UMBC

Junior Brad Brainer was 3-for-5 with two home runs in the Retrievers win on Sunday.

STONY BROOK, N.Y.—With a 7-4, eight-inning, win in game one of Sunday’s doubleheader against Stony Brook, the UMBC baseball team clinched a spot in the four-team America East Conference Tournament for the first time since joining the league for the 2004 season.  The Seawolves (29-21, 13-7 America East) picked up game two’s win, with a 16-5 decision at University Field.

After starting the conference season 2-6, the Retrievers (21-27, 13-11 America East) split or won their last four series of the regular season to guarantee a postseason trip for the first-time ever in the America East.

Junior Brad Brainer (Chester, Md./Kent Island/Chesapeake JC) led the Retrievers, going a combined 5-for-9 on the day with five runs scored, and four RBI, including going 3-for-5 in game one with three runs scored, four RBI, a double, and two home runs.  The junior started things off for the Retrievers with a lead-off homer in the top of the first and finished the job with a three-run shot in the eighth.

Sophomore Ed Bach (3-6) (Columbia, Md./Atholton) picked up the complete game victory, giving up just four runs, three earned, on five hits in eight innings, while redshirt freshman Austin Drewyer (2-3) suffered the loss in game two, allowing nine runs on 12 hits and fanning two batter in four innings of work.

Steve Mazzurco led the Seawolves, going a combined 7-for-9 on the day with one run scored, five RBI, and two doubles, while Jeremy Nowak (6-1) earned the win, letting up five runs on 10 hits and struck out four in seven innings.  Jordan Purington (3-3) surrendered the game-winning homer in the eighth of game one to take the loss after pitching two innings in relief.

Brainer started things off for the Retrievers with a lead-off solo homer to left, but the Seawolves answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning before UMBC knotted the score in the third thanks to a two-run homer from senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s).

Stony Brook took control once again in the sixth, but an RBI single by junior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.) in the seventh tied the score at four and sent the game to extra innings after Bach retired the Seawolf batters in order.

With two outs in the top of the eighth, the Retrievers put the potential game-winner on base with a single by senior Steve Russo (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) and a Stony Brook error put runners on first and second before Brainer brought them all home with a three-run homer to left.  Bach retired the batters in order for the second straight inning as the Retrievers earned the 7-4 victory.

Game two once again saw the Retrievers get off to a 1-0 lead, this time from an RBI double by senior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) but four runs in the second and five in the fourth put the Retrievers at a 9-1 deficit.

Fowler’s second home run of the day in the top of the fifth gave the Retrievers three more and cut into the Stony Brook lead, but UMBC would score only once more, on sophomore Dave Warrenfeltz’s (Hagerstown, Md./Williamsport) RBI single in the seventh, as the Seawolves added five in the bottom of the fifth and two in the eighth on the way to the 16-5 win.

The Retrievers will conclude regular season play on Tuesday when they host Georgetown at 7:00 p.m. at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC before competing in the America East Conference Tournament from May 22-24.