PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (May 1, 2023) – Sophomore Eli Somers had a career high five hits, scored two runs, and had two RBI as the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team closed out the regular season with a victory over St. Joseph's University-Long Island 13-10 Monday afternoon in a non-conference game at Gregg Alfano Field. 

The Ducks avenged their NCAA Tournament loss to the Golden Eagles. Today's game was a slugfest compared to last year's 2-0 pitching duel. Stevens finishes the regular season with a 26-14 record, along with a 14-10 record in MAC Freedom play. The Ducks already clinched the #4 seed in the MAC Freedom tournament and will take on #5 Wilkes in the tournament's play-in game on Thursday, May 4.

Sophomore Liam DeRubertis also tallied a career high in hits with three. He tacked on three RBI and scored a run. Junior Johnny Albrecht and first-year Liam Houghton each tallied two RBI in the contest. The 13 runs scored was the most in a game for the Ducks since March.

Coming into the game on a three-game losing streak, Stevens put all that behind them as they were able to score five runs in the top of the first. Albrecht, DeRubertis, and sophomore Kevin Villares each recorded an RBI in the inning. Up 3-0, Houghton had a 2 RBI double to right center.

Despite the Ducks coming out hot, the Golden Eagles came out even hotter as they scored eight runs across the first two innings. They scored three in the first to make it a 5-3 Duck advantage and then piled on for five in the second to make it 8-5 in favor of the Golden Eagles.

The game continued to be a slugfest in the third inning as the Ducks tacked on four more runs. With the bases loaded, junior Peter Mastropolo singled to left to cut the deficit to two. In the next at-bat, junior Jack Stafford hit a sacrifice fly to bring another run home. Somers then cleared the bases with a 2 RBI single to right to give Stevens a 9-8 lead.

Neither team scored runs in the fourth and fifth innings as the game started to slow down. Stevens then picked up the scoring again in the sixth. After Somers hit a leadoff double, Albrecht singled through the right side to score Somers. With Albrecht on second and Villares on base via a walk, DeRubertis doubled to right center to clear the bases as the Ducks extended their lead to four. 

St. Joe's attempted to get back into the game as they struck for two runs in the seventh to cut their deficit in half. With the Golden Eagles reaching ten runs for the game in the seventh, it marked the first time since February and only the second time this year that the Ducks allowed ten runs in a game.

With two outs in the top of the ninth, the Ducks got an insurance run from sophomore Colby Ching. He recorded his first home run on a solo shot to left field.

Six Ducks featured on the mound in the game. Sophomore Joe Gonzalez (2-0) earned the win in relief for the Ducks. He improves to 4-0 all-time. He pitched 2.1 innings and allowed just one run on hit. First-year William Sotiropoulos earned the start in the game. He pitched 1.2 innings and gave up five runs on three hits. Senior Anthony Pron recorded his eighth save of the year. He pitched one inning and walked two batters.

Up Next: Baseball is the #4 seed in the MAC Freedom tournament and will take on #5 Wilkes in the play-in game on Thursday, May 4. The game will be played in Hoboken. The time is TBA. Stevens won two of the three meetings in the regular season Links for live stats and video will be posted to StevensDucks.com.