Baseball Drops Two to Bryant to Open NEC Action
Teams will complete the weekend series with a pair of games on Saturday
The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped a pair of games to Bryant University to open Northeast Conference action on Friday in New Britain. The Blue Devils lost the first game 6-1 before dropping an 8-1 decision in game two. With the losses Central is now 5-9 overall and 0-2 in NEC action. Bryant improves to 12-4 overall and 2-0 in the league.
The two teams will complete the weekend series with a doubleheader on Saturday in New Britain beginning at 1 p.m.
The Blue Devils dropped the first game of the day, 6-1, vs. the Bulldogs. Central struck first in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI groundout from sophomore Ryan Costello that plated sophomore Dean Lockery. Lockery had singled to lead off the inning.
But the Bulldogs would answer and hold the Blue Devils scoreless the rest of the way as starter James Karinchak pitched seven innings allowing seven hits and just the one run while striking out eight to move to 4-1 on the season.
Central's senior lefty Casey Brown also pitched seven innings for the Blue Devils, scattering eight hits while allowing six runs, while just four of them were earned. He struck out one.
Lockery would pace the offense with a pair of hits for the Blue Devils, as did junior outfielder Tyler Coleman, but Central would strand 11 base runners in the game and drop the opener of the twinbill.
Bryant's Cole Fabio and Brandon Bingel each drove in two in the game one win.
In game two the Bulldogs struck first with one run in the third inning and then opened up a 6-0 lead with five runs in the top of the fifth inning.
The Blue Devils got a run back in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single from senior Connor Fitzsimons. The Bulldogs answered with two more runs in the top of the sixth inning to push the lead to 8-1.
Bryant had 13 hits in the second game, including the second home run of the day from Bingle. Fitzsimons had a pair of hits for the Blue Devils in the loss.
The two teams will complete the weekend series with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. in New Britain. The first game will be a seven inning game, followed by the finale which will be nine innings.