Posted: May 13, 2010

ALMEIDA HURLS ANOTHER GEM; BULLDOGS OPEN UP QUINNIPIAC SERIES WITH IMPRESSIVE 4-1 WIN

HAMDEN, CT – The Bryant baseball team opened up a four-game series at Quinnipiac University Thursday afternoon with a 4-1 victory as senior right handed hurler Brent Almeida (Fairhaven, Mass.) took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning. Bryant (28-21, 19-6) remains three games ahead in the NEC standings over second place Sacred Heart, while the Bobcats—one of many teams vying to make the four-team NEC tournament that begins May 27^th—fell to 14-32 and 13-12 in the NEC.

Almeida kept the Bobcat bats hushed for the first six innings, only allowing a batter to reach base on an error in the third inning and a walk in the fourth. The Fairhaven, Mass., native upped his record to a perfect 5-0 with the victory, tossing his second consecutive complete-game, allowing one run on two hits, striking out four .

Senior right-hander Michael Oskandy took to the hill for the host Bobcats, and his first pitch of the game was drilled to right-center field by freshmen Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.) for a leadoff single. Jordan English (Windsor Locks, Conn.) moved him over to second base with a sacrifice bunt, and two batters later Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.) hit an opposite-field single through the right side to plate Brown and give Bryant an early 1-0 lead. Campbell wisely moved up to second base on the throw from right field, and then came around to score on a single to left center by Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, RI) to extend the Bulldogs early lead to 2-0.

Bryant would get another run in the top of the third without the benefit of a hit. Brown opened up the inning with a walk, and after moving over to second and third base on back to back groundouts, scored on a wild pitch to put the Bulldogs up 3-0. Oskandy’s 1-0 offering to Campbell slipped out of his hand and wound up in the Quinnipiac dugout, allowing Brown to trot home.

Quinnipiac had hopes of getting into the scoring column when Ben Farina, who had his 18-game hitting streak snapped Thursday, led off the fourth with Almeida’s first walk of the afternoon. Farina promptly moved over to second on a pitch in the dirt to get into scoring position with no outs. Almeida then went to work, getting Brian Monack to fly out to left for the first out of the inning. Joe Poletsky then ripped a ball to Zakary Cianciolo’s (Prospect, Conn.) right side, but the junior shortstop got to it and fired a strike across the diamond to get the second out of the inning. Almeida then caught the outside corner on a 3-2 fastball to end the inning and Quinnipiac’s first threat to score all game.

Almeida had some defensive help behind him to help keep the potential no-hitter intact. Brown made a nice over the shoulder catch in the bottom of the first on a deep drive by Farina. In the bottom of the sixth, first baseman Jamie Skagerlind (Holden, Mass.) ran full speed and made a sliding catch with his back to the play in right field foul territory to haul in the second out of the inning.

Bryant would scratch another insurance run across in the top of the seventh, as Connor Carignan (Norwich, Conn.) reached base on a throwing error by Quinnipiac shortstop Mickey Amanti. Brown, who had three hits on the afternoon, then roped a single off the glove of Bobcat second baseman Chris Migani. Carignan, hustling the entire way, scored from second by beating the throw from Quinnipiac first baseman Gabe Guerino to make the score 4-0.

Poletsky ended Almeida’s bid for his first-career no-hitter leading off the seventh with an infield single up the middle. Migani then followed with a single to right center planting runners on the corners with no outs. But Almeida fought out of the jam getting Guerino to hit into a 4-6-3 double play before a Kyle Nisson ground out ended the inning. Poletsky scored on the double play to bring the score to 4-1.

Campbell complemented Brown’s three hits going 2-3 with a run batted in and a run scored. No other player in the game had multiple hits in what was a very well-pitched baseball game. Oskandy went all nine innings for the Bobcats in the loss, and was the tough-luck loser falling to 2-6 on the year.

Bryant and Quinnipiac will continue their four game series in Hamden, Conn., with a double-header Friday afternoon. First pitch is slated for 12pm.