Baseball Drops Series-Opener at Bryant Friday
Blue Devils face Bulldogs in doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Central Connecticut baseball team fell at Bryant, 9-1, in the Northeast Conference series-opener on Friday afternoon at Conaty Park in Smithfield, RI. The series will continue with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Central is 19-28 overall on the year and 11-14 in the Northeast Conference. Bryant is 37-9 overall and 20-3 in NEC play.
The Bulldogs scored the first seven runs of the game, including a two-run first inning. Buck McCarthy hit a two-out double to drive in two runs and make it 2-0 in the bottom of the first.
Bryant added a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings. AJ Zarozny drove in a run with a two-out single in the fourth and Robby Rinn hit a solo homerun in the fifth to extend the home team's lead to 4-0.
Brandon Bingel led off the sixth with a homerun for Bryant to make it 5-0. Zarozny drove in a run on a fielder's choice and a double by Nick Angelini added another run as the Bulldogs went ahead 7-0.
Central got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh. Sophomore John Lippincott hit a one-out double down the left field line and moved to third on a single by senior Matt Martinez. Junior Nick Landell followed with a single to left to drive in Lippincott and make it 7-1.
Bryant closed out the scoring on a two-run homerun by Dan Cellucci in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-1.
The Blue Devils churned out 10 hits in the game, with Landell and sophomores Dean Lockery and Mitch Guilmette each collecting two hits.
Freshman Brandon Fox started for CCSU and was charged with seven runs over 5.2 innings and is now 1-4 on the year.
James Karinchak improved to 10-2 for Bryant after giving up just one run over 7.0 innings on nine hits. He struck out seven and did not walk any batters.
Angelini led the Bryant offense with four hits, while Cellucci and Zarozny had three hits each.
The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. Both games will be seven innings each.