Bingel tosses seven scoreless, offense explodes as Bryant takes series on Sunday

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Sophomore Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.) tossed seven shutout innings and junior Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) drove in a career-high five runs to lead the Bryant University baseball team to a 15-2 victory over Sacred Heart in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard.

With the win, the Bulldogs (20-20, 11-5 NEC) earned a series victory over the Pioneers (15-26-1, 8-8) for just the third time. Bryant also remains in a tie with Wagner for first place in the league standings.

The Black and Gold collected a season-high 20 hits in the contest and received multiple hits from six different players. Bryant scored 44 runs over the course of the weekend.

Bryant opened Sunday's series finale quickly, scoring four times in the top of the first. Bingel was hit by a pitch and junior Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) walked with two outs to keep the inning alive. Sophomore Cole Fabio (Mahawh, N.J.) then dropped a single into left field to score a run and McCarthy delivered a two-run single to right-center. The fourth run of the inning scored on a fielding error by the Pioneers.

The Bulldogs pushed the lead to five in the second inning. Sophomore Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) singled with one out, stole second, went to third on a balk and scampered home on a wild pitch.

Bryant added to its lead with three runs in the sixth, two more in the seventh and five in the eighth. In the sixth, Rinn and Zarozny singled to put runners on the corners with two outs. McCarthy then went ahead in the count 3-1 before launching a three-run home run well over the left field wall to make it 8-0. It was his third home run of the season.

In the seventh, the Black and Gold greeted reliever James Taubl with three-straight hits. Junior Dan Cellucci (Sudbury, Mass.) singled to center and senior Jordan Mountford (Guelph, Ont.) doubled down the right field line to open the inning. Bingel followed with an RBI single to center and sophomore Joseph Paparelli (Preston, Conn.) delivered a sac fly to left to make it 10-0.

The Black and Gold put the game away with a five-run eighth. Junior Zach Wood (Griswold, Conn.) singled and Cellucci doubled off the left field wall to open the inning. Mountford brought home both with a double to right center and Rinn put the finishing touches on the inning with a three-run home run onto the train tracks behind the right field wall.

Making his third start of the year, Bingel cruised to his second victory of the year. He allowed just five hits, walked one and struck out five in the longest outing of his career. Bingel allowed just one hit over the first three innings but turned to his defense after that. After two singles opened the fourth, he induced a 6-4-3 double play and then junior AJ Zarozny (Shrewsbury, Mass.) made the catch of the year in the sixth. With a runner on, SHU's P.J. DeFilippo hit a high fly ball to left field. Zarozny went back to the wall, timed his jump perfectly and reached over the wall to rob DeFilippo of a home run.

Mountford (3-7, 22B, 2RBI, 2R), Fabio (3-5) and Cellucci (3-6, 2R) all finished with three hits for Bryant. Paparelli (2-2), Rinn (2-4, HR, 3RBI, 3R), McCarthy (2-4, 5RBI) all added two hits.

The Bulldogs will have the week off before welcoming Fairleigh Dickinson to Conaty Park on Friday, May 8.