Liberty Holds Off Baseball, 7-5, on Sunday

The Central Connecticut baseball team scored four runs in the ninth, but Liberty held on for a 7-5 win on the final day of Liberty Invitational on Sunday. Sophomores Dean Lockery and Ryan Costello each finished with three hits for the Blue Devils.

With the loss, Central slips to 5-6 overall. Liberty improves to 10-6 overall.

The game was a pitcher's duel for much of the afternoon. Liberty broke through with a single run in the bottom of the third. Payton Scarbrough led off with a single and advanced to third base after a walk and a sacrifice bunt. Will Shepherd singled to center field to drive in Scarbrough and give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

The Blue Devils leveled the score in the top of the fifth. Junior Franklin Jennings drew a one out walk and moved to third on a double by Lockery. Sophomore Dylan Maher grounded out to second base to drive in Jennings and tie the game at 1-1.

Liberty erupted for six runs in the eighth inning to break the deadlock. The Flames loaded the bases with no outs, and consecutive singles from Nick Walker and Shepherd drove in three runs to make it 4-1. Following a pitching change, Dalton Britt tripled to drive in two more runs and a sacrifice fly by Sammy Taormina brought him home to make it 7-1.

Central would mount a rally in its last at bat in the top of the ninth. Sophomore John Lippincott led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. A single by freshman Ken Wright would put runners on the corners. Another wild pitch allowed Lippincott to score and Wright to move to second base. Sophomore Nick Garland drew a walk after a pitching change and another walk to Jennings would load the bases with one out. Lockery delivered a single to center field to drive in two runs and cut the CCSU deficit to 7-4. Another single by Costello two batters later would drive in Lockery to make it 7-5 and put runners on the corners, but Liberty managed to get out of the inning without further damage and close out the win.

Lockery finished the day 3-for-5 with two runs batted for CCSU. Costello went 3-for-4 with an RBI and senior Matt Martinez had two hits of his own as the Blue Devils finished with nine hits as a team.

Junior Brett Susi started for Central and was strong through six innings. He fell to 2-1 on the season after finishing with 7.0 innings and allowing six runs on nine hits with two walks and a strikeout.

CCSU returns home on Tuesday, March 15, and will host Albany on CCSU Baseball Field at 3:00 p.m.