Baseball Drops NEC Tournament Opener to Bryant

The Central Connecticut baseball team fell, 8-1, to top-seeded Bryant in the opener of the Northeast Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, CT. The Blue Devils return to action in the double-elimination tournament on Friday at Noon against the loser of the Fairleigh Dickinson-Sacred Heart game.

Central is now 23-33 on the season.

Bryant, the regular-season champions, opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Nick Angelini tripled with one out and came in to score on the next batter when Robby Rinn hit a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 1-0.

Central threatened to get on the scoreboard in the top of the second. A one-out single by senior Connor Fitzsimons and two walks to sophomore John Lippincott and junior Nick Landell loaded the bases for Central with two outs in the top of the second. James Karinchak managed to get Bryant out of the jam by inducing a groundout back to the pitcher. 

The Bulldogs doubled their lead in the second. AJ Zarozny led off with a single and stole second. A double to center field by Mickey Gasper brought Zarozny around to score and make it 2-0. 

Bryant pushed the game out of reach in the fifth with three runs. Angelini singled to lead off and came around to score on a two-run homerun to left field by Buck McCarthy making it 4-0. Back-to-back singles by Brandon Bingel and Zarozny and a walk to Gasper loaded the bases. Zach Wood hit into a fielder's choice up the middle, but Bingel was able to come home to make it 5-0.

After Central had loaded the bases in the second inning, Karinchak settled in for the Bulldogs and retired 13 of the next 14 batters he faced before the Blue Devils threatened in the sixth. Fitzsimons got hit by a pitch to lead off and moved to third on a double to right field by Lippincott with no outs. Karinchak got a pair of strikeouts and retired three straight to get out of the inning. 

The Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the seventh and two more in the eighth to build an 8-0 lead. 

The Blue Devils pushed a run across in the top of the ninth to account for the final score. Fitzsimons hit a double before freshman Chandler Debrosse came in to pinch run. With two outs, freshman David Balunek hit a pinch-hit single to left field to score Debrosse and make it 8-1.

Fitzsimons had a solid day at the plate for CCSU, going 3-for-3 with a double. Lockery and Lippincott added a double each. 

Junior Andrew Hinckley started for the Blue Devils. He was charged with six runs in 6.1 innings and struck out three, but walked four.

Karinchak finished the day going 7.0 innings for the win. He allowed three hits and recorded seven strikeouts with three walks. 

Zarozny had four hits for the Bulldogs, while McCarthy added three and drove in three runs. Bryant combined for 14 hits as a team.

Central returns to action against Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday, May 27, at Noon in an elimination game at Dodd Stadium. The game will be available live online at NECFrontRow.com.