WAYNE, N.J. (February 19, 2022)  – First-year Evan Pravato collected his first collegiate hit and RBI, but the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team fell to William Paterson University 12-2 Saturday in a non-conference game played at Jeff Albies Field.

Senior Sutton Dole had a sacrifice fly and senior Hunter Counton and first-year Matt Villapiano each fired a scoreless inning for the Ducks, who dropped to 2-1.

Riley Weiss (1-0) allowed a run on one hit over five-plus innings and Steve Yelin and Dan Carter homered for William Paterson, who moved to 1-0. The contest marked the Pioneers' season opener.

"Unfortunately we just did not make enough defensive plays, especially in the early goings, which let the game get away from us" remarked head coach Kristaps Aldins. "But in games such as this one there sometimes can be a silver lining. In this particular case it was being able to get game action for all of our positional players as well as several pitchers out of the bullpen. Not only was this a valuable learning experience for each of them, but it also gave our coaching staff an opportunity to see some important things in a competitive environment. I would like to extend my congratulations to Evan Pravato, Eli Somers, and Jason Wasko for each collecting their first collegiate hits. It was also encouraging to see first-year Matt Villapiano pitch a clean inning in his collegiate debut."

William Paterson jumped on starter Anthony Pron (1-1) in the second inning. Vinnie Martin leadoff with a double to left center. Dylan Habeeb walked and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Pron struck out the next two batters, but walked Chris Liriano to load the bases. A wild pitch plated the first run of the game and then a Jake Lutz double drove in a pair. A throwing error allowed Lutz to score, but junior Ben Tobio nabbed Colin Lombardo trying to steal to end the inning.

After putting baserunners on in four of the first five innings, the Ducks got on the board in the sixth. First-year Zachary Boykin led off with a walk and Pravato laced a triple into right field for his first career RBI. After a pop out, Dole pinch-hit for Johnny Albrecht and flew out to center to plate Pravato for the second Stevens run.

William Paterson added six runs in the third and one in the sixth to produce the final margin. Counton and Villapiano combined to strike out three over a pair of scoreless frames to close out the contest. 

The game marked the collegiate debuts for Villapiano, Pravato, Boykin, sophomore Will Hopkinson, and first-years Kevin Villares, Jason Wasko, Eli Somers, Victor Schilleci, Joseph Gonzalez and Colby Ching.

Up Next: The Ducks and Pioneers take to Dobbelaar Field for a doubleheader on Feb. 21 to wrap up the three-game series.

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