Baseball Wins on Walk Off in the 10th Against Wagner

The Central Connecticut baseball team defeated Wagner, 7-6, with a walk-off single from sophomore Jay Devito in the bottom of the 10th inning on Friday at CCSU Baseball Field. The Blue Devils rallied from deficits four times in the game, including the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. The win improves Central to 9-8 overall and 2-2 in the Northeast Conference, while Wagner slips to 6-15 overall and 2-2 in the NEC.

The Blue Devils and Seahawks will play on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Central erased its first deficit of the day in the bottom of the second. Sophomore Sam Loda singled to lead off and moved to second on a fielding miscue. He moved to third on a ball in the dirt with two outs before classmate Matt Bertochi singled to drive him in and make it 1-1.

The Seahawks scored a pair of runs in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead it would hold until the bottom of the fifth.

In the fifth inning with one out, junior Dave Matthews launched a homerun to right field, driving in sophomore Peyton Stephens to tie the game, 3-3.

Wagner retook the lead with two runs in the eighth inning before CCSU again rallied in the bottom of the inning. Junior Buddy Dewaine led off with a single and moved to second on a single by Loda. Sophomore Jake Siracusa followed with a bases-clearing double down the left field line to make it 5-5.

In the top of the ninth, the Seahawks got a sacrifice fly to take a 6-5 lead forcing Central to rally in its final at bat. In the ninth, Bertochi singled to lead off and moved to second on an error. A ground out would move him to third and set up the tying run on a sacrifice fly from freshman Dan Covino to force extra innings.

In the 10th, Dewaine was hit by a pitch to lead off before back-to-back singles by Loda and Siracusa loaded the bases. With one out, Devito laced a single to right field to bring home Dewaine for the 7-6 win.

Central banged out 12 hits as a team. Loda went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Matthews, Dewaine, Siracusa and Bertochi each collected two hits. 

Senior Tom Curtin started for CCSU and went 7.1 innings in a no decision. He allowed four runs while striking out four. Senior Jared Gallagher got the win after throwing 1.1 innings of shutout relief. He did not allow a hit and struck out two.

Wagner collected 12 hits as a team with Joe Silvestrone going 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs. Eric Ligda started and went 6.0 innings. He allowed three runs and struck out 11. Nick Robino took the loss allowing two runs in 1.1 innings of relief.