HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 12, 2023) – Sophomore Zachary Boykin homered and drove in eight runs as the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team swept a non-conference doubleheader with City College of New York Sunday at Dobbelaar Field. 

Sophomore Liam DeRubertis homered and drove in a pair for the Ducks, who won the seven-inning opener 14-2 before topping the Beavers 13-2 in the nightcap. Stevens opens the season with a pair of victories for the third straight year. 

Jonathan Rivera homered and drove in two for City College, who dropped to 0-2. Stevens has won the last five, and 11 of the last 12, meetings between the programs. Interestingly, each of the 12 games between the teams since 2010 have taken place in Hoboken.
 
In addition to the offensive explosion, Stevens received strong pitching from senior Justin Doyle (1-0) and first-year Erik Sibbach (1-0). Doyle allowed an earned run on seven hits across 5 1-3 innings. The Louisville, Kentucky native walked one and struck out four. In his collegiate debut, Sibback was perhaps even better, scattering two hits across five scoreless frames with seven strikeouts to earn his first career victory.

Sophomore Evan Pravato also had a strong day at the plate, going 4 for 6 across the two games with a pair of RBI and a stolen base. Junior Frank Tonina walked three times and scored four runs, while sophomore Colby Ching went 2 for 2 with an RBI after drawing the start in game two.

The Ducks touched CCNY starter James Dean Johnstone (0-1) early, plating a pair of runs in the first. Senior Ben Tobio walked and moved to second on sophomore Eli Somers' single through the right side for the Ducks' first hit of the season and a throwing error put a pair of runners in scoring position for DeRubertis. In his first career game, DeRubertis grounded out to short to easily score Tobio. Senior Michael Reyes followed with another grounder to short to score Somers.

Doyle made the early runs hold up into the third before giving up an RBI single. The right-hander gave way to senior Anthony Pron, who stuck out one over an inning and two-thirds to earn the save.

The Ducks were ahead 4-2 when they exploded for 10 runs against three relievers in the sixth. Boykin had three RBI across two different at-bats in the frame, including a two-RBI triple. The Ducks sent 17 batters to the plate in the frame and drew two bases-loaded walks.

After breaking the game open late in the opener, Stevens wasted little time jumping on CCNY's game two starter, Brandon Paider (0-1), scoring five times in the first inning. Tonina, Pravato and Ching delivered RBI singles as the Ducks totaled 15 hits. 

Stevens scored twice in the third and added five more in the fifth, four coming on Boykin's first career grand slam.

Sibbach gave way to classmate William Sotiropoulos, who allowed Rivera's two-run homer. Three relievers each threw a scoreless inning to wrap up the victory. 

The game marked the collegiate debut of junior Kieran O'Brien, sophomore Daniel Roman and first-years Alex Stillwell, Liam Houghton and Dylan Fishbough. O'Brien, DeRubertis, Ching, Roman and sophomore Victor Schilleci all drew their first career starts.

Up Next: Baseball hits the road on Feb. 18 for a doubleheader at NR/No. 16 William Paterson in Wayne, New Jersey. The Ducks topped the Pioneers 6-4 at Dobbelaar Field on Feb. 21 for their first win over William Paterson since 2018. 

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