Pitching leads way Sunday, Bulldogs off to best start in school history

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Junior Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.) tossed five innings of one-run ball and sophomore Justin Snyder (Georgetown, Mass.) struck out five over 2 1/3 innings of relief to lead the Bryant University baseball team to a 3-1 victory over Penn St. on Sunday afternoon at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C.

With the victory, the Bulldogs improve to 4-0 for the first time in school history. The Nittany Lions fell to 2-2 with the loss.

Playing just 10 hours after the completion of their 17-inning, 6-plus hour marathon on Saturday night, the Black and Gold rode their pitching staff to victory on Sunday. Bingel gave Bryant five strong innings to start, allowing a single run on five hits with four strikeouts. From there, head coach Steve Owens pieced together the final four innings with a combination of four different arms.

Sophomore Matt Knych (Manville, R.I.) started the sixth inning and recorded the first out. Freshman Craig Lacey (Westfield, Mass.) then entered with a man on second and walked the first batter he faced before inducing a fielder's choice for the second out. Snyder was then summoned and struck out Ryan Sloniger to end the threat. He then worked around a pair of two-out baserunners in the seventh before striking out the side in the eighth. Snyder handed the ball to classmate Logan Lessard (Cromwell, Conn.) and the lefty did the rest, working around a one-out walk to secure his second save of the weekend.

Bryant's pitching staff was dominant over the final 21 innings of the Penn St. Baseball Tournament. The Bulldog hurlers allowed just one run on 13 hits, walked 13 and struck out 19.

Bryant found energy early on Sunday, scoring the game's first run in the first inning. Junior Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) legged out a triple to left field and came around to score on a sac fly from senior Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.).

The score remained 1-0 until the fifth inning when the Black and Gold were able to push across a second run. Bingel and classmate Joe Paparelli (Preston, Conn.) led off the inning with singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. A fielder's choice and a ground out put runners on second and third and Paparelli eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

Penn St. responded with a single run of its own in the bottom of the frame. Conlin Hughes stroked a two-out double, stole third and came around to score on a single from Jim Haley to make it 2-1.

The Black and Gold tacked on a key insurance run in the ninth to make it a 3-1 game. Senior Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) singled with one out, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on a sac fly from Bingel.

Paparelli led the Bryant offense, going 3-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base on Sunday. Albanese also chipped in with a pair of hits.

Nick Hedge started for Penn St. and suffered the loss, allowing two runs on five hits over four innings. Three Nittany Lion relievers combined to allow just one unearned run on three hits over the final five innings. Haley paced the offensive attack with three hits and an RBI.

The Bulldogs return to the diamond on Friday, Feb. 26 when they travel to San Diego, Calif., to compete in the first-ever Tony Gwynn Classic. Bryant will face tournament host San Diego State on Friday night at 9:00 p.m. EST.