Baseball Drops First Round NCAA Tournament Game to Florida State on Friday Afternoon

The Central Connecticut State University baseball team dropped its opening game of the 2010 NCAA Baseball Championship to Florida State on Friday afternoon in Norwich, CT. Central, the 2010 Northeast Conference Champion, dropped a 11-3 decision to the Seminoles in their first NCAA game since 2004. The loss drops Central to 33-22 on the season, and snaps a three-game winning streak. The Blue Devils will face UConn at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Florida State scored first in the bottom of the first inning off of junior lefty Dave Krasnowiecki. James Ramsey singled in a run with men on first and third. A double play ball ended the threat for FSU in the first inning.

Central took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning when they scored twice off of Seminole starter Brian Busch. With men on second and third and one out, sophomore Danny Hickey's sacrifice fly scored classmate Mitch Wells who had singled to lead off the inning. With two outs senior Sean Allaire singled to left field to score the second run and give the Blue Devils their first lead off the game.

The Seminoles answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, and men on secod and third, Mike McGee singled up the middle to plate both runners and give FSU a 3-2 lead.

Central cut the lead in half in the seventh inning, on an RBI double to deep left center by Hickey.

Three runs in the seventh inning for the Seminoles pushed the lead to 7-3. Krasnowieki's outing came to a close after six plus innings, seven runs and eight hits while striking out four FSU batters. Four more runs in the eighth inning made it 11-3.

Hickey ended the game with a pair of RBI in the loss for the Blue Devils. Krasnowiecki falls to 7-3 on the season with the loss.

Central advances to the 2 p.m. game on Saturday afternoon and will face UConn, a 5-3 loser to Oregon in the second game of the day. FSU advances and will face Oregon at 6:30 p.m.