SALISBURY, Md. (February 17, 2019)  – Sophomore Thomas Paulich hit a double in the first inning to drive in senior Donny Gherardi, but No. 22/24 Salisbury posted three multi-run innings to top the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team 9-1 Sunday in a non-conference game at Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.

Gherardi worked a walk off Calyton Dwyer (1-0) in Stevens' second at bat of the game. Paulich then doubled to right center, bringing in Gherardi to give the Ducks an early lead. 

Salisbury answered in the bottom of the second after Tyler Mayo singled through the right side to bring in Jack Decker. Mayo then stole second, but senior Danny Poidomani struck out his second batter of the game to end the inning.

Senior Ryan Larsen (0-1) came on to pitch in the fourth, striking out two batters in his first inning of the game. In the bottom of the fifth, Justin Meekins walked before Cameron Hyder reached first on a fielding error. Jack Barry doubled down the left field line to bring in the two runners and give the Seagulls a 3-1 lead. Jay Perry flied out to right field to end the two-run inning. 

Paulich, Gherardi, freshman Ryan Finegan and sophomores Nathan Zuckerman and Charles Kwong each tallied a hit for the Ducks, who fell to 0-1 to start the 2019 season. Mayo registered three RBI and two hits for Salisbury, who moved to 3-0.

"We got strong pitching performances today from Danny and Ryan, which bodes very well for the season ahead," stated head coach Kristaps Aldins. "If we could have cut down some of the unfortunate miscues defensively in the middle innings, the result could have been much different. We will take what we can out of this one in order to improve and hope for some good weather so we can get back out there on Monday against Old Westbury."

Poidomani drew the opening-day start after a successful 2018 campaign. The Rochelle Park, New Jersey native's last regular season start came against Utica College on April 24, 2018, where he pitched 4.1 innings and struck out nine batters. Poidomani finished the season with a 2.91 ERA.

The Seagulls registered three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings with a pair of RBI from Mayo and Nate Yoder and an additional from Brad Haas. 

Freshman Ben Lesher, sophomore Raymond Cortes III and senior Matt Branco all came in to pinch hit in the ninth. The Ducks were unable to get on base and Salisbury ended the game after Lesher grounded out to first.

Up Next: The Ducks begin a stretch of three straight games at Dobbelaar Field starting Monday, welcoming Old Westbury to Hoboken for a 12 P.M. first pitch. 

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