Baseball Falls at Wagner in Series Finale

The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped the series finale, 4-1, at Wagner on Sunday afternoon at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. Strong pitching, coupled with just enough offense helped the Seahawks earn a sweep in the Northeast Conference weekend series.

The loss dropped CCSU to 12-24 overall and 5-11 in NEC play, while Wagner improved to 20-15-1 overall and 9-3 in the NEC.

Wagner got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Nick Mascelli led off with a walk and moved to third on a single by Ben Ruta. Nick Dini drove in Mascelli with a single to left field. Dini moved to second after CCSU cut down Ruta trying to steal third base, but a single by Anthony Godino scored Dini to make it 2-0.

Central tried to get things going against Wagner starter Max Schmardel in the top of the sixth. Freshman Ryan Costello led off with a single and junior Connor Fitzsimons was hit by a pitch, which led to Schmardel being relieved. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third and a sacrifice fly by senior Dominic Severino cut the Seahawks' lead to 2-1. The Blue Devils were unable to drive in Fitzsimons however and Wagner got out of the inning.

The Seahawks got the run back in the bottom of the inning. Ruta and Dini both reached base to lead off the inning and a sacrifice bunt moved them to second and third. After an intentional walk, Zack Yesko singled to drive in two more runs to make it 4-1. The Wagner bullpen did its work the rest of the way, only allowing one CCSU runner to reach base over the final three frames.

Junior Casey Brown threw a complete game for the Blue Devils and recorded five strikeouts, but took the loss. Costello collected two hits and scored the CCSU run.

Dini and Yesko each had two hits for Wagner, which got just enough offense for Schmardel. Schmardel went 5.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits to get the win.

The Blue Devils' next game will be on Friday, May 1, at Iona at 1 p.m.