Baseball Wins in the 9th on Sunday Against Wagner

The Central Connecticut baseball team erased a four-run deficit and scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to rally past Wagner, 7-6, on Sunday in Northeast Conference action at CCSU Baseball Field. Senior Dean Lockery had four hits on the day, including a bunt single in the bottom of the ninth which led to the winning run coming around to score. Junior Jared Gallagher tossed two innings in relief, allowing just a walk, to pick up the win.

Central improves to 10-17 on the year and 7-7 in the NEC, while Wagner is now 23-12 overall and 11-3 in the NEC.

CCSU trailed, 6-2, going into the bottom of the sixth before it began to rally with two outs. Freshman Christian Layne reached on an error and moved to second after Lockery drew a walk. Sophomore Chris Kanios followed with a double down the line in left that drove in both runners to cut the Wagner lead to 6-4.

The Blue Devils made it a one-run game in the seventh when freshman Jeremy Sagun's groundout allowed senior Andrew Hinckley to come home.

In the eighth, Lockery singled to lead off as the first four batters reached safely. Kanios would be hit by a pitch and sophomore Buddy Dewaine reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Senior Nick Garland drew a walk to bring home the tying run to make it 6-6. Wagner would escape the inning with three straight strikeouts leaving the game tied.

After Gallagher worked around a walk in the top of the ninth to keep Wagner off the board, CCSU capped its rally in the bottom of the inning for the winning run. Layne singled with one out to bring up Lockery. The senior laid down a well-placed bunt to the third base side and beat the throw to first. The ball got away at first base, allowing the streaking Layne to come around for the winning run, 7-6.

The Seahawks had built a comfortable lead after batting around in the fourth inning, scoring five runs. Anthony Godino hit a solo homerun with two outs in the sixth to push the lead to 6-2, but Wagner would manage to get just two baserunners in the final three innings.

Central opened the scoring in the third with two runs. Lockery doubled and moved to third on a ground out. Dewaine would walk and steal second to set the table for Garland. He would hit a single to right center plating both runners to make it 2-0.

Lockery went 4-for-5 with three runs on the day as CCSU banged out 13 hits. Layne added two hits and two runs scored, while Hinckley also had two hits at the plate. Garland drove in three runs, while Kanios knocked in a pair.

Gallagher went 2.0 innings to go to 2-0 on the year. He allowed just a walk, while striking out two batters.

The Blue Devils are back in action on Tuesday against Siena at 3:00 p.m.