Baseball stumbles against Siena

BULLDOGS DROP NON-CONFERENCE FINALE TO SIENA, 8-3

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Freshman Daniel St. George (Shelton, Conn.) had two doubles but the Bryant University baseball team walked nine batters and made four errors in an 8-3 loss to Siena on a dreary Tuesday afternoon at Conaty Park.

Eight of the Bulldogs' (28-18) nine hits came from four players as John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.), Jamie Skagerlind (Holden, Mass.) and Carl Anderson (Sudbury, Mass.) joined St. George with two hits, but it was not enough to overcome three early Saints (17-29) runs.

Meeting for just the second time, the Saints got out to a quick lead with three runs over the first two innings. A walk to Vincent Citro started the game and he eventually came around to score the first run on a wild pitch two batters later. The Saints tacked on two more in the third as Ryan Metzler and ripped a two-out RBI single and Tyler Bell followed with an RBI double to left to make it 3-0.

Siena built its lead to 8-0 with runs in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Brian Fay came through with a two-out, two-strike, two-run single in the fifth, Citro walked with the bases loaded to force in a run in the sixth and a wild pitch and an infield single plated the final two runs in the seventh.

Five different Saints pitchers were able to hold the Bulldogs off the board until the seventh inning. The Bulldogs did have their chances early on, however. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs in the first inning but came up empty and St. George started the second with a double to left-center but was left standing on third base after a lineout and a flyout.

The Bulldogs were finally able to scratch across a run in the bottom of the seventh. Anderson walked to lead off the inning and scampered over to third on a Dan Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) single to right field. Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.) then flew out to center to score Anderson and make it 8-1.

Bryant continued to rally over the next two innings, plating two runs in the eighth and loading the bases in the ninth. Skagerlind started the eighth with his team-leading 14^th double of the year and scored on a two-out double from St. George. Anderson followed St. George's double with a single to center to make it 8-3. In the ninth, a fielding error and singles from Mullen and Skagerlind loaded the bases with one out but Siena reliever Chris Kearney was able to induce a 6-3 double play to end the game.

Brian O'Neil (North Reading, Mass.) started on the mound for the Bulldogs and gave up three runs on three hits over four innings of work. Dan Walsh (Burlington, Mass.) and Ryan Granat (Long Valley, N.J.) combined to throw three scoreless innings of relief as the last two of five Bryant pitchers on the afternoon.

Bryant now turns its attention to the weekend and the pivotal Northeast Conference series against Monmouth. The Bulldogs and the Hawks are separated by just one game in the NEC standings and will meet four times this weekend starting on Friday at 3:00 p.m.