Baseball falls in series finale, 4-2

BULLDOGS DROP SERIES TO PIONEERS WITH 4-2 LOSS

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The No. 30 Bryant University baseball team dropped a 4-2 decision to Sacred Heart in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard.

With the loss, the Bulldogs (25-12-1, 13-3 NEC) lost their first Northeast Conference series since April of 2011 when they dropped a three-game series to LIU Brooklyn. The Pioneers (18-17, 14-6) have now won four of the last five games against the Bulldogs.

Sacred Heart jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Rocco Gondek started the rally with a ground ball inside the bag at third. The ball rolled into the Bryant bullpen, allowing Gondek to race around for a triple. Jesus Medina was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners and Jayson Sullivan scored the first run with a successful squeeze bunt. Keaton Flint followed with a single to center to make it 2-0.

Bryant immediately tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. Sophomore Daniel St. George (Shelton, Conn.) singled down the left field line to start the inning and freshman Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) followed with a sharp single off the foot of SHU starter Kody Kerski. Senior Adam Claire (Litchfield, Conn.) moved both into scoring position with a sac bunt and junior Jonathan Scott (Princeton, N.J.) brought home the first run with a ground ball to short. Sophomore Carl Anderson (Sudbury, Mass.) followed with a single up the middle to score Rinn to tie the game.

The Pioneers, however, continued to grind it out offensively, scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Back-to-back singles started the inning and Medina provided a clutch two-out single to left to break the 2-2 tie. In the sixth, a single and a hit by pitch put two runners on with one out. Following a strikeout, Brian Lamboy provided another two-out hit with an RBI single up the middle to make it 4-2.

The Bulldogs had their chances to get back into the game but left runners on base in the sixth and eighth innings. A two-out error kept Bryant's inning alive in the sixth but Kerski was able to get a strikeout to end the inning. In the eighth, senior Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.) and sophomore John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.) collected back-to-back one-out singles but Kerski battled back to get a fly out and a pop out to end the inning.

Making a spot start, redshirt-junior Vaughn Hayward (Glendale, R.I.) was strong in his first start of the season for the Bulldogs. He went 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on just two hits, walked three and struck out four. Hayward worked around three walks in the first inning, struck out two in a perfect second and worked around a one-out single in the third before hitting trouble in the fourth. His departure was followed by four different Bulldog hurlers. Junior Jonathan Cohen (Norwalk, Conn.) allowed a run on four hits in an inning of relief, sophomore Trevor Lacosse (Watervliet, N.Y.) allowed a run on three hits over 1.2 innings, freshman Kyle Wilcox (Sandy Hook, Conn.) worked 1.2 scoreless innings and senior Salvatore Lisanti (Bronx, N.Y.) got the final out of the eighth.

Offensively, Brown and Rinn both contributed a pair of hits on the afternoon.

Bryant returns home on Wednesday, April 24 when it hosts Connecticut. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Conaty Park.