Rinn joins 200-hit club as Bulldogs down CCSU, 8-1

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Junior Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.) allowed one run on three hits over six innings and senior Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) collected his 200th career hit to lead the Bryant University baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Central Connecticut with a 8-1 win in game two on Friday afternoon at the CCSU Baseball Field.

The Bulldogs (12-4, 2-0 NEC) have now won three-straight games and are off to a 2-0 start in league play for the fourth time in the last five years. The Blue Devils (5-9, 0-2) have now lost seven of their last eight games after starting the season 4-2.

Leading 1-0 in the fifth, Bryant was able to score five runs all with two outs to break the game open. Junior Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) beat out a potential inning-ending double play to keep the inning going and the Black and Gold followed with four-straight two-out hits. Junior Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) doubled to right-center to score Fabio and senior Rinn brought home Albanese with a double to the base of the right field wall. Senior Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) added an RBI single to center and Bingel capped the inning as he swatted a two-run home run inside the right field foul pole to make it 6-0.

Bryant tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning to complete its scoring. Junior Jacob Marotta (Bridgewater, Mass.) and senior Dan Cellucci (Sudbury, Mass.) single to open the inning and junior Joe Paparelli (Preston, Conn.) advanced both with a sac bunt. Fabio followed with a two-run single back up the middle to make it 8-1.

Bingel was solid on the mound for the Black and Gold, allowing just one run on three hits over six innings to earn his third win. He walked two and struck out four. He worked out of a jam in the second thanks to a nice play from Albanese in center. The first two Blue Devils reached but Bingel rebounded to strikeout Tyler Coleman looking for the first out. Franklin Jennings then hit a shallow fly to center that Albanese made a running grab on and then threw to second to double off the runner. Senior Michael Marshall (Maynard, Mass.) worked out of a bases-loaded jam to toss a scoreless seventh to close the door.

Rinn became just the fourth player in Bryant DI history to record 200 career hits with a double in the first inning. He joins, Kevin Brown, Jamie Skagerlind and John Mullen as the only four. Rinn is the 17th player in program history to accomplish the feat. He finished 2-for-3 with two doubles, Albanese had two hits and two RBI, Bingel had two hits and two RBI, Marotta had his first-career multi-hit game and Cellucci finished with two hits and two runs scored.

Andrew Hinckley started for CCSU and suffered the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits over 4.2 innings. He walked one and didn't post a strikeout. Connor Fitzsimons had two hits and drove in the only Central run with a double in the fifth.

The Bulldogs and Blue Devils will wrap up their series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.