Baseball Swept in Saturday Doubleheader at Bryant

The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped a pair of games at Bryant on Saturday at Conaty Park in Smithfield, RI. The Bulldogs took the first game, 9-4, in nine innings and won the seven-inning contest, 4-0. The teams will play another double-dip on Sunday at noon with a seven inning game followed by a nine-inning game.

Central slips to 13-21 overall and 8-11 in Northeast Conference play, while Bryant is 24-16-1 overall and 15-5 in league play.

GAME 1: Bryant 9, CCSU 4
The Bulldogs scored all of their runs in the second, third and fourth innings en route to taking the day's first game.

CCSU got a sing from Christian Layne in the first to get things started. Back-to-back errors by Bryant allowed him to come across to make it 1-0.

Malik Daley singled in a run for Bryant in the second to tie the game. The Bulldogs then posted a three-run third to take the lead. Back-to-back singles put two runners on for Mickey Gasper who hit a homerun to make it 4-1. 

Bryant tacked on to its lead with five runs in the fourth. The first three runners reached base and a triple by Sam Owens drove in two runs. After a fly out, the Bulldogs got three straight hits and a walk, resulting in a pair of runs. An RBI-ground out closed out Bryant's scoring in the inning to make it 9-1.

The Blue Devils chipped away at the deficit with a three-run fifth inning. Freshman Sam Loda led off with a single and advanced on a groundout. A bunt single by Layne put runners on the corners before a ground out by sophomore Buddy Dewaine drove in the first run. A single by senior Nick Garland plated two more runs to make the score 9-4.

Central would put runners on second and third in the sixth and seventh innings, but Bryant managed to work out of trouble in both innings without allowing any runs and protect its lead.

Layne had two hits and scored two runs for the Blue Devils. Loda and freshman Peyton Stephens each added two hits, while Garland drove in two runs. 

Sophomore Brandon Fox started and went 4.0 innings for CCSU, recording three strikeouts. Junior Mike Appel came on in relief and allowed just two hits over 4.0 innings. 

GAME 2: Bryant 4, CCSU 0
Bryant shut out the Blue Devils, 4-0, in the day's second game. 

The Bulldogs scored a pair of unearned runs in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Bryant doubled the lead in the third with a two-run single by Owens to close out the scoring. 

The Blue Devils were unable to push a runner past second base on the day as Tyler Mattison tossed a complete game for Bryant. He scattered four hits over seven innings.

Layne had two hits for CCSU. Senior Kyle Anderson started and was charged with two earned runs over 3.0 innings. Sophomore Andrew Braun tossed 3.0 shutout innings.