Mathews Tosses Complete-Game Gem to Key Baseball Win Over Old Westbury
HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 22, 2011) – Sophomore righty Kevin Mathews threw a complete-game beauty to help lift the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team to its third-straight win on Friday as the Ducks downed SUNY Old Westbury, 4-2, at Dobbelaar Field. With the win, Stevens improves to 8-17 on the season, and the Panthers drop to 19-16. The Stevens offense was keyed by senior center fielder Russ Grimes who went 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
The Panthers struck first, scoring a pair of runs in the top half of the second, using three hits and a Stevens error to do the damage but that was it the rest of the way as Mathews was fantastic for the Ducks, allowing just five more hits (eight total) and striking out six. He walked one, was charged with one earned run, and induced 14 ground ball outs.
Senior catcher Denis Ackerman was excellent behind the plate, gunning down three would-be base stealers to help his pitchers cause. He also scored twice and was 1-for-2 at the plate.
The Ducks, who did not collect their first hit off Old Westbury starter Corey Murphy (East Northport, N.Y.) until the fourth inning, finally worked their way onto the scoreboard in the fifth thanks to a leadoff double off the bat of freshman Dan Allen and a two-out run-scoring single off the bat of junior second baseman Tom Phillips.
The Ducks went on top with two more runs in the sixth. Ackerman led off with a walk and Grimes followed with a single to left field. Designated hitter Matt Glassman put down a perfect sacrifice bunt that eventually scored a run because of a Murphy throwing error. After a strikeout and with runners on second and third, junior shortstop Corey Linden delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to put Stevens on top for the first time all afternoon.
With Mathews rolling, the Ducks pushed across an insurance run in the seventh inning. Ackerman led off with a single and stole second before scoring on a line-drive double down the left-field line off the bat of Grimes. In the eighth, after a single and stolen base by junior Joseph Guido (Baldwin, N.Y.), senior Melvin Simmons (Bronx, N.Y.) singled to center, but Grimes came up with a superb throw home to nail Guido and end the inning.
Senior Josef Schaetzle (Bellmore, N.Y.) had two hits and a run scored to lead the OW offense. Murphy took the complete-game loss on the mound, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits in eight innings. He had three strikeouts and two walks.
Phillips, Grimes, Ackerman, Glassman, Allen, and senior Mike Pagliaro had the Stevens hits, with Phillips, Grimes and Linden notching the runs batted in.