Baseball Wins First of Season at Central Arkansas on Saturday

The Central Connecticut baseball team used an early lead and solid pitching to take a 7-2 win at Central Arkansas on Saturday night in Conway, AR. Jackson Haker hit a homerun for the second straight game, while Brady Short led off the game with his first homer of the year. CCSU pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts, including seven by starter Vincent Borghese.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE

Score:  CENTRAL CONNECTICUT 3, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 4
Pitching Record: W: Borghese(1-0) | L: Macrae (0-2) | Save:  - - 
Records: CCSU (1-1,  0-0 NEC), UCA (4-5, 0-0 Atlantic Sun)
Location: Bear Field | Conway, AR

KEY MOMENTS

• Central put up three runs in the opening frame, beginning with a leadoff homer to right by Short. Gianno Merlonghi followed with a single and scored two batters later on Haker's homerun to right to make it 3-0.
• The Blue Devils would tack on five more runs in the top of the fourth. Antonio Ducatelli led off with a walk and advanced on a sacrifice. A single by Merlonghi would plate him to make it 4-0. Three straight singles, including RBI-knocks by Haker and Bo Yaworski would push the lead to 6-0. Matt Falk would hit a bases loaded groundout to make it 7-0.
• That would be all the support Borghese would need as he held the Bears to just two hits in the opening four frames. UCA would get a leadoff homerun by Zeb Allen in the fifth, but that was all they could manage on Borghese.
• UCA got an RBI-single from Jagger Schattle in the seventh to make it 7-2. The Bears would load the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Wyatt Cameron came on and retired four straight batters to finish the game.

NOTES

• Haker had two hits and three RBIs, with two runs scored.
•  Merlonghi scored a pair of runs and had three hits.
• Short, Yaworski and Chris Brown each added two hits.
• Borghese made his first start at CCSU and tossed 5.0 innings. He allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts.
• Nick Murphy, Brock Pare and Wyatt Cameron combined for 4.0 innings in relief, allowing just one run with six punchouts.
• The programs have split their first two all-time meetings.

UP NEXT

• The teams conclude the series on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. EST.

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