Baseball drops doubleheader at CCSU

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Despite taking a one-run lead into the bottom half of the seventh in the second game, the Bryant University baseball team dropped both ends of a Northeast Conference doubleheader to Central Connecticut Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs fell, 10-2 and 5-4, in New Britain Connecticut.     

In the opening game, Bryant (5-10, 0-3 NEC) was first on the board as junior David Soltis (Plainville, Conn.) crushed a two-out homer over the right field fence in the top of the first for the early 1-0 advantage. Central Connecticut (5-5-1, 3-0 NEC) would answer in the bottom half of the third as Anthony Turgeon singled to center, driving in Tyler McIntyre to even up the score, 1-1.

Bryant regained the lead in the top of the fifth as Adam Claire (Litchfield, Conn.) led off the frame with a single to left and then advanced to second on a wild pitch and eventually to third on a ground out. Joseph Carcone (New Hartford, N.Y.) finished the job with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Claire to put the visitors on top, 2-1.

Once again, the Blue Devils answered in the bottom half of the inning on the bat of Turgeon, who drove in J.P Sportman on a single through the right side to even it up at two runs apiece.

With the score knotted up at 2-2, the Blue Devils scored eight runs on five hits in the bottom of the sixth to take the strong lead and pave the way for the eventual victory. Sportman doubled in the first run of the frame while Turgeon also picked up an RBI on a single to first base. Aside from the two conventional RBIs, the home side scored three runs on walks, one on a passed ball and two more on a fielder's choice aided by a throwing error to complete the eight-run inning.

Dave Krasnowiecki earned the win for Central Connecticut in 6.2 innings of work while Bryant reliever Mark Andrews (Hillsborough, N.J.) took the loss in the contest.

Claire paced the Bulldogs offensively with a 3-for-3 performance at the plate while Soltis added two hits and an RBI.

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In the second game, the Blue Devils struck first with two runs in the opening frame as a single by Dylan DelaCruz drove in a pair for the early 2-0 lead. The Blue Devils added an unearned run in the third as Mitch Wells reached on an error and eventually scored on an RBI single by Sportman.

Down by three, the Bulldogs started to chip away starting in the fourth as Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.), who led off the inning with a double down the left field line, crossed the plate on a groundout by Mike DelPonte (Tewksbury, Mass.).

The visitors scored in similar fashion again in the sixth, but this time it was Dan Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) who opened the inning with a double and was driven in again by DelPonte on a groundout to first to cut the Blue Devil lead to one, 3-2.

The Bulldogs finally took the lead with two runs in the seventh as Muscatello and Jordan English (Windsor Locks, Conn.) registered back-to-back RBI singles push the visitors on top, 4-3.

Nevertheless, Bryant could not hold on to the one-run lead as the Blue Devils scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on RBI singles by Wells and DelaCruz for the walk-off 5-4 victory.

Freshman Salvatore Lisanti (Bronx, N.Y.) took the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing four earned runs in 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts while reliever Josh Ingham picked up the win in the contest.  

Bryant was led by Muscatello, who went 2-for-3 at the plate with one RBI while DelPonte drove in a pair of runs.

The Bulldogs and Blue Devils wrap up the four-game set on Sunday, March 20 with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. in New Britain, Conn.