a blowout as the Seahawks notched seven runs in the opening inning with two outs and never looked back. St. Mary's connected on 19 hits, including nine extra-base hits, for 25 runs. The Seahawks were held scoreless in the third while scoring three or more runs in five innings, including a 10-run fifth inning.
Sophomore RHP Devon Jerrard (Hunt Valley, Md./Boys' Latin) picked up the win with 4.0 innings of work, giving up one run on three hits and striking out three.
Senior second baseman Matt Baden (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) and junior third baseman Keith Johnson (Great Mills, Md./Great Mills) each tallied three hits to pace the Seahawks offensively in the first game while Baden, senior first baseman Ian Simpson-Shelton (Upper Marlboro, Md./DeMatha), and first-year Alex Lenovitz (Glyndon, Md./Calvert Hall) all drove in four runs each.
In the nightcap, CCNY fell behind 6-1 after the first two innings but rallied with three runs in the fifth to trim the deficit to 6-4. The Seahawks responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth as Johnson scored on senior leftfielder Mark Dattilio's (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) ground out to third after leading off with a walk. St. Mary's second run of the inning came on a balk by first-year pitcher Ambriorix Mora (Santo Domingo, DR/UNPHU).
The Beavers added one more in the sixth to stay within three runs but once again, St. Mary's answered with two more runs to seal the win as CCNY added only one more run in the seventh and final inning.
Sophomore RHP Carlos Cruz (Lexington Park, Md./Great Mills) recorded his first win of the season to improve to 1-1 as Cruz pitched 5.0 innings with four runs on six hits, striking out two.
The offensive leader for the Seahawks was junior first baseman Eric Gronbeck (Owings, Md./Northern) who was 3-for-3 with a double and a triple as well as three runs and two RBI. Lenovitz and sophomore shortstop Corey Napier (Leonardtown, Md./St. Mary's Ryken) continued their solid afternoon performances as both went 2-for-3 at the plate. Napier scored three times and notched a double while Lenovitz had two RBI.
The Seahawks will wrap up their three-game series with CCNY tomorrow at the Hawk's Nest. The first pitch is set for 12:00 pm.