Baseball Falls to Bryant in Thursday's Series-Opener

The Central Connecticut baseball team fell to Bryant, 16-4, in the opener of a three-game series Thursday at CCSU Baseball Field. CCSU used a three-run third inning to get within a run before the Bulldogs scored 12 unanswered runs to break open the game. The series is a matchup of the top two teams in the Northeast Conference entering the weekend.

Central slips to 15-13 overall and 5-5 in the NEC on the season, while Bryant improves to 26-12 overall and 8-2 in the NEC.

Due to the weekend's forecast the teams will attempt to play a doubleheader beginning at Noon on Friday. The series was originally scheduled to be single games on Friday and Saturday.

Sophomore TT Bowens drove in two runs for CCSU and sophomore Matt Bertochi drove in the Blue Devils' other run.

Bryant scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning and tacked on two more runs in the third inning to build a 4-0 lead.

Central would get to Bryant starter Steve Theetge with three runs in the third inning. Sophomore Peyton Stephens led off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. A groundout would move him to third before Bertochi doubled down the line in left to drive Stephens in and make it 4-1. Following a groundout and a walk to sophomore Sam Loda, CCSU would have runners on the corners. Bowens would hit a double down the right field line to drive in two runs and make it 4-3. 

The Bulldogs would pad their lead with three runs in the fifth before adding a solo homerun by Ryan Ward in the sixth to make it 8-3. 

Bryant, which hit four homeruns on the day, would break the game open with six runs in the seventh, including back-to-back homeruns by Sam Owens and Nick Angelini.

The Bulldogs added two runs in the eighth inning before CCSU closed out the scoring with a run in the ninth on an RBI-single by freshman Dylan Sanchez.

Theetge limited CCSU to four hits in 7.0 innings of work to get the win for Bryant. He struck out four and was charged with three runs.

Senior Tom Curtin started for Central and was charged with the loss. He gave up four earned runs in 6.0 innings of work, while striking out six batters.

Bryant collected 13 hits as a team and was led by Chris Wright and Angelini with three apiece. Wright scored three runs and knocked in two more, while Angelini drove in three runs and scored a pair.

The teams will try to wrap up the series with a pair of nine-inning games on Friday beginning at Noon.