Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Baseball Shuts Out Stevens and Advances in NCAA Regional

Baseball Shuts Out Stevens and Advances in NCAA Regional

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

Winchester, VA| The St. Joseph's University (L.I.) baseball team held off elimination with a 2-0 win over Steven Institute of Technology on day two of the NCAA Regional Tournament.

The Golden Eagles improve to 24-14 overall as the Ducks wrap up their season at 29-16.

Just as in game one, the Golden Eagles were first to strike with a run in the bottom of the first. A defensive miscue by the Stevens third baseman to start the inning allowed Phil Krpata (BB, R) to reach. A wild pitch moved him to second before a groundout advanced him to third. Brian Forbes sent a ball to right deep enough for Krpata to score.

Both sides went scoreless until the bottom of the fifth when the Golden Eagles plated a run without recording a hit. The Golden Eagles worked back-to-back walks with one out before Paul Gugliuzzo (1-for-3) was hit by a pitch to load the bases setting up for a wild pitch to score John Thatcher (2 BB, R) and doubling the lead, 2-0.

The Ducks would go on to threaten in the top of the seventh when a single up the middle and a walk put two runners on with just one out, but SJLI freshman starter Charlie Aurandt got Ryan Finegan to fly out to center before ending the threat with a strikeout of Christian Kreiser.

After a quiet eighth, Stevens' Ryan Wall worked a leadoff walk to start the ninth prompting Head Coach Rick Garrett to go to his bullpen for Dante Morabito. The freshman reliever got Hunter Silvernail to ground into a fielder's choice and retired the next two Ducks via the fly-out to secure the win and record his second save of the season.

SJLI's Nick Vicino led at the plate going 2-for-3 with a walk.

Aurandt (W, 6-0) finished his day with three strikeouts in eight innings of scoreless work.

Stevens' Ryan Shea took the loss allowing both runs on two hits with a pair of strikeouts in 4.1 innings

The Golden Eagles advance and will play the loser of Shenandoah University and Catholic University on Saturday, May 21 at 6:00 PM.