Niman Hurls Baseball by Sacred Heart on Thursday

The top-seeded Central Connecticut baseball team began its postseason with a 5-2 win over fourth-seeded Sacred Heart on Thursday at the Northeast Conference Tournament in Wappingers Falls, NY. Dominic Niman, the league's Pitcher of the Year, struck out a career-high 14 batters and allowed just three hits in seven innings.

The Blue Devils are the top seed in the NEC Tournament and will play the winner of the day's second game on Friday at 12:00 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE

Score: #1 CCSU 5, #4 SACRED HEART 2
Pitching Record: W: Niman (11-2)  |  L: McDowell (0-2) | Sv: Garofalo (11)
Records: CCSU (33-11), SHU (26-28)
Location: Heritage Financial Park | Wappingers Falls, NY

KEY MOMENTS

• The Blue Devils would load the bases with nobody out in the first, but came away without a run. The Pioneers took advantage in the top of the second when Ryan Donnelly hit a leadoff homerun over the right field fence to make it 1-0.
• The game was a pitchers' duel in the early going, with each team managing just two hits apiece through four  innings. Dominic Niman settled in following the home run and rang up nine strikeouts through his first five frames.
• Central would take advantage of a Sacred Heart miscue to take the lead in the sixth. A errant pick off throw at second base allowed Aidan Redahan and Jimmy Sullivan to advance to second and third base with two outs. A walk would load the bases before Michael Torniero beat out an infield single to plate the first run. Elliot Good would follow with a two run single to make it 3-1. Brady Short would make it three straight singles to load the bases before Dan Hussey was hit by a pitch to bring in another run to make it 4-1.
• The Pioneers got a run back in the eighth after Sam Mongelli led off with a single and after moving to second would score on a single by Justin Jordan to make it 4-2.
• The Blue Devils added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Torniero led off with a single. He moved up on a sac bunt and would score on a single by Short to make it 5-2.

NOTES

• CCSU won two of three meetings during the regular season and are 8-6 in NEC Tournament meetings. The Blue Devils have won six straight matchups in the conference championship.
• Niman posted his third game of double-digit strikeouts this season. He walked just two in the game and improved to 11-2 on the season.
• Luke Garofalo tossed 2.0 innings and closed out his 11^th save, a CCSU single-season record.
• Torniero added two hits and two runs scored for CCSU.
• Short went 3-for-4 at the plate as the Blue Devils banged out 11 hits as a team.
• Sullivan extended his hitting streak to 16 games and is batting .433 (26-for-60) with three home runs since his streak began on April 14.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils are the top seed in the NEC Tournament and will play again on Friday at 12:00 p.m.

Follow @CCSUBlueDevils on Twitter and CCSUBlueDevils.com for updates.