Sports

Cocky Stony Brook won’t back down with LSU up next

Stony Brook flew to Miami expecting to challenge for its first NCAA tournament regional championship. After accomplishing the feat, becoming just the third fourth seed to win a regional since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 2001, it let everyone know about it.

After the Seawolves’ 10-6 victory over No. 2 Central Florida Monday night, its third straight win while facing elimination and nation-leading 50th victory overall, Willie Carmona exchanged words with a few players from the opposition and a scrum nearly broke out.

“That’s the way we are,” said Carmona, the region’s most outstanding player. “We don’t back down from anyone.”

It was a snapshot of this confident group developed by 22nd-year coach Matt Senk, the program’s architect who has brought the Seawolves from Division III to within two wins of the College Baseball World Series. They will meet LSU, the national No. 7 seed, in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at noon in Baton Rouge, La.

When Senk took over, the Long Island school’s baseball coach wasn’t a full-time job. He taught physical education classes at Stony Brook, ran his own baseball camps and worked within the athletic department to support himself.

“He’s given his whole life to this university,” athletic director Jim Fiore said.

Stony Brook felt it was overlooked last spring, when it failed to win the America East tournament after winning the regular-season crown and didn’t receive an at-large bid despite a then program-record 42 wins.

It responded with an even better year, winning its conference tournament and going 46-11 overall. Yet Stony Brook received a four seed in the first round.

“We came into this season with something to prove,” Carmona said. “Nobody believed we could [advance].”

Highly regarded for its pitching with a Division I-best 2.79 ERA during the regular season, Stony Brook opened eyes in the Coral Gables regional with a relentless offensive attack. In five games, the Seawolves scored 51 runs and notched 59 hits, leading to a pair of comeback wins while facing elimination.

Monday night’s win was a watershed moment for the program, Senk said, as Stony Brook shed the label as being more than just a quality Northeast program. While it had two players drafted in the first three rounds of this week’s First-Year Player Draft — America East Player of the Year Travis Jankowski was taken 44th overall by the Padres and catcher Patrick Cantwell went to the Texas Rangers at No. 123 — and six players played in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League, postseason success had yet to be achieved until now.

“Certain things have to happen for validation,” said Senk, who has led Stony Brook to the NCAA Tournament four times since the program joined Division I in 2000. “Until you do something like win a regional and go to a super regional, that’s when people really take notice.”

After Stony Brook was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in 2010, Senk sat with Fiore at dinner and told the athletic director one day the program would get to a super regional and be among the final 16 teams left standing. Fiore nodded his head and smiled out of respect, but later said he thought Senk “was crazy.” The coach told pitching coach Mike Marron the same thing before hiring him as well.

“It definitely was a lofty goal, but it was something I truly believed we could attain,” he said. “I’m ecstatic it happened this year.”