Bulldogs' season comes to a close in heartbreaking fashion

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Bryant University baseball team loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 10th but a fly ball to right turned into a game-ending double play as the Bulldogs season came to a close with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.

With the loss, the Bulldogs are eliminated from the NCAA tournament and wrap up their second-straight 40-win season with a 42-16 record. The Lions (38-24) advance to play the loser of Saturday night's LSU/Houston game Sunday at 3:05 p.m. EST.

"The ending always comes abruptly.  You just keep fighting and fighting and then all of a sudden it's the end," head coach Steve Owens said. "I'm very pleased with our season.  We had a great year with a really young team. Hopefully, we can return next year to a regional and advance further than we did this year.  Our goal was to get to the regional final this year."

Saturday, execution and timely hitting eluded the Black and Gold all day long. Trailing by a run in the 10th, Sudbury, Mass. teammates Dan Cellucci and Carl Anderson doubled and singled, respectively, to put runners on the corners with no outs. After a strikeout and an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out, sophomore AJ Zarozny (Shrewsbury, Mass.) lofted a fly ball to medium right field. SLU's Andrew Godbold made the catch and then threw a strike to the plate to nab Cellucci and end the game. With the fly out, the Bulldogs finished 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position on Saturday.

The trend was the same early on as the Bulldogs missed out on golden opportunities to put some runs on the board. In the second, junior John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.) and sophomore Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) roped back-to-back singles to open the inning. The Bulldogs, however, were unable to advance them, stranding both runners on a foul out, strikeout and a fielder's choice.

Bryant was finally able to cash in with a run in the fifth. Freshman Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) laid down a perfect bunt for a leadoff single and was quickly advanced to second on a balk. The Bulldogs were unable to bunt him over to third but Anderson laced an RBI double down the right field line to tie the score at 1-1. He eventually moved to third with one out on an errant pickoff throw but a strikeout and a fly ball to left stranded him 90 feet from home.

The Bulldogs' misfortunes continued in the seventh and ninth innings as well. Sophomore Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) started the seventh with a booming double to deep left-center but the Bulldogs were unable to advance him to third. He eventually moved up on a wild pitch but reliever Mason Klotz got a big strikeout to leave him there.

With a chance to win the game, the Bulldogs put their leadoff runner on in the ninth as well. Mullen laced a single through the left side and moved up to second on a sac bunt from Rinn. Klotz, however, fielded a comebacker and picked up another strikeout to send the game to extras.

In the top of the 10th, Jameson Fisher worked the count full before ripping a leadoff single up the middle. Godbold followed with a single through the right side but junior Trevor Lacosse (Watervliet, N.Y.) came back with a strikeout for the first out of the inning. The Lions then put a hit-and-run on and Daniel Midyett hit a ball to the right side that Rinn fielded but had no play on, loading the bases. Roberson followed with a sac fly to center to score the eventual winning run.

Lost in the late-game drama was the stellar outing from one of Bryant's greatest pitchers, senior Craig Schlitter (Guilford, Conn.). In what was his final start wearing the Black and Gold, Schlitter was his dominant self over seven innings, allowing an unearned run on just six hits while striking out one and issuing one walk. Making his 51st-career start, Schlitter allowed a run before even recording an out. Jacob Seward singled to start the game and then advanced all the way to third as Schlitter threw wild on a pick off. Fisher was then hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners and Schlitter's second wild pitch of the inning scored Seward with the first run of the game. The veteran right-hander settled down though, retiring the next three hitters to limit the damage.

After that, Schlitter was masterful. He left runners on the corners in the second, snared a comebacker to start an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play in the third and was able to record his first perfect inning in the fifth. He ran into trouble in the sixth but his defense played big behind him. With runners on first and second and two outs, Cellucci knocked down a chopper deep in the hole at short and alertly threw behind the runner at third to end the inning. Schlitter came back out in the seventh and set down the Lions in order, ending one of the greatest pitching careers in program history. He finishes his career with a 28-13 record and is the only pitcher in program history to post back-to-back 10-win seasons.

Classmate Jonathan Cohen (Norwalk, Conn.) came on for Schlitter in the eighth and quickly retired the side. He hit some trouble in the eighth, however, as back-to-back one-out single put runners on the corners for SLU. Lacosse was summoned from the bullpen and pinch-hitter Jesse Buratt immediately dropped down a squeeze bunt to try and give the Lions the lead. Rinn charged from first base, fielded the bunt and flipped to McCarthy at home to nab Roberson by a hair. Lacosse then struck out Seward swinging to end the threat.

Offensively, Anderson finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and two stolen bases. He finished the year with 31 steals, becoming the first Bulldog since 1998 to accomplish that feat. Mullen picked up two hits for the second-straight day as the Black and Gold finished with 10 as a team.

In two NCAA tournament games, the Bryant pitching staff allowed just one earned run, pitching to a 0.46 ERA. Both Anderson (5-10) and Mullen (4-8) hit .500 and Cellucci finished 3-for-8.