Baseball edged by LIU, 4-2, Thursday

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – With the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Bryant University baseball team was on the brink of mounting a two-run comeback, but the Long Island University pitching staff forced two quick outs, as the Bulldogs fell, 4-2, on a windy Thursday afternoon in Smithfield, R.I.

Bryant (19-17, 9-8 Northeast Conference) got outhit by the Blackbirds (21-13, 13-4), 12-10, in the contest and committed four errors to LIU's three in the first outing in the four-game stand.

Starting pitcher John Michael Ryan (Worcester, Mass.) would hold the Blackbirds off the scoreboard for the first two frames but would get tagged with two runs on two hits in the top of the third, as LIU's Daniel Walsh drove in both scores on a single and an error by the centerfielder.

The Blackbirds would go up 3-0 in the top of the fourth, when Pete Leonello came across home all the way from second on an error by the Bryant infield.

Facing a three-run deficit, the Bulldogs engineered a comeback in the bottom of the fifth, with Tim Norton (Barnstable, Mass.) reaching first on an error by the Blackbird's third baseman. Adam Claire (Litchfield, Conn.) followed up with a hard-hit single down the left field line, pushing Norton over to third. After Claire stole second, Connor Carignan (Norwich, Conn.) then proceeded to ground out to first but allowed Norton to come across. With Claire 90 feet from home, Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.) punched a standup double down the right field line to cut the LIU to 3-2.

The visitors would distance themselves once again the bottom half behind the bat of catcher Tyler Jones, who drove in the team's fourth run with a double to deep center.

The home side would have a chance to cut into the Long Island lead in the bottom of the eighth with a runner on the corners and no outs but Long Island's starting pitch Chris Franzese forced consecutive pop outs to end the threat.

After Jonathon Cohen (Norwalk, Conn.) entered in the top of the ninth and kept the Blackbirds still within two, after dealing a strikeout and forcing two fly outs. In the bottom half, the home side would begin to threaten with a single by Norton to the shortstop and advanced to second on a single by Claire though the right side. One batter later, Carignan reached first on a fielding error to load the bases with one out. But LIU's Evan Zerf stranded all three on with pop up to the second baseman and then one to centerfield to secure the 4-2 Blackbird victory.

With the loss, Ryan moves to 4-2 on the season as the Bulldogs fall to 1-11 when scoring two or fewer runs. At the plate, Carignan and Brown each accounted for an RBI while Claire paced the lineup with a 2-for-3 performance to go along with a run.

The Bulldogs return to action against Long Island Friday afternoon at the Bryant Baseball Complex. First pitch of the twinbill is slated for 2:00 p.m., and fans can watch all the action live at ww.bryantbulldogs.tv and track live stats at www.bryantbulldogs.com.