Baseball Gets Split With Monmouth After Huge Comeback in Game Two

Central Connecticut overcame a 10-1 deficit in the second game of a doubleheader on Friday afternoon to manage a split on the day against Monmouth. The Hawks won the first game 5-2. In the second, Central scored four runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh inning to earn the 11-10 victory. With the split the Blue Devils are now 7-8 overall and 4-3 in the Northeast Conference. Monmouth stands at 7-11 and 3-4 in the league. The two teams will finish the weekend series with a single game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

In game one, Monmouth struck first in the top of the second inning when Tim McEndy hit a two out, two-run home run off Blue Devil sophomore starter Harry Glynne. They stretched the lead to 3-0 when Ryan Terry led off the third inning with a home run to left.

They lead stretched to 4-0 with a run in the fourth inning off reliever Dan Markoya. The Blue Devils answered in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Pat Epps led off the inning with a double, and scored on a double from senior Tommy Meade, making it 4-1.

The Hawks scored a run on a wild pitch in the fifth to make it 5-1. Meade drove in his second run of the game in the fifth inning making it 5-2.

Meade had a pair of RBI and two hits for the Blue Devils while Epps and junior Sean Miller-Jones each had two hits.

In the second game the Hawks scored three runs in the top of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. Meade drove in his third run of the day for the Blue Devils to cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the inning.

Monmouth added two runs in the third inning and another in the fourth to make it 6-1. Terry hit his second home run of the day in the fourth inning for Monmouth. Four runs in the fifth inning made it 10-1 in favor of the Hawks.

Central got a run in the fifth when senior Sean Allaire drove in Miller-Jones who had doubled with one out. They plated four in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 10-6. Allaire drove in his second run of the game and senior Anthony Scialdone had a two-RBI double to help Central cut the lead in half.

In the seventh Meade walked to lead off the inning and junior Mitch Wells homered to left center to make it 10-8. Freshman Chris Renzoni doubled off the center field wall and with one out and pinch-runner Tyler Casserta scored on a single from Miller-Jones, making it 10-9. Senior Kyle Zarotney and Allaire walked to load the bases before Miller-Jones scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 10-10. Epps singled through the left side to plate the game-winning run for the Blue Devils to earn the split.

Central and Monmouth will complete the weekend series with a single game at 1 p.m. on Saturday in New Britain.