Baseball Plays to 3-3 Extra Inning Tie Against Hartford on Wednesday

The Central Connecticut baseball team played to a 3-3 11-inning tie on Wednesday in its home opener against Hartford. The game was called because of darkness following the 11th inning. Central moves to 0-2-1 while the Hawks are now 0-4-1 on the year. The Blue Devils return to action this weekend, with two games each vs. Binghamton and George Washington.

The Hawks got on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. Simon Kudernatsch and Victor Santana each drove in a run in the inning off of Blue Devil starter Roy Natoli.

Central cut the lead in half in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded an no one out, a fielder's choice by freshman Anthony Turgeon scored the first run of the game for the Blue Devils and made it 2-1. The Hawks would escape the inning allowing just the one run.

The Blue Devils tied it at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single from junior Mitch Wells. Senior Sean Miller-Jones led off the inning with a single, went to second on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Tyler Caserta, and then scored on the single to center field by Wells.

The Hawks took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning off of Blue Devil freshman reliever Nick Boyd. With one out, James Alfonso singled to center field plating Kudernatsch who led off the inning with a single.

With two outs and a man on third in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Blue Devils tied the score 3-3 on a fielding error by the Hawks.

In the bottom of the 11th the Blue Devils put men on first and second with back-to-back singles from Miller-Jones and Caserta but were unable to score a run. The game was called following the inning because of darkness.

Natoli went 6.2 innings, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out five Hartford batters. After allowing two runs in the third inning Natoli retired 15 straight Hartford batters before allowing a pair of hits with two outs in the seventh inning. He did not factor in the decision.

Boyd went the final 4.1 innings for Central allowing just one run and three hits while striking out three.

The Blue Devils return to action this weekend, with two games each vs. Binghamton and George Washington.