UMBC

Eric Butkiewicz struck out five and tied UMBC's all-time mark for career strikeouts on Sunday.

Tom Rinaldi made two stellar defensive plays for the Retrievers on Sunday.

Alex Laddbush went 3-for-3 from the plate with two RBI.

Baltimore, Md. -   UMBC Baseball senior Eric Butkiewicz (Plainville, Conn./Plainville) tied UMBC’s all-time mark for strikeouts after sitting down five Stony Brook batters on Sunday afternoon in UMBC’s 5-3 America East Conference win over the Seawolves.  UMBC improves to 7-15 on the season, 1-2 in the America East Conference while the setback puts the Seawolves at 12-16, 2-1 AE.

Butkiewicz ran into trouble in the first, giving up his only two runs of the game.  Andrew Larsen, who went an impressive 9-for-14 in the series, led off the first with a single and was doubled in by Matt Devins.  Devins advanced to third on a groundout by Isidro Fortuna and came home on Nick Theoharis’ sacrifice fly to score the Seawolves’ second run. 

Butkiewicz settled in after the first, sitting down the Seawolves in order in the second and going the next five innings keeping Stony Brook off the board.  Butkiewicz received some stellar help from his defense as well with the Seawolves threatening on two occasions. 

In the fourth with runners as first and second, first basemen Kyle Wildasin (Hanover, Pa./Southwestern) relayed a throw from right fielder Mike Scheffel (Westminster, Md./Westminster) to catcher Tom Rinaldi (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel) as Rinaldi laid the tag on Jon Pasieka for the out at the plate. 

In the sixth Rinaldi threw out Chris Sipp trying to steal third base to get the Retrievers’ first out of the inning as Butkiewicz struck out the next batter and got a fly out to make it thru the sixth unscathed. 

UMBC’s offense started early as the Retrievers tallied runs in the each of the first three innings to knock out Stony Brook’s starter Matt Restivo.  Scheffel, as part of his 4-for-4 day at the plate, doubled in the first and scored on a single by Wildasin.

In the second Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Marks) led off the inning with a homerun over the left field fence, the freshman’s third of the year.  UMBC tallied two more in the third as Scheffel singled and Wildasin singled putting runners on the corners.  Alex Laddbush, who went 3-for-3 with two RBI in the game, singled to centerfield to drive in Scheffel and send Wildasin to third.  Rinaldi hit into a fielder’s choice bringing Wildasin to the plate. 

The Retrievers added one more run in the fifth as a single by Laddbush scored Scheffel, who opened the inning with a double. 

Butkiewicz moves to 2-4 on the year going 7.0 innings allowing 10 hits, two runs , four walks and striking out five.  Butkiewicz ties Ben O’Connor with 201 career strikeouts for first all-time in UMBC’s career pitching chart.  Steve Evans (Finksburg, Md./Chapelgate) captured his first carrer save allowing one run in 2.0 innings, giving up two hits and striking out two. 

Restivo, 3-2 on the year, took the loss after going 2.1 innings allowing four runs on six hits.  Stony Brook used four pitchers on the day.    

UMBC host Opening Night at UMBC on Tuesday, April 12 at 7 p.m. against Navy and “Youth Night” on Wednesday, April 13 at 7 p.m. against Georgetown.