Baseball Falls at Bryant in Series Finale Sunday

The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped the series finale at Bryant, 9-3, on Sunday at Conaty Park. The Bulldogs broke a 1-1 tie with a five-run sixth inning to pull away.

Central is now 20-30 overall and 12-16 in the Northeast Conference. The Blue Devils host Wagner next weekend in the final four-game series of conference play. 

Bryant struck first in the bottom of the third. AJ Zarozny was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and stole second before moving to third base on an infield single. Brandon Bingel hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Zarozny and make it 1-0.

The Blue Devils took advantage of a Bryant error to tie the game in the top of the fifth. Junior Nick Landell reached on an error with one out. After a single by sophomore Nick Garland, he moved to second and came home to score on a single by sophomore Dean Lockery to make it 1-1.

The Bulldogs broke the deadlock in the sixth, taking advantage of two CCSU miscues to score five runs. Bryant loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and an error. After a fly out, Zarozny drove in a run on an infield single to make it 2-1. With the bases still loaded, Cole Fabio hit a double just inside the left field line to clear the bases and make it 5-1. Nick Angelini hit into what looked like would be a fielder's choice at third base, but a throwing error allowed Fabio to come around and score to make it 6-1 before the Blue Devils would close out the inning.

Bryant added to its lead in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single by Dan Cellucci and a sacrifice fly from Fabio to make it 8-1.

Central trimmed the deficit in the top of the eighth. Garland led off with a single to center field. Junior Andrew Hinckley followed two batters later with a homerun to right center to make it 8-3. 

The Bulldogs got the run back in the bottom of the inning after stringing together three straight hits with two outs. Zarozny doubled to drive in Cellucci and make it 9-3.

Junior Brett Susi started for CCSU and threw 3.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits. Freshman Mike Appel took the loss for Central after allowing five runs, just three earned, on five hits in 3.0 innings. He struck out three and walked one.

Garland went 2-for-4 with a run scored for Central as seven different players collected a hit. Hinckley and Landell also scored runs. 

James Davitt started for Bryant and allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits in 7.1 innings. He struck out one and walked one. Landell had a stolen base.

The Blue Devils return to action on Tuesday at Hartford. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.