Baseball Picks Up 6-5 Win Over Siena

The Central Connecticut baseball team jumped out to a quick lead and held off Siena, 6-5, on Tuesday afternoon at CCSU Baseball Field. The Blue Devils built a five-run lead and turned the game over to their bullpen to pickup the midweek victory.

Central improved to 15-20 overall on the year, while Siena is now 12-22 on the year.

Central used a three-run first inning to build an early lead. The Blue Devils drew two walks and had a hit batsman to load the bases with no outs. Siena managed to get a force out at home plate before back-to-back singles by sophomores Dylan Maher and John Lippincott drove in runs to make it 2-0. Sophomore Nick Garland followed with a fielder's choice to drive in another run and give CCSU a 3-0 lead.

Siena scored a run in the second to trim the deficit. Fred Smart led off with a double and after an error moved him to third base he scored on a fielder's choice by Alex Tuccio to make it 3-1.

CCSU added to its lead with three runs in the bottom of the third. Senior Corey Lerche singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. Maher drove him in with a double to make it 4-1. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases befor a wild pitch scored Maher

The Saints cut the Blue Devils' lead to a run in the fifth inning. Max Goione led off with a double and Dan Swain was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Jordan Bishop followed with a homerun down the right field line to make it 6-4. Fred Smart hit a one-out single and moved to second on a misplay. Dan Lowndes drove him in with a two-out single to cut the Central lead to 6-5.

The Central bullpen was able to shut down the Saints from there. Juniors Adam Neveski and Michael Pastore and sophomore Stanley Wolpiuk combined to allow just one unearned run on two hits and a walk, while striking out five over the final five innings. Wolpiuk finished off his first save by throwing a perfect inning after coming on in the ninth. Freshman Jared Gallagher started for CCSU and improved to 3-2 on the year. He allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits in four innings of work. He struck out four and walked two.

Maher went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and a run scored. Lerche added a pair of run scored and went 1-for-3 for CCSU. The Blue Devils batters drew eight walks and had a hit batter.

John Nolan started for Siena and went 3.0 innings. He allowed all six runs on four hits with four walks and one strikeout while falling to 0-2 on the year. The Saints relievers allowed just two hits over five innings, but walked four without allowing a run.

Smart had two hits for Siena and scored a pair of runs, while Bishop finished 1-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored. 

The Blue Devils host LIU Brooklyn in a four-game Northeast Conference series this weekend beginning with a nine-inning game on Friday, April 22, at 3:00 p.m.