Hoboken, N.J. – The Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team won a wild 11-10 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom series opener against King's on Friday afternoon at Dobbelaar Field in a back-and-forth battle that featured seven multi-run innings and 27 hits in total.
How It Happened
The first two innings turned into a home run derby, with both sides going yard multiple times.
Chip Krese led off the first for Stevens (20-13, 9-7) with a towering shot to right, repeating the feat with two in the second after
Vinnie Stigliano went deep with one out as the Ducks erased a two-homer, three-run second for King's, leading 4-3 after two. The defensive play of the early going came from
Quinton Sterling, who made a two-out leaping catch at the wall in right in the first, taking away an extra-base hit, possibly saving the Ducks a run.
King's pushed across the tying run with a bases loaded groundout in the fifth after a scoreless third and fourth from each side, but
Dylan Fishbough was hit by a pitch to lead off the Stevens fifth, then stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and came into score when
Veer Wadhwani singled through a drawn-in King's infield. Two batters later,
Adam Barrington roped a double into right field, scoring Wadhwani for a 6-4 Stevens lead, but the Monarchs jumped back in front with four in the top of the sixth, then tacked on two more in the seventh for a 10-6 lead.
After getting one back in the seventh, the Ducks saved their biggest rally of the day for last. After loading the bases without putting the ball in play (walks to
Jackson Wein and Krese plus a Sterling hit-by-pitch),
Griffin Zitko singled up the middle, plating Wein and Krese, slicing the Monarchs' lead to a single run, 10-9. After
Adam Kobayashi walked to reload the bases, Edward "E.J." Balewitz Jr. dropped a single into right, scoring Sterling with the game-tying run. Next up stepped Barrington, who delivered Zitko via a sacrifice fly, pushing the Ducks back in front.
In the ninth,
Connor Herlihy set the Monarchs down in order, closing out the wild win for Stevens.
Inside The Box Score
- The Ducks have recorded at least 10 hits in their last 13 games, hitting at least .278 within each of those contests. For the year, their team batting average is .303
- Krese joined Fishbough and Barrington with multiple home runs in a game this season
- Krese stretched his hitting streak to 16 games; Sterling and Zitko each ran theirs to 11 straight
- As a team, the Ducks surpassed 100 stolen bases for the second straight year
- The Ducks improved to 16-0 against King's since the start of the 2021 season
Up Next
The teams wrap the MAC Freedom series Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at Noon.
#AllRise
