Karinchak tosses three-hit shutout as Bulldogs earn Saturday split with CCSU

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Freshman James Karinchak (Walden, N.Y.) tossed a complete game, three-hit shutout to lead the Bryant University baseball team to an 8-0 win over Central Connecticut in game two of Saturday's doubleheader at the CCSU Baseball Field.

With the win, the Bulldogs (10-14, 2-1 NEC) earned a split of Saturday's doubleheader. They wrap up their series with the Blue Devils (9-15, 3-4) on Sunday.

Karinchak was dominant in the first NEC start of his career. He allowed just three hits, walked two and struck out seven to earn his second shutout of the season. After allowing a single in the first and third, Karinchak set down 13-straight batters before allowing a two-out single in the seventh. He improved to 3-4 on the year.

The Bulldogs took advantage of two Central Connecticut errors to score three runs in the second inning. Junior Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) and senior John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.) singled to open the inning and sophomore Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) followed with a sac bunt attempt. CCSU pitcher Matt Blandino was quick to field it and tried to throw to third but threw it wide of the bag allowing Rinn to score. Blandino would strikeout the next two batters but sophomore Joseph Paparelli (Preston, Conn.) sliced a fly ball to left that was dropped allowing two more runs to score.

Bryant added to its lead with three more runs in the fourth. Mullen and Fabio singled to open the inning but Blandino was able to get the first out at third on a sac bunt attempt. Junior Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) came through, though, as he knocked a seeing-eye single through the left side to score Fabio. Paparelli followed with a sharp single to center to load the bases and senior Jordan Mountford (Guelph, Ont.) plated two with a single to right field to make it 6-0.

The Black and Gold capped their scoring with single runs in the sixth and seventh. McCarthy doubled to left center to start the inning and came around to score on an RBI ground out from sophomore Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.). Mullen and Fabio opened the seventh with singles and Mullen later scored on a wild pitch.

Mullen finished the afternoon with three hits and two runs scored, extending his career-long on-base streak to 12 games. Fabio went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and McCarthy finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

Bryant and Central Connecticut wrap up their series with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.