HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 23, 2011) – The Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team swept a doubleheader from St. Joseph's College – Long Island on a wet Saturday afternoon at Dobbelaar Field in Hoboken, N.J. The Ducks came back from a 6-0 deficit to take game one in walk-off fashion thanks to a single from junior Matt Glassman, and they dominated game two, winning 10-1 behind a strong pitching performance from senior Dan Anunziatta. Junior second baseman Tom Phillips recorded his 100th career hit in the first game.
Stevens has now won five straight games and sits at 10-17 overall. St. Joe's falls to 16-16 on the season.
Stevens 7, St. Joe's 6 – Game One
The Eagles scored a run in the first inning and three more in the second to take an early 4-0 lead with most of the damage coming on a three-run home run off the bat of sophomore designated hitter Kenny Willms (Centereach, N.Y.).
St. Joe's went up 6-0 in the top half of the fifth inning before Stevens began to chip away in its half of the sixth. Senior centerfielder Russ Grimes started things off with a single, and Glassman put runners on first and second thanks to an infield single. Junior TJ Alcorn delivered and RBI single in which Glassman was able to advance to third, and junior Ryan Kiczek brought home him with a run-scoring ground out.
Stevens scored two more runs in the seventh on three hits. Sophomore Tyler Courter (Vernon, N.J.) and Phillips set the table with singles to start the inning and following a strikeout, senior catcher Denis Ackermann was able to get one home with a sacrifice fly. Grimes came through with a two-out RBI single to bring the Ducks within two, and sophomore righty Craig Leopold continued a superb performance in relief by holding the Eagles scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings.
Leopold was excellent in relief of starter Michael Donovan. He went the final four innings, allowing no runs and no hits and also struck out five to earn the victory.
Courter led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, and Phillips notched his 100th hit to get the tying runs on base. Two-straight fielder's choices pushed one run across before a two-out opposite field single from Grimes placed the winning run on base. Glassman followed with a high fly ball to left center field that was perfectly placed and Grimes was able to score all the way from first on the play to give the Ducks an improbable and amazing comeback win.
Stevens, which had 12 hits in game one was led by the 3-for-5's from Phillips, Grimes, and Glassman.
Stevens 10, St. Joe's 1 – Game Two
The second game was over early as the Ducks put up three runs in the first and five more in the second to take an early 8-1 lead. Anunziatta went five innings, giving up four hits and one earned run to earn his first win of the season.
Grimes led the Stevens offense with two hits, two runs, and three RBI, while senior Kenneth Meerendonk, Glassman, junior shortstop Corey Linden, Courter, and Alcorn all drove in runs for the Ducks. Seven different players recorded hits as Ackermann, Grimes, and Courter all had two. Phillips, Ackermann, and Grimes each scored two runs.
Stevens will return to action on Monday afternoon. The Ducks will host Baruch College at 3 p.m.
