Trevor Dugan
The University at Albany baseball team traveled to Long Island this weekend to take on the rival Stony Brook Seawolves. Albany came away with one victory in the three-game set. The series also saw star infielder Brad Malm tie the school record for homers in a season with his 13th on the year. Albany’s record now stands at 15-12 overall, and 5-7 in conference play.
The first game of the weekend between the American East schools saw Stony Brook erupt for 12 runs, defeating Albany 12-3. The Seawolves pushed across four runs in the first inning and held the lead for the rest of the game. Albany was able to score two in the sixth and one in the seventh, but it was too little too late.
The Great Dane pitchers struggled to find the strike zone in this one, issuing nine walks on the day. Ray Weber started for Albany and took the loss on the mound, allowing five earned runs and walking four batters in four innings. Johnny Marti was the standout of the day for Albany, going 3-5 with a double and a run scored.
On Saturday the Great Danes evened up the series, defeating Stony Brook 5-3. The Great Danes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first, but the Seawolves quickly tied it in the bottom half of the inning. John Daly got the lead back for Albany with a solo home run in the fourth inning, but the Seawolves tied it once again that same inning. In the seventh, Will Feil and Malm each hit an RBI double to give Albany the two-run cushion they needed to close it out.
The Great Danes got a strong performance out of Starting Pitcher Cregg Scherrer. He went six strong innings, allowing three runs while striking out seven Seawolves.
Daly stuffed the stat sheet on the offensive side, going 2-3 with a triple, a home run, two RBIs, and two runs scored.
Albany dropped the rubber match of the series on Sunday, losing by a score of 10-5. Starting pitcher Anthony Germinerio struggled, allowing five earned runs and walking three batters. Albany Head Coach Jon Mueller was unhappy with the number of walks handed out by the Great Danes on Sunday, “We put ourselves in a hole with the free passes,” said Mueller. “If we can clean up the passes we will put ourselves in position to win the series moving forward."
Despite the loss, however, history was made on Sunday for the Great Danes. Albany’s star infielder Malm had three RBIs and two home runs, his 12th, and 13th of the year. He has tied the school’s single-season record for home runs, and there are still 21 games remaining. Malm is on pace to shatter the record and is solidifying himself as one of the University’s best baseball players in recent memory.
The Great Danes are back at home this Wednesday at 3:00 PM for a non-league matchup with Dartmouth University.