The Stony Brook Seawolves defeated the Missouri State Bears, 10-7, on Sunday at Alex Rodriguez Park in the Coral Gables Regional of the 2012 NCAA Baseball Tournament.
Stony Brook fell behind 5-0 after the top half of the first inning. The Seawolves got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning, both were unearned runs due to fielding errors. Kevin Krause put a ball in play which the Missouri St. shortstop couldn't handle, which allowed Pat Cantwell to score from third base. William Carmona scored the second run when Cole Peragine grounded out to first base. The Bears scored two more runs on a two-run homer in the second inning to extend the lead to 7-2. Stony Brook scored one run in the fourth inning on a Steven Goldstein RBI single.
Then, the floodgates broke open for the Seawolves in the seventh inning. Cantwell started the scoring during the seven-run inning with an RBI single. Carmona followed with an RBI single. Maxx Tissenbaum laid down a sacrifice bunt to score another run. A Goldstein walk with the bases loaded allowed Carmona to score. Kevin Courtney drove in three runs with a double. The Bears had to use three pitchers to get out of the inning after pulling their starter, Cody Schumacher.
Schumacher did not receiver a decision after going six innings and giving up seven hits and seven runs (four earned). He walked three and struck out three batters. Tyler Burgess took the loss for Missouri State. He faced thee batters, walked two and gave up two earned runs. Evan Stecko-Haley started for the Seawolves but was pulled in the second inning after giving up four earned runs and four hits. Stecko-Haley was replaced by Frankie Vanderka who picked up the win by going 6 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs and striking out three batters and walking three. James Campbell picked up the save for pitching a scoreless ninth inning. He gave up one hit and one walk while striking out two batters.
Stony Brook will play another elimination game at 7 p.m. Sunday night against undefeated UCF.
The Seawolves were defeated by the Knights, 9-8, on Saturday. If Stony Brook can win tonight's game, they will force the "if necessary" game on Monday at 7 p.m. UCF is 45-15 on the season and hasn't played since the win over Stony Brook. The Seawolves advancing to the final marks first regional final for an America East team since the regional format was adopted in 1999. Stony Brook's 48 season wins have tied an America East record.
The full tournament bracket is available at the official NCAA site. Stay tuned to this storystream and SB Nation New York for updates from the 2012 NCAA Baseball tournament.