LIU baseball team defeats MSM to claim NEC title outright

EMMITSBURG, Md. — Alone on top!
On the final day of the regular season, the LIU baseball team claimed the Northeast Conference title outright with a 13-7 win against host Mount St. Mary's on a scorching, 92 degree day.
The Sharks (18-9 NEC), who had secured the conference tournament's No. 1 seed a day earlier, needed the victory to avoid sharing the title with Bryant and Central Connecticut State (17-10 apiece).
LIU ended Bryant's nine-year reign as regular-season champion.
The Sharks will face fourth-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday at noon at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Connecticut, in the tourney opener.
LIU completed the regular season with a 34-18 overall record — the most wins in Division I program history, topping the 31 produced by the 2018 squad that reached the NCAA Tournament in coach Dan Pirillo's second season at the helm.
On Saturday, EJ Exposito belted his fourth homer of the three-game series and 13th of the season. That's now tied for third in a single season in D-I program history, trailing only Lou Deman's 18 in 1995 and Joe Zeccardi's 15 in 1998.
Colin Adams also went deep in the regular-season finale — his fourth long ball in the final six conference games.
Exposito drove in four runs, while Michael Edelman was 3-for-4 with four runs scored.
The Sharks jumped on Mount St. Mary's for three first-inning runs, highlighted by Giovanni Ciaccio's two-run single, and never trailed.
LIU starter Ryan Neuweiler handed an 8-2 lead over to Nick DeSalvo for the fifth inning.

Stony Brook 6, NJIT 5: Evan Giordano’s single to centerfield drove in Matt DeStefano in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Stony Brook baseball team a 6-5 win over NJIT in an America East matchup on Saturday at Joe Nathan Field.

Giordano also hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring Stony Brook within a run at 5-4. He went 2-for-6 with four RBIs.

Matt Brown-Eiring’s infield single in the sixth drove in Evan Fox to tie the score at 5. Fox went 3-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.

Josh O’Neill struck out six batters in 6 2/3 innings of relief and allowed four hits and no earned runs to earn the win. Stony Brook concluded the regular season at 27-25 overall and secured its third consecutive regular season conference title by finishing 21-9 in the America East.

St. Joseph’s (LI) 2, Stevens 0: Charles Aurandt struck out three batters in eight shutout innings to lead St. Joseph’s (24-13) over Stevens in an elimination game in the NCAA Division III Winchester Regional tournament. Brian Forbes drove in Phil Krpata on a sac fly and John Thatcher scored on a wild pitch. Dante Morabito pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn the save.