Baseball Falls to Hartford in Home-Opener

The Central Connecticut baseball team scored three runs in the eighth inning, but the rally fell short as Hartford won, 11-9, on Wednesday at CCSU Baseball Field. The Blue Devils pounded out 12 hits on the day, led by senior Matt Martinez who had a four-hit day.

The loss snaps a three-game win streak for CCSU, which is now 4-3 on the season. Hartford improves to 6-1.

The Hawks scored a run in each of the first three innings to build a 3-0 lead before the Blue Devils got two runs back in the fourth. Sophomore Ryan Costello drew a one-out walk. Junior Andrew Hinckley followed with a homerun to left field to make it 3-2. Central put runners on second and third with one out, but the Hawks worked out of the jam without further damage.

The Blue Devils used a four-run fifth to take the lead after Hartford scored a run in the top of the inning. Junior Franklin Jennings led off with a single and was followed by junior Tyler Coleman who hit a blast to left field to tie the game at 4-4. Sophomore Dean Lockery walked and moved to third on a double by Costello. A wild pitch allowed Lockery to score and Costello to move to third base with one out to make it 5-4. A two-out single by Martinez plated Costello and put CCSU in front, 6-4.

The Hawks would answer with four runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh inning to go ahead for good. Billy Walker, Dalton Ruch and Aaron Wilson hit three straight doubles to begin the sixth inning and tie the game at 6-6. A single by Chris Sullivan scored Wilson and a throwing errror on the play allowed Chris DelDebbio to come home and make it 8-6.

Hartford added runs on a balk, an RBI single by Erik Ostberg and a run-down that allowed DelDebbio to score to extend the lead to 11-6.

Central rallied with three runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to two runs. Martinez and senior Connor Fitzsimons led off with back-to-back singles and put runners on first and third. An error allowed Martinez to score and Fitzsimons to move to third base. Jennings hit a sacrifice fly to bring Fitzsimons home and make it 11-8. The Blue Devils would load the bases with one out and Costello drew a walk to score junior Nick Landell and make it 11-9. 

John LaRossa would come in for the Hawks and force a double play to end the eighth, before striking out the Blue Devils in order in the ninth inning to end the game.

Martinez finished the day 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, while Fitzsimons would add two hits and a run scored. Coleman and Hinckley each drove in two runs with their first homeruns of the season. CCSU churned out 12 hits against the Hawks' pitchers.

Freshman Mike Appel started for Central and threw two innings. The Blue Devils would get work from seven pitchers, who combined to strikeout four Hawks in the game.

Wilson, DelDebbio, David MacKinnon and Ben Bengtson each had two hits for Hartford. Sullivan drove in three runs for the Hawks who totalled 13 hits as a team.

John Mormile started for the Hawks and struck out two in his only inning of work. LaRossa went 1.2 innings for the save and had the longest outing of any Hartford pitcher on the day.

The Blue Devils will return to action on Friday, March 11. Central will face Evansville at Noon before taking on Liberty at 5:00 p.m. Both games will take place in Lynchburg, VA, at the Liberty Baseball Invitational.