Baseball Wins on Kanios' Homer in the 10th
The Blue Devils and Blackbirds wrap up the series on Sunday.
Sophomore Chris Kanios' homerun in the bottom of the 10th lifted Central Connecticut over LIU Brooklyn, 7-6, on Saturday in Northeast Conference baseball action at CCSU Baseball Field. The teams played their second extra-inning game in as many days and Kanios delivered his second walk-off hit of the season for the Blue Devils. The win moves Central to 12-18 overall and 8-8 in NEC play, while LIU is now 19-16 overall and 9-7 in league play.
The Blue Devils and Blackbirds wrap up the series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Kanios finished the day 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He also had a winning hit on a three-run inside-the-park homerun on March 25th to lift CCSU over Fairleigh Dickinson.
The Blue Devils banged out 13 hits as a team, with freshman Jeremy Sagun collecting three singles and two RBIs. Senior Dean Lockery, sophomore Buddy Dewaine and freshman Peyton Stephens each had two hits.
Senior Kyle Anderson started on the mound for Central and went 6.0 innings. He allowed two earned runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts, but did not figure in the decision. Junior Tom Curtin pitched an inning in relief for the win. He allowed one hit with one strikeout.
Central trailed by two runs until getting on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. Stephens laced a one-out double to left center and scored on Sagun's single up the middle to make it 2-1.
CCSU would take the lead with a pair of runs in the fifth. Lockery doubled down the line in right and would score on Dewaine's single up the middle with one out to tie the game. Dewaine moved to second on a groundout and would score on a two-out single by freshman Jake Siracusa to make it 3-2.
Stephens tripled with one out in the sixth inning and would come home on Sagun's single to make it 4-2.
The Blackbirds cut the deficit to 4-3 with a run in the seventh, but CCSU would come back with two runs in the eighth. Kanios and Lockery each drew walks with two outs to set the table. Freshman Christian Layne hit a high fly ball to right, but the wind would make it tough to play and it dropped for a single allowing both runs to score and give Central a 6-3 lead.
In the top of the ninth, LIU strung together three straight hits with pinch-hitter Rob Griswold singling to score two runs and make it 6-5. With two outs, Anthony Warneke doubled to left and Griswold came around from first to tie the game.
In the bottom of the 10th, with one out, Kanios lofted a ball down the line in right field that stayed just inside the foul pole to win the game, 7-6, and set of a Blue Devils' celebration at homeplate.
The Blackbirds had 11 hits on the day, with Warneke collecting three hits and two RBIs. Zach Pederson started and went 5.1 innings, allowing four runs. Baylor Lapointe came on and tossed 4.0 innings in relief. He was charged with three runs, but struck out seven.
