Wesley | Salisbury
SALISBURY, Md. - Playing in their fifth game in
four days, the Stevenson University baseball team jumped out to a
5-0 lead after three innings, but the Salisbury rallied with 16
unanswered runs en route to capturing its fourth-straight
CAC championship, 16-5 Sunday at Sea Gull Field.
The win also gave Salisbury (33-5) its ninth CAC title overall
since it joined the conference in 1995 and seventh in the last nine
years.
The Mustangs (17-20) advanced to the championship game with a
9-8 victory over Wesley in Sunday's first game after rallying
from a 6-1 fourth inning deficit. The win was their second
over the Wolverines in the last four days after dropping two of
three during the regular season.
Stevenson won three of their five games in the tournament, but
suffered both of their losses to Salisbury where they were
outscored 37-9. In five meetings against the Sea Gulls this
season, the Mustangs were outscored 66-9.
Senior Wade Keenan (Eldersburg/Liberty) hit his
first home run of the season to highlight a three-run second inning
for Stevenson who scored its final two runs on two Salisbury
errors.
Keenan added a second RBI in the fourth after being hit by a
pitch with one out and the bases loaded. However, the Mustangs
could only muster one more run after hitting into a double play and
striking out with a runner on third.
The Sea Gulls started their comeback with four runs in the
fourth. Bill Morton drove in their first two runs with a
double to left with one out before Brian Green hit a sacrifice fly
to left and Morton scored on an error.
Morton then tied the game at 5-5 in the fifth with a sacrifice
fly and Salisbury took the lead for good in the sixth on a
three-run homer to center by Mike Celenza.
Morton added three more RBIs in the seventh with a three-run
double theat keyed a four-run inning and pushed the lead to 13-5.
The Sea Gulls added three more unearned runs in the top of the
ninth for the final margin of victory.
Morton finished the game 2-for-4 with six RBIs while Celenza was
3-for-6 with three RBIs.
Dustin Herbert improved his record to 6-1 after entering the
game in relief of starter Kyle Judson. Hebert totaled eight
strike outs in 7.0 innings while allowing just five hits.
Junior Brian Spinnazola (Baltimore/Boys
Latin) suffered his first loss after allowing 11 hits
and earned runs over 6.0 innings.
Freshman Justin Anderson (Shrewsbury, Pa./Calvert
Hall) was 4-for-5 while sophomore Kyle Van
Beek (Bel Air/John Carroll) went 2-for-5.
In the first game of the day, Wesley jumped out to a 6-1 lead
heading into the bottom of the fourth inning before Stevenson
rallied with four runs in the fourth on a grand slam by sophomore
Dustin Tarlow (Finksburg/Westminster).
The Mustangs added two more runs in the fifth on a two-run
homer by senior Griffin Stewart (Reisterstown/Bel
Air) and two in the sixth after an RBI double by
Keenan and RBI single by Stewart.
Stewart went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Keenan was 3-for-5
with three runs scored and one RBI. Keenan also picked up the
win on the mound, scattering two hits over the final 1.2
innings and striking out one.
Stevenson returns to action on Monday with a nine-inning,
non-conference contest at Bridgewater (Va.) beginning at 4:00 p.m.
