Baseball Drops Pair on First Day of Liberty Invitational

The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped a pair of games on the opening day of play at the Liberty Invitational in Lynchburg, VA, on Friday. The Blue Devils fell to Evansville, 5-0, in the opener, before being stopped by Liberty, 5-1, in the day's second game.

Central falls to 4-5 on the season and will play Evansville on Saturday night.

Game 1: Evansville 5, CCSU 0

Junior Andrew Hinckley started for CCSU in a game that started as a pitching duel as both starting pitchers were perfect through the first two innings. The Purple Aces managed to break through first and got on the board in the top of the third inning. Travis Tokarek was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt. Nate Reeder drew a walk to put runners on first and second base before Trey Hair doubled to left center with two outs to clear the bases and put Evansville ahead 2-0.

The Blue Devils threatened in the bottom of the fifth. Senior Corey Lerche drew a leadoff walk, before junior Nick Landell walked and junior Franklin Jennings reached with two outs to load the bases. Patrick Schneiders induced groundball to third base to end the inning and escape unscathed.

Central loaded the bases again the seventh after senior Matt Martinez walked and classmate Connor Fitzsimons singled to lead off the frame. Following a strikeout, Jennings reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases, but Central was unable to push a run across and the Purple Aces took advantage in the next inning. A two-out single by Boomer Synek plated a run in the top of the eighth to make it 3-0. 

Evansville tacked on two runs in the top of the ninth after Shain Showers and Eric McKibban each had run-scoring doubles with no outs to make it 5-0.

Hinckley turned in a strong outing for CCSU going 7.0 innings, allowing two runs on just one hit. He struck out five and walked just one, but fell to 1-1 on the season with the loss.

Fitzsimons, junior Tyler Coleman and sophomore Dylan Maher each had a hit for the Blue Devils.

Schneiders threw 7.0 shutout innings for Evansville. He allowed three hits, walked three and struck out 10. Five different players had a hit for the Purple Aces, including Hair who drove in two runs.

Game 2: Liberty 5, CCSU 1

The Flames took a quick lead in the day's second game, scoring a run in the bottom of the first. D.J. Artis led off with a single and then stole second base before moving to third on a groundout. He came in to score on a ground out by Dalton Britt to make it 1-0.

Liberty added to its lead in the third after Will Shepherd doubled and Britt followed to put runners on first and third with one out. Andrew Kowalo drove in a run on a single to make it 2-0.

Sophomore Dean Lockery singled with one out for the Blue Devils in the fourth. With two outs, Hinckley put the ball in play and reached on an error, which allowed Lockery to come around to score and make it 2-1.

The score would stay the same until the bottom of the bottom of the seventh. The Flames loaded the bases with one out and Britt would double to right field and clear the bases to make it 5-1.

Freshman Brandon Fox started for Central. He went 6.1 innings and was charged with five runs, while striking out four batters. Junior Adam Neveski threw 1.2 innings in relief and allowed one walk with a strikeout.

Lockery finished 2-for-4 for Central and scored a run. Hinckley, Jennings and sophomore Nick Garland each added a hit.

Evan Mitchell threw a complete game for Liberty. He allowed one unearned run on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Britt powered the offense with two hits and four runs batted in.

The Blue Devils are back in action on Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. when they face Evansville.