BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (March 24, 2023) – Right-hander Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, N.J.) took matters into his own hands in the front end of Friday's doubleheader for the Sacred Heart University baseball team. The junior Garden State native went the distance on 109 pitches (75 strikes) to lead the Pios to a 7-2 win in the opener of a three-game Northeast Conference series against Maryland Eastern Shore at Veteran's Park. Babuschak set the tone on the day for the Pios, who followed up with seven more runs in the second game to post a 7-5 victory and sweep the twinbill.
With the pair of wins, SHU improves to 11-8 (7-1 NEC), while UMES falls to 4-18 (2-6 NEC). Sacred Heart has won seven straight league games for the first time since the 2018 team rattled off seven in a row in early May. The last time the Pios had a longer NEC winning streak was when the 2013 squad capped its league slate with eight straight wins. The 2014 team extended that particular streak out to 13 straight NEC victories.
Game 1: Sacred Heart 7, Maryland Eastern Shore 2
Babuschak (1-1) was the story of the first game. The junior cruised through the first eight scoreless innings on under 100 pitches and had a seven-run cushion by the time he ran into his only speed bump in the ninth. The right-hander retired the side in order in the first, third, sixth and eighth, and did not allow a runner beyond first base until the ninth, when UMES scored its two runs.
In all, Babuschak allowed two runs on six hits, walked one and struck out eight to author his first collegiate complete game, in his 22nd career start. It was the first complete game by a SHU pitcher since Ryan LaMay went the distance against LIU on March 16, 2019.
The Pios put Babuschak out front to stay in the bottom of the third, with a pair of unearned runs. Mark Smith (East Haven, Conn.) rapped a one-out single back up the middle and made his way to third on a double down the left-field line by Justin Jordan (Darien, Conn.). UMES right-hander Noah Covington then got a fly ball which should have ended the inning, but Brian Cordell dropped the ball in left field, which allowed both runners to score.
SHU added two in the fourth on a loud double into the gap in right-center by Dante D'Amore (Southington, Conn.) and then broke the game open with three in the eighth. Ryan Donnelly (Fairfield, Conn.) took a leadoff walk in front of Robert Farruggio (Fairfield, Conn.), who pummeled his second home run of the season to left field. Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.) followed and made it two in a row, with a towering homer to left-center, the first of his career.
UMES scratched out a pair in the top of the ninth, but Babuschak finished what he started and completed the six-hit complete game.
For his part, Covington (1-5) threw 104 pitches (64 strikes) over seven innings, allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits, did not issue a walk, hit one batter and struck out eight.
Game 2: Sacred Heart 7, Maryland Eastern Shore 5
The second game was tied 3-3 heading for the home half of the fifth, when SHU took the lead for good. Tyler Galletti (Plainview, N.Y.) led off with a walk and Jordan had the game's pivotal at-bat two batters later, when he turned on a pitch and laced an RBI triple down the line and into the right-field corner. Not to be outdone, Sam Mongelli (Marlboro, N.Y.) followed with a drive over the head of the left fielder deep down the line for a triple of his own, to plate Jordan.
UMES cut the deficit to 5-4 with a two-out rally in the top of the seventh. Brantley Cutler lashed a single back up the middle, moved to second on a walk and scored when Ryan Howe poked a double down the right-field line. With the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, right-hander Charlie Costello (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) bounced right back and locked up Jason Brown with a called third strike to retire the side.
The Pios tacked on some insurance in the home half of the seventh, as Mongelli (single) and Donnelly (double) provided back-to-back RBI hits with two outs. UMES closed the gap to 7-5 in the eighth, on an RBI double by Derrick Mayes II, but right-hander Tyler Briggs (Franklin, Mass.) shut the door from there, earning points for style along the way.
Briggs came on with two outs in the eighth and the tying run at the plate in the form of Dillon Oxyer, who he promptly struck out on three pitches. Briggs, who had his slider in fine form on Friday, came back out in the ninth and picked right up from there. He struck out Cutler swinging on five pitches, Alex McCoy swinging on four pitches, and Howe swinging on three pitches, to strike out all four batters he faced and nail down his second save of the season.
SHU and UMES will wrap up their three-game weekend series on Sunday at Veteran's Park. First pitch is set for noon.
