Rios, Garofalo Lift Baseball by FDU on Friday

Sophomore Joe Rios hit a grand slam in the eighth to propel the Central Connecticut baseball team to a 10-6 win and remain alive in the Northeast Conference Tournament at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, CT, on Friday. Sophomore Luke Garofalo held the Knights scoreless over six innings of relief work as the Blue Devils would score eight runs over their final two at bats to advance in the postseason tournament.

The Blue Devils will play the lose of LIU-Bryant in an elimination game on Saturday.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE
Score: #3 CCSU 10, #4 FDU 6
Pitching Record: W: Garofalo (5-1) | L: Simon (4-4) | Sv: - -
Records: CCSU (29-17), BFDU (24-30)
Location: Dodd Stadium | Norwich, CT

KEY MOMENTS

• Junior Dan Covino drew a two-out walk in the top of the first and classmate Noah Martinez promptly crushed his 15th homerun of the year over the fence in right to give CCSU an early 2-0 lead.
• In the bottom of the first, FDU took advantage of a CCSU error on what could've been a double-play grounder to then load the bases after a hit by pitch. A walk to George Rosales and base hit by Brelon Harden brouht home two runs to tie the game with no outs. David Brodieri hit a sacrifice fly to bring home another run and put the Knights on top, 3-2.
• A pair of CCSU miscues in the second led to another Knights run. Justin Sierra reaached via an erro and after stealing second he scooted to third on an error on the play. He came home on a double by Tom Ruscitti to make it 4-2.
• Bordieri hit a two-run homer in the third inning to push the FDU lead to 6-2.
• After the homerun in the first, FDU starter Joey Kosowsky allowed just four hits through the seventh inning and retired 11 of 12 Blue Devils in a row. Central got a leadoff double by sophomore Hunter Pasqualini in the eighth and he would score on a single by senior Jay Devito. Following a hit by pitch and a single, the Blue Devils would load the bases with two outs. FDU would bring on Jake Simon to face sophomore Joe Rios who would connect on the first pitch he saw, hitting a grand slam to put CCSU ahead 7-6.
• Central added three runs in the ninth with Covino singling in two runs and senior Sam Loda driving home another to make it 10-6. Sophomore Luke Garofalo would walk two in the ninth, but would work his sixth shutout inning to earn the win.

NOTES

• Central won its seventh straight elimination game at the NEC Tournament.
• Garofalo went a career-high 6.0 innings in the win. He did not allow a run, while striking out seven and giving up just two hits in relief.
• Pasqualini extended his on-base streak to 44 games with his double, while Devito reached base for the 39th straight game.
• The Blue Devils won for the third time this season when trailing after seven innings. The scored eight runs in the eighth and ninth to beat Marish 11-10 on May 17 and defeated FDU 9-7 in 13 innings on May 29 after trailing 5-3 after seven innings.
• Sophomore Dominic Niman started for Central, but lasted just 3.0 innings - his shortest outing of the season. He was charged with four earned runs on five hits, while striking out one and walking two.
• After issuing 10 walks on Thursday, the Blue Devils issued five walks on Friday marking its highest consecutive game total since March 26-27 (15 at Wagner).
• Central committed more than two errors in a game for just the seventh time this season and equalled a season-high.
• The Blue Devils have an all-time record of 36-25 in the Northeast Conference Tournament.
• Central has a 18-6 record since April 12.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils will play the loser of LIU-Bryant in an elimination game on Saturday. The game will be played after the conclusion of game 4 which was halted in the 11th inning on Friday night and will resume at 2:00 p.m. Saturday