Zarotney's Grand Slam Sends Central to Winner-Take-All Game on Sunday in NEC Tournament

Senior outfielder Kyle Zarotney hit a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead the Central Connecticut State University baseball team to a 9-6 victory over Sacred Heart in the Northeast Conference baseball tournament on Saturday. The win forces a winner-take-all game on Sunday at noon, also against the top seeded Pioneers. Zarotney's home run was his second of the day. He finished with eight RBI in the two victories, as Central improved to 32-21 overall on the season. Action begins on Sunday at 12 noon.

"Kyle's home run was huge, not only because it gave us the lead, but it gave us a three-run lead and some cushion in the ninth inning," head coach Charlie Hickey said following the victory. "This was what a championship game should be, back and forth, and both teams fighting to come away with the victory."

The Pioneers scored a single run in the top of the first inning on an RBI single from John Murphy. The Central offense answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to climb ahead 3-1 after one. Junior Pat Epps tripled to deep right center field to score two. After Epps was thrown out at the plate on a ground ball, sophomore Mitch Wells plated the third run of the inning with a double to deep left.

Sacred Heart got a run back in the third inning when Murphy drove in his second run of the game. With runners on first and third the Blue Devils turned a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.

Murphy drove in his third run of the game to tie the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning. The Pioneers added a pair of runs in the sixth inning to take a 5-3 lead. The Blue Devils issued four walks in the inning, and the Pioneers had just one hit and a sacrifice fly to take the two-run advantage.

Senior Tommy Meade hit his 10th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game at 5-5. Meade's homer plated Epps who had led off the inning with a walk.

"Tommy stepped up and hit a big home run to tie the game for us," Hickey said. "There were some times when we looked like we might be falling apart at the seams, but we were able to pull it together and stay within striking distance and come away with the win."

The Pioneers retook the lead in the eighth inning. They loaded the bases with no outs on a double, error and a walk. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Steve Tedesco gave SHU the 6-5 lead. Senior lefty Donny White got out of the inning after a runner was thrown out at the plate and he got Jeff Heppner to fly out to left field.

"The eighth inning was huge for us, and we had some guys make some big plays. Donny did a good job of settling down, even with the bases loaded and noone out," Hickey said. "To hold them to one run in that situation was a good confidence boost for our team."

Zarotney hit his second home run of the day, a grand slam, to give the Blue Devils the 9-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. He hit a three-run homer in the first game victory over Wagner earlier in the day.

White picked up the victory in relief. He pitched 2.2 innings of relief to improve to 4-1 on the season. He allowed just one run and struck out one. Sophomore Roy Natoli picked up his second save of the season pitching the final inning.

The win moves the tournament to a winner-take-all single game on Sunday at 12 noon. The winner of Sunday's game will earn the NEC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, beginning next weekend.