Baseball Falls at Iona, 5-4

The Central Connecticut baseball team fell at Iona in non-conference action at City Park in New Rochelle, NY, on Friday afternoon. A three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Gaels to a 5-4 win.

CCSU slipped to 12-25 on the year, while Iona improved to 13-31 overall.

The Blue Devils opened the scoring in the top of the second. Freshman Mike Arman led off with a walk and moved to third following a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. Junior Corey Lerche drove him in after grounding out to shortstop.

The Gaels took the lead briefly after scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth. Iona loaded the bases on sophomore Brett Susi with two outs and Jimmy Guiliano delivered a single to right field to drive in two and make it 2-1.

Senior Dominic Severino was hit by a pitch with two outs in the sixth and moved to second on a single by junior Ian Glassman. Arman drove in Severino with a single up the middle to tie it, 2-2. Iona pitcher Bill Maier managed to avoid further damage and left runners stranded on second and third.

Central regained the lead in the seventh after Lerche led off with a double. A bunt single by freshman Nick Garland put runners at the corners and a sacrifice fly by freshman Ryan Costello made it 3-2.

Central pushed across another run in the eighth when Severino drew a walk to lead off and moved to second on a sacrifice. A triple by Arman brought Severino home to make it 4-2.

The Gaels' rally started with a one-out walk to Matt Byrne. After a single moved him to third, he scored on an error. Another single brought home the tying-run before a walk loaded the bases with one out. A grounder by Jon Budesa brought home Matt Flannery for the 5-4 win.

Susi went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out two. Arman and Garland each collected two hits for CCSU, with Arman driving in two runs. Severino scored twice for the Blue Devils.

Maier stated and went 7.0 innings for Iona, while allowing three runs. John Nargoski pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up the victory. Flannery, Guiliano and Tyler Bruno each had two hits.

The teams return to action on Saturday when they will play a doubleheader at CCSU Baseball Field scheduled for 1 p.m.