Vanderbilt 9 – Stony Brook 4
From CBB News Sources
(Tempe, AZ) – Mike Minor pitched eight solid innings and Vanderbilt pounded out 16 hits in a 9-4 win over Stony Brook in the elimination game of the NCAA Tempe Regional Saturday afternoon at Packard Stadium.
The Commodores (41-21) will face the loser of tonight’s Oklahoma-Arizona State contest tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT. The Seawolves season ended with a 34-26 record.
Minor gave up four runs on seven hits in eight innings with seven strikeouts and one walk to improve to 7-3 on the year.
“The game was predicated on the start of Mike Minor,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “To go deep into a ball game, especially after we lost the first game and have to play five games to win it. We needed a starting pitcher to go deep and he did. It was a hot day obviously and he threw a lot of strikes. [He had] one tough inning, but it wasn’t all his fault. He overcame it and pitched a very solid eighth. I think it stops and ends with him.”
Back-to-back triples by Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Flaherty gave the Commodores an early 1-0 lead.
VU added two more runs in the second to extend the lead to 3-0. Alex Feinberg walked and three consecutive singles by Steven Liddle, Andrew Giobbi and Shea Robin added two runs to the lead. The team’s opportunity for more damage in the inning was thwarted by a triple play on a popped up bunt attempt by Jonathan White.
Mike Tansey doubled to lead off the third, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Justin Echevarria to get the Seawolves on the board.
Minor pitched out of a jam in the fifth when Steven Mazzurco doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a single by Stephen Marino. Minor buckled down and struck out Tansey for the first out. Keith Fier then popped up a squeeze bunt that Minor caught and threw to third to get Mazzurco for the double play to end the inning.
VU plated three runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 6-1. Liddle tripled and scored on sacrifice fly by Giobbi. Reliever Jeremy Nowak hit Robin with a pitch and Jonathan White walked with two outs before David Macias singled to right to score a run. Alvarez then singled in another run to close out the scoring.
The ‘Dores added three more runs in the seventh to make it 9-1. Dominic de la Osa walked and moved to third on a double to right-center by Alex Feinberg. Liddle doubled down the left field line to plate both runners and Giobbi added a RBI single for third run in the frame.
Stony Brook put up three runs in the seventh to cut the lead to 9-4. Marino had a RBI single and two runs came in on a grounder by Tansey that got through Alvarez at third.
Gary Novakowski (7-5) gave up four runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work with four walks and two strikeouts in the losing effort for the Seawolves.
Andrew Giobbi led the Commodores with four hits and three RBI on the day, with Pedro Alvarez and Steven Liddle adding three hits each.
“I think Coach said we more aggressive today,” said Liddle. “We hit the ball a little better the other way today than yesterday. Guys weren’t pulling off balls like yesterday. I think the hits finally fell through.”
(Tempe, AZ) – Matt Minor allowed four runs in 8.0 innings of work and Andrew Giobbi went 4-for-4 with three RBI as the No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores defeated the No. 4 Stony Brook University baseball team, 9-4, on Saturday afternoon at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark to eliminate the Seawolves from the 2008 NCAA tournament. Stony Brook ends its season with a record of 34-26.
“Arizona State and Vanderbilt are tremendous teams and it was an honor to compete against them,” Stony Brook head coach Matt Senk said. “Our losses here were certainly not for lack of effort and I’m very proud of my team for the way they competed all season.”
The Commodores, who pounded out 16 hits on the day, jumped to an early lead with a run in the first as Pedro Alvarez tripled with one out and then came home on a triple down the right-field line from Ryan Flaherty. Dominic de la Osa then lifted a fly ball to right, junior Mike Tansey (Valley Stream, N.Y.) made the catch and nailed Flaherty at home trying to score to end the inning.
Vanderbilt tacked on two more runs in the second on RBI singles from Giobii and Shea Robin. But with Giobii at second and Robin at first, designated hitter Jonathan White bunted and Stony Brook senior starter Gary Novakowski (Prospect, Conn.) made a headlong dive to snag the ball in midair for the first out of the inning. He then got up and threw to second baseman Chad Marshall (Paris, Ontario) at first to double off Robin for the second out and Marshall relayed the ball to junior Keith Fier (Armonk, N.Y.) at second to double off Giobbi and complete an unlikely triple play.
SBU got on the board in the third as Tansey doubled with one out, moved to third on a Fier sacrifice bunt and then came home on a sacrifice fly from junior Justin Echevarria (Uniondale, N.Y.). The Seawolves threatened in the fifth inning as junior Steven Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y.) led off with a double and then moved to third on a single to left from freshman Stephen Marino (Lake Grove, N.Y.). But Minor then struck out Tansey for the first out of the inning to bring up Fier. The Seawolves put on the suicide squeeze but Fier popped the bunt up in the air to Minor who made the catch and then threw to third to double off Mazzurco and end the threat.
After allowing the three runs in the first two innings, Novakowski settled down and put together three straight scoreless innings. But Steven Liddle tripled to right-center field with one out in the sixth and the Seawolves turned to sophomore Jeremy Nowak (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) to face Giobbi who lined one to right field that was just deep enough to score Liddle with the Commodores fourth run.
Nowak then hit Robin with a pitch and followed that with a walk to White to bring up Macias who grounded one through the right side to score Robin and make it 5-1. Alvarez drove in the final run of the inning with another run-scoring single to right. The Commodores added three more runs in the seventh on a two-run double from Liddle and a RBI single from Giobbi.
The Seawolves got three runs in the seventh on a Marino RBI single and a two-run error by Alvarez at third, but Minor recovered to pitch a scoreless eighth and Chase Reid followed that with perfect ninth to secure the victory for the Commodores.
Novakowski took the loss in his final career start for the Seawolves, allowing four runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work. Junior Michael Barbot (Bronx, N.Y.) was terrific in relief once again for SBU, hurling 3.0 scoreless innings.
