ECAC Metro Tournament:
#6 Stockton 21, #3 Mount St. Mary 1

Matt Cann

Boxscore
Richard Stockton (20-17) opened the 2011 ECAC Metro Baseball Championship with a 21-1 rout over third-seeded Mount St. Mary’s, (17-17). The Ospreys, the No. 6 seed, exploded for 25 hits in the game. Stockton advanced to face second-seeded Staten Island in the ECAC Metro semifinals at Rutgers-Newark.

The Ospreys were led by Mike Wasco (Riverside/Riverside), Shawn Kessler (Bayville/Central Regional) and Matt Cann (Cinnaminson/Cinnaminson) who stroked three hits apiece. For Wasco, it was his 100th career hit in a Stockton uniform. Cann and Gerard Heininger (Jackson/Jackson Liberty) knocked in four runs apiece, while Kessler and Chris Sanchez (Waldwick/Waldwick) drove in three each.

Drew Holt (Toms River/Toms River South) pitched the first five innings, picking up his sixth win of the season against just two defeats. Holt allowed just a lone hit while striking out three. Brandon Trainor (Manahawkin/Southern), Sean Peterson (Longport/Holy Spirit) and Bill Barron (Hamilton/Steinert) combined to throw the last four innings, giving up one run on five hits and striking out three Knights.

The Ospreys jumped out early as they scored six runs in the first inning. Hits by Kessler and Mike Bush (Manahawkin/Southern) produced two RBI apiece. Stockton kept up the onslaught with three more tallies in the third frame. Later, Stockton led 14-0 after a three-run triple by Heininger in the seventh inning but Mount St. Mary broke the shutout with their lone run in the bottom of the seventh. Stockton added seven more runs in the final two innings for the 21-1 final.