Baseball Splits Doubleheader at LIU Brooklyn

A complete-game by sophomore Matt Blandino and a five-run fourth-inning sparked the Central Connecticut baseball team in the second game of a doubleheader to earn a split against LIU Brooklyn at LIU Field on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils won the second contest of the day, 6-2, while the Blackbirds took the opener, 6-0.

With the split CCSU stands at 14-28 overall and 7-12 in Northeast Conference play. LIU Brooklyn is now 16-31 overall and 9-14 in the NEC. 

Game #1 CCSU 0, LIU 6:

LIU Brooklyn took the opening game of the day on the arm of Bobby Maxwell. Maxwell threw a complete-game two-hitter and got enough support to help the Blackbirds win Saturday's first contest.

The Blackbirds got two runs in the third inning and four more in the fifth to provide Maxwell all the support he would need. Tom Jakubowski's two-run single in the third opened the scoring and gave LIU a 2-0 lead.

LIU's loaded the bases to open the fifth inning with two singles and an error. Dom Paiotti drove in the first run of the inning with a ground out and Jakubowski followed with a fielder's choice to bring home another run. A single by Bobby Webb and double by Mark Hernandez drove in two more runs to give LIU a 6-0 lead.

Sophomore Tom Lanzoni and freshman Dylan Maher accounted for CCSU's two hits, while the Blue Devils' only other runner came via a walk drawn by freshman Dean Lockery.

Junior Casey Brown started for Central and threw 5.0 innings. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits, while striking out three and walking one.

Webb and Brian Lamboy each had two hits for the Blackbirds, while Jakubowski drove in three runs.

Game #2 CCSU 6, LIU 2: 

The Blue Devils bounced back with a win in the second contest after a five-run fourth inning gave Blandino enough support as he held the Blackbirds at bay.

Trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning the Blue Devils had their first seven batters reach safely after LIU changed pitchers to start the inning. Freshman Mike Arman walked to get things started and consecutive singles by senior Dominic Severino and freshman Dylan Maher loaded the bases with no outs.

Freshman Mitch Guilmette drew a walk and junior Connor Fitzsimons was hit by a pitch, each bringing home a run to give CCSU a 2-1 lead. Consecutive singles by sophomore Franklin Jennings and freshman John Lippincott each drove in a run to push the Blue Devils' lead to 4-1. Lockery drove in the last run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.

Jakubowski drove in a run in the fifth inning to cut the Central lead to 5-2, but the Blue Devils got the run back in the top of the seventh. Lockery led off with a single and moved to third on an error and a ground out. Following an intentional walk to set up the double-play, Maher scored Lockery with a ground out to make it 6-2.

The Blackbirds got runners to first and second in the seventh. After a fly ball to right field, the LIU runner tried to tag up, but junior Matt Martinez cut him down at third for the double-play and Blandino struck out the next hitter to end the game.

Jennings and Lippincott each had two hits and an RBI to lead the Blue Devils at the plate. Blandino scattered 10 hits over seven innings and recorded six strikeouts.

Maxwell started game two and did not allow a hit in three innings of work, while walking one and striking out one. Vincent Tranchina came on in relief and took the loss after not recording an out.

The four-game series concludes with a nine-inning contest on Sunday at 1 p.m.