BASEBALL PICKS UP A SPLIT WITH SACRED HEART THURSDAY; BULLDOGS WRAP UP 2010 SEASON FRIDAY AT 1 PM

BRYANT ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

For Release: May 20, 2010
Contact: Jason Sullivan, Bryant SID

BRYANT SPLITS DOUBLEHEADER WITH SACRED HEART THURSDAY;
BULLDOGS CONCLUDE SEASON FRIDAY WITH 1 PM GAME

Game 1 –  Sacred Heart 5, Bryant 1 – Boxscore
Game 2 – Bryant 14, Sacred Heart 1 – Boxscore

VIDEO HIGHLIGHT - Brown's NEC leading seventh triple
VIDEO HIGHLIGHT - Cianciolo's third home run of the year

VIDEO  HIGHLIGHT - Stone's second home run of the year
VIDEO HIGHLIGHT - Final Out of Game Two - Lisanti Picks up First Complete Game Win

Senior Jeff Vigurs had two hits and threw out a runner in the first game and followed going 3-for-4 with wtih three runs and two RBI in Bryant's 14-1 win over Sacred Heart Thursday in the nightcap.  Vigurs also extended his school record with his 61st career double on the afternoon. www.dspics.com

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – A day after clinching their first Northeast Conference regular season title, the Bryant University baseball team split a doubleheader Thursday afternoon under beautiful sunny skies at the Bryant Baseball Complex. 

After dropping the opener 5-1 to the Pioneers, the Bulldogs stormed back to take the second behind the strong pitching of freshman Sal Lisanti (Bronx, N.Y.) who earned his first complete game with a 14-1 Bryant victory.

Bryant (33-22, 24-7 NEC) will close out the 2010 season Friday when the Bulldogs and Pioneers take the field for a 1 pm game.  The Bulldogs, who secured the conference regular season title in just its first year, cannot participate in the NEC Baseball Tournament next week as the program is currently transitioning to Division I status.

In Thursday’s opener, Bryant managed 10 hits off Pioneer starter Jared Balbach but could only come up with one run off the senior lefty, ending the team’s six-game win streak with a 5-1 loss. 

Sacred Heart (29-23, 20-10) took a 1-0 lead in the third on bases loaded sacrifice fly from Steve Tedesco to score Hunter Phillips.  The Pioneers would add to its lead, scoring twice in the sixth.  Bryant would finally get on the board in the in the bottom of the sixth as Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.) came home to score on a double play grounder to short, but that would be as close the Bulldogs would get. 

Senior Eric Polvani (Wallingford, Conn.) who set a new school record with his 83rd career appearance on the mound, also set a new school record in the second when he struck out Rob Griffith for his 87th strikeout on the season, passing the old mark of 86 held by former standout Doug Johnson.

Polvani would finish with four strikeouts before being lifted in the top of the seventh.

In the second game, the Bryant bats awoke for 16 hits including three by Cianciolo and three by Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn.) in a 14-1 win.

Leading 1-0, Bryant freshman Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.) belted a two-run triple to the fence in right-center.  Vigurs would follow with a hard single through the right side to score brown to make it 4-0.  But the Bulldogs weren’t through as Cianciolo would later line a single in the gap to score two more to make the score 6-0. 

Perhaps there were signs of a little rust when Lisanti finally took the mound in the top of the third after the big inning as SHU’s Greg DePalma crushed the first pitch he saw deep to left for his first home run of the season and just his fifth hit of the season.

But Lisanti would settle down after that, allowing two hits over the next four innings and got some fine defensive work behind him, particularly the combo of third baseman Tim Norton (Barnstable, Mass.), shortstop Cianciolo and second baseman Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, R.I.) who turned a couple nice double plays to keep the Pioneers out of scoring position.

Lisanti allowed just four hits in the game and struck out a pair to earn his first complete game victory of the year and improve to 4-4. 

A day after throwing out and picking off a runner in yesterday’s win, Vigurs again flashed the leather with a fine performance defensive, catching another Pioneer attempting to steal second.  Not to mention, the senior had a big afternoon at the plate with two hits in the opening game and three more in the nightcap including his 61st career double.