CCSU and Sacred Heart Split Baseball Doubleheader in New Britain on Friday

Senior Jay Schillaci scored from second base on an infield fielder's choice to give the Central Connecticut baseball team a 10-9 victory in extra innings over Sacred Heart in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday. The Pioneers rebounded to claim the 9-5 victory in the second game to earn the split. Sophomore Pat Epps drove in four runs in the victory for the Blue Devils in game one. With the split the Blue Devils are now 13-10 overall and 3-4 in Northeast Conference play. The Pioneers are 12-17-1 overall and 3-4 in league action.

Central Connecticut struck first in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. A single by junior Anthony Scialdone scored classmate Sean Allaire who had singled to lead off the inning. With the bases loaded and no one out, the Blue Devils were unable to push another run across. A strikeout and a double play ended the inning.

The Blue Devils stretched the lead in the bottom of the third inning on a two-run single by junior Richie Tri. With the bases loaded and two outs Tri singled to left scoring a pair of runs. Junior Tommy Meade singled to center field plating the third run of the inning and making it 4-0.

Sacred Heart scored a run in the top of the fourth off of Kerski to cut the CCSU lead to 4-1. Ryan Lynch's RBI single scored the first run of the game for the Pioneers. They cut the lead to one with two runs in the fifth inning. An RBI double by Phil Tantillo scored the second run and an RBI single by Tyler Santos cut the Blue Devil lead to 4-3.

Central Connecticut responded in the bottom of the inning. Scialdone singled to lead off the inning and went to third on a wild pitch and an error on the catcher. He scored on a single to left by sophomore Pat Epps. Epps went to third on a wild pitch and a single by Schillaci. Epps scored on a double play ball to make it 6-3 in favor of CCSU.

The Pioneers plated five unearned runs in the sixth inning to take an 8-6 lead. A two-run single to left field by Lynch broke a 6-6 tie with two outs in the inning.

The Blue Devils tied it at 8-8 on a two-run triple by Epps in the bottom of the sixth inning. With two outs in the inning Epps drove the ball deep to right center to plate a pair and tie the game. Sacred Heart took a 9-8 lead in the top of the eighth inning, the first inning of extra innings, on a solo home run to left field by Jeff Hanson.

With one out in the inning Epps drove in Walko who had walked and went to second on a wild pitch. A long double by Epps, his fourth hit of the game, tied the game at 9-9. The winning run scored from second base on a fielder's choice off the bat of Meade. The attempted play at second base was unsuccessful and Schillaci scored, just ahead of the tag, from second base for the 10-9 win.

In the second game, the Blue Devils got on the board first with a single run in the first inning. Walko scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Meade to give the Blue Devils the 1-0 lead.

Sacred Heart took a 5-1 lead in the top of the second inning, highlighted by a two-run double from Hunter Phillips. Four hits against starter Taylor Kosakowski brought home five and gave the Pioneers the four-run edge. Central Connecticut got a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by freshman Mitch Wells to cut the lead to 5-2.

A solo home run by Tantillo upped the lead to 6-2 in the top of the fourth inning. Mike Olszyk hit a solo home run in the fifth to make it 7-2. Walko homered to center field in the fifth and a sacrifice fly by junior Kyle Zarotney made it 7-4 at the end of the fifth inning.

Two runs in the top of the sixth by the Pioneers made it 9-4. Epps hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 9-5. The home run gave Epps six hits in seven at-bats for the day, and it completed the cycle for the two-game span for the sophomore. He drove in five runs on the day.

The Blue Devils and Pioneers will finish their series with a scheduled nine inning game on Saturday at 12 p.m., also at Beehive Field.