Bulldogs down Towson, 16-4; Albanese hits for the cycle

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) became the first player in Division I history to hit for the cycle as the Bryant University baseball team exploded for a 16-4 victory over Towson on Sunday night at Harford Community College.

Sunday's game between the Bulldogs (1-6) and Tigers (0-8) didn't start until 9:30 and finished right around 1:00 a.m. The two teams will meet again Monday morning for a doubleheader beginning at 9:00 a.m. at Harford CC.

Albanese fueled Bryant's offensive outburst Sunday night, finishing 4-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored. He started his day with a single in the first, then delivered a sac fly in the second and drove a two-run triple to center in the fourth. Albanese completed the cycle with a solo home run in the fifth and a double to right field in the eighth.

Bryant opened its best offensive day of the season with five runs over the first two innings. Albanese's single in the first ignited a two-out rally that was capped by Robby Rinn's (Warwick, R.I.) two-run double down the right field line. In the second, Zane Smith (Ilion, N.Y.) and Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) singled to open the inning and came around to score on a single from AJ Zarozny (Shrewsbury, Mass.). Albanese's sac brought home Zarozny and made it 5-0.

The Black and Gold put the game out of reach with a seven-run fourth inning. With two outs, Albanese ripped a 1-1 pitch into center for a two-run triple and crossed home on a John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.) single to account for the first three runs. Following an RBI single from Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.), the Bulldogs would load the bases and all three runners would score as Fabio's fly ball to right was dropped.

Bryant added single runs in the fifth and sixth and two runs in the seventh to close its scoring. Albanese hit his first home run of the year in the fifth and Smith followed with his first-career home run in the sixth. A fielding error and a Fabio single accounted for the runs in the seventh.

On the mound, Kyle Wilcox (Sandy Hook, Conn.) earned a no-decision, allowing two runs on three hits over 4.1 innings. He walked a career-high eight batters and struck out five. James Davitt (Wallingford, Conn.) came on in relief and pitched the final 4.2 innings to earn his first win of the season. He allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits, walked three and struck out four.

Towson plated single runs in four separate innings. The Tigers had four players finish with multiple hits, while starter Austin Clark was saddled with the loss after allowing 10 runs (eight earned) on nine hits over 3.2 innings.

The Bulldogs received multiple-hit performances from Mullen (2-5, 2R), Rinn (2-3, 2RBI, 2BB), McCarthy (2-4, 2R), Smith (2-4, 2RBI, 3R) and Fabio (3-5, 2R).