ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose jumped out to leads in both games, only to drop each end of today’s Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader versus Stonehill at Bob Bellizzi Field at the Plumeri Sports Complex. The Golden Knights (12-28/7-15 NE-10) fell 4-3 in the opener, and 9-5 in the finale.
Junior third baseman
Ryan Burke reached base three times and a scored a pair of runs to lead the Saint Rose attack in the first game.
Stonehill benefitted from solid pitching as sophomore left-hander Eric Haughn scattered five hits and allowed only one earned run throughout 7.0 innings of work to improve to 2-2 on the year. Sophomore right-hander Michael Von Stein then hurled 2.0 innings of no-hit ball to chalk up his third save.
Junior first baseman Angelo Bruno had a two-run single in the fifth that tied the game 2-2, while junior designated hitter Nick Nardacci finished 2-for-4 with a pair of base hits for the Skyhawks.
The Golden Knights took a 2-0 lead in the third via back-to-back singles by senior catcher John Cole and Burke. Cole eventually came around on an error, and Burke scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of senior designated hitter
Zachary Halloran.
Stonehill pushed across the go-ahead run on a Saint Rose miscue in the fifth, following Bruno’s base hit, and then went up 4-2 on another error in the seventh. Senior right fielder
Derek Marshall stroked an RBI single in the home half to make it a one-run game, but Von Stein closed the door over the last two frames.
In the finale, junior right-hander
Doug Dulin tossed 6.0 innings of shutout ball behind nine strikeouts. He left with a 5-0 lead, but did not figure in the decision. Sophomore shortstop
Jesse Burba went 3-for-5 with an RBI and junior first baseman
Grant Smith finished 2-for-5 with an RBI as well.
Sophomore left fielder Michael White wound up 4-for-4 with two runs scored, while Bruno finished 3-for-5 and drove home three runs. Von Stein was again outstanding in relief, allowing a mere one hit in 1.2 innings of work en route to his second save of the day.
Saint Rose scored all five of its runs in the third inning on only three hits, as two errors proved costly for Stonehill. Burba had a run scoring base hit and sophomore left fielder
Nick Alexandrovich doubled to lead the charge.
However, the Skyhawks answered with seven runs in the eighth. A leadoff triple by senior right-fielder Shane Franz set the stage, before a base clearing triple to deep center field by Bruno brought across the winning run from first base.
Prior to the first game; Marshall, Cole and Halloran were honored, along with seven of their teammates, during a brief ceremony in recognition of “Senior Day”. The remainder of the senior class includes left-hander
Craig Borgen, right-hander
Nick Dowen, left-hander
Jake Kozar, first baseman
Paul Partridge, left hander
Donald Potter, outfielder
Ryan Price, and right-hander
Nate Ward.
Up next, tomorrow's scheduled noon doubleheader at Felician College has been canceled due to impending poor weather. The Golden Knights are scheduled to return home Monday for a 3:30 pm non-league twin-bill versus Saint Michael's. Meanwhile, Stonehill heads to Manchester, NH for a 1:00 pm doubleheader at NE-10 rival Saint Anselm on Sunday.
Box Score - Game 1;
Box Score - Game 2
Senior Day Photo Gallery