Baseball Drops Game One, Game Two Suspended

The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped the first game of a weekend series vs. Sacred Heart on Thursday, losing 8-7 in 13 innings.  The second game of the doubleheader was suspended due to darkness and will be resumed on Friday at 1 p.m. in New Britain.  Central leads 4-3 in the top of the seventh inning.

The Blue Devils are now 24-19 overall and 12-9 in Northeast Conference play with the game one loss.  The Pioneers are now 26-24 overall and 12-9 in league action.

Game one was a wild 13-inning affair that saw the Pioneers score four two out runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the score 7-7 and send it to extra innings.  It remained tied until the bottom of the 13th when Ted Shaw tripled to deep left centerfield and then scored on a wild pitch from Central closer Josh Ingham.

Ingham had come on to pitch in the ninth inning with two outs and the bases loaded with the Blue Devils leading 7-3.  A pair of hits by the Pioneers cleared the bases and tied the game.

Central had taken a 6-3 lead with four-run top of the eighth inning, including a pair of unearned runs.  Five hits and an error in the inning led to a three-run lead for the Blue Devils.  They added a run in the ninth on to stretch the lead to four.

Sacred Heart's Jayson Sullivan, who would add a three-run double in the ninth inning, had a three run home run in the sixth that had given SHU the 3-2 lead.  A two-run home run from junior Dominic Severino gave Central the 2-0 lead in the fourth inning.  It was his second home run of the year.

Ingham drove in three runs in game one and Severino added two RBI.  Sophomore Connor Fitzsimons and freshman Nick Hayes each added an RBI in the loss.  The Blue Devils had 15 hits in the game while the Pioneers added 19.  The two teams combined to produce 15 runs and 34 hits in the 13 innings.

In game two senior Anthony Turgeon gave the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning with his first home run of the season.  Sacred Heart tied it up with two runs in the bottom of the first inning.

The Pioneers took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI single from Keith Klebart.

Central took a 4-3 lead in the sixth.  With one out Turgeon singled up the middle and then scored on a triple to right field from Ingham.  Ingham scored on a base hit to right from freshman Pat Sirois.  

Senior Tom Coughlin pitched the first five innings allowing three runs, all earned, on six hits while striking out three.  Freshman Matt Blandino pitched the sixth inning.

The game was suspended in the top of the seventh inning due to darkness.  It will resume on Friday at 1 p.m., and will be followed by game three of the series.