Baseball Forces Deciding Game With Win Against Wagner on Saturday

The top-seeded Central Connecticut baseball team forced a decisive championship game at the Northeast Conference Tournament with a 13-2 win over Wagner on  Saturday in Wappingers Falls, NY. Luke Garofalo made his first career start and allowed just six hits, while Kyle Gordon drove in four runs for the Blue Devils.

The teams will meet on Sunday at 12 p.m. in the deciding Northeast Conference championship game.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE

Score: #1 CCSU 13,  #2 Wagner 2
Pitching Record: W: Garofalo (4-0)  |  L: Chabot (2-3) | Sv: - -
Records: CCSU (35-12), Wagner (32-23)
Location: Heritage Financial Park | Wappingers Falls, NY

KEY MOMENTS

• Wagner would strike first in the top of the first. Griffin Selby singled in David Melfi to make it 1-0.
• CCSU responded in the bottom of the inning. Brady Short drew a leadoff walk and would score on a two-run homerun by Ramon Jimenez to make it 2-1.
• The Blue Devils added runs in the second after a single by Michael Torniero and double by Elliot Good put runners on second and third. Brady Short would push a grounder to first that was mishandled, but Short would score to make it 3-1. Kyle Gordon followed with a liner to right field to plate another run and make it 4-1.
• Jimmy Sullivan got things cooking for the Blue Devils in the third with a homerun to straightaway center field to make it 5-1. CCSU would eventually load the bases with two outs, but Wagner would avoid further harm getting an inning-ending ground out.
• The Seahawks got a run with two outs in the fourth. A walk to Dante Faicchio followed by a wild pitch put a runner on second. A single by Mateo Matthews plated the run to make it 5-2.
• The Blue Devils negated the Wagner run with a run of their own in the fourth. With runners on first and second and two outs, Torneiro laced a single into center field  to score a run and make it 6-2.
• Central would push the game into mercy-rule territory with a run in the fifth and six more in the sixth inning. A pair of unearned runs scored to open the sixth inning, followed by a RBI-single by Joe Rios to make it 10-2. A two-run single by Gordon and a RBI-groundout by Jeff Nicol made it 13-2.

NOTES

• CCSU is 3-2 in meetings during this season, and is 6-2 all-time in NEC Tournament meetings. Central is 73-37 all-time against Wagner.
• Luke Garofalo made his first career start and tossed 7.0 innings. The seven-inning complete game was the first by a CCSU pitcher since April 22, 2017, when Michael Delease went the distance against Bryant.
• Ramon Jimenez recorded a hit in nine straight at bats with his first inning home run.
• Torniero went 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.
• Gordon drove in four runs on two hits.

UP NEXT

The teams will meet on Sunday at 12 p.m. in the deciding Northeast Conference championship game.

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