Albanese's ninth-inning homer propels Baseball to weekend sweep of LIU

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Freshman Matt Albanese's (East Haddam, Conn.) opposite field home run to right field in the top of the ninth broke a 6-6 tie and gave the Bryant University baseball team a 7-6 victory and a weekend sweep of LIU Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon at LIU Field.

The Blackbirds (18-16-1, 5-7 NEC) rallied to tie the game in the eighth inning but Albanese's second-career home run gave the Bulldogs (26-10, 7-1) a dramatic victory.

With its weekend sweep, Bryant owns the highest RPI in program history at 37. The Bulldogs also own the nations second-longest road winning streak (8), are ranked 12th in scoring margin (+3.2) and are 20th in winning percentage (72.2%).

LIU used two different pitchers to retire the first two batters of the ninth but Albanese lofted an 0-1 pitch from Kevin Needham just over the wall in right field to give the Bulldogs the lead. Junior Trevor Lacosse (Watervliet, N.Y.) then made quick work of the Blackbirds in the bottom of the ninth to earn his second win of the season.

It was all Bryant early on as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead after a 2 ½ innings. Moments after LIU grabbed the lead on a wild pitch in the second, the Bulldogs erupted for five runs in their half of the third. Senior Jonathan Scott (Princeton, N.J.), junior Carl Anderson (Sudbury, Mass.) and Albanese hit consecutive singles to load the bases, and junior John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.) lofted a sac fly to center to tie the score at 1-1. After an intentional walk to sophomore Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.), senior Tom Gavitt (North Stonington, Conn.) walloped a first-pitch fastball into the netting above the left field wall for his first-career grand slam.

LIU responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third. A hit batter and a single put runners on second and third and Anthony Capo's ground ball brought home the first run. The second run came across on a passed ball to make it 5-3.

Bryant made it 6-3 with a single run in the fourth. A pair singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs before Albanese hit into a double play to score a run.

The Blackbirds slowly chipped away, scoring single runs in the fifth and seventh before eventually tying the game in the eighth. A fielder's choice ground ball from John Ziznewski scored the run in the fifth, a three-base error scored the run in the seventh and Pete Leonello drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth to tie the game.

Sophomore Kyle Wilcox (Sandy Hook, Conn.) started for the Bulldogs and lasted four innings. He allowed four runs on six hits and struck out two. Freshman Jack Patterson (Suffield, Conn.) came on to allow two unearned runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. He struck out four and walked two. Patterson made two big plays in the seventh as he snared a comebacker with a runner on third for the second out and then struck out Mark Hernandez swinging to end the inning.

Offensively, Anderson and Albanese each finished with two hits, while Albanese also scored a pair of runs.

The Bulldogs return to the diamond on Tuesday as they welcome Rhode Island to Conaty Park. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.