Baseball Captures Weekend Split with Wagner; Wins Game Two on Sunday

The Central Connecticut baseball team rebounded from a 1-0 extra-inning loss to Wagner in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday, and captured game two 10-5 to earn a weekend split of the Northeast Conference series. The two teams also split a doubleheader on Saturday. With the split the Blue Devils are now 7-8-1 overall and 5-3 in NEC action.

The Blue Devils dropped the first game 1-0 in extra innings. Neither team was able to score a run until the Seahawks plated one in the bottom of the ninth to earn the victory.

Sophomore righty Nick Neumann pitched 7.1 innings without allowing a run for the Blue Devils. He let up eight hits and struck out four while walking just one batter in the game. He faced more than four batters in an inning just once, and faced three in each of the first three innings.

Central had nine hits in the loss, including two from senior Pat Epps. The Seahawks had 10 hits, including the game-winner by Eddie Brown in the ninth inning. He had the only RBI in the game.

In game two, the Blue Devils fell behind 1-0 before scoring eight unanswered runs to take an 8-1 advantage. They scored two in the third, four in the fourth, one in the fifth and one more in the sixth to take the seven-run lead.

Six different Blue Devils drove in a run during the four-inning stretch. Freshmen Dylan DelaCruz and J.P. Sportman, along with juniors Mitch Wells and Jake Matuszak, sophomore Tyler McIntyre and senior Sean Miller-Jones each drove in a run for the Blue Devils.

Wagner scored two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to cut the lead to 8-4. Central added two in the ninth when Sportman scored on a wild pitch and Matuszak drove in his second run of the game, making it 10-4.

Epps finished the game with three more hits, and had five on the day.

Freshman Tom Coughlin started and pitched six innings to earn the victory. He allowed five hits and one earned run to pick up the first NEC win of his career.

Central returns to action on Tuesday afternoon on the road at Rhode Island beginning at 3:30 p.m.