May 7, 2006

Final Stats

BRIDGEPORT, CT - Sophomore outfielder Jay Schillaci had four hits and three RBI to lead the Central Connecticut State University baseball team to a 9-5 win over Sacred Heart University in a Northeast Conference tilt Sunday night.

Central scored a run in the first without the benefit of a hit when Richie Tri led off the game by drawing a walk. He went to second on a wild pitch, third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Sean Salvatore (W. Haven, CT).

The Blue Devils made it 2-0 in the second when John Romano doubled home Jay Schillaci, who had singled with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch. The Pioneers got a run back in the bottom of the frame when they loaded the bases with no one out and Jason Maiella scored on a ground out by catcher Jamie Morales. SHU squandered a chance for a big inning when Pete Kandybowicz grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Central scored twice more three runs with two outs in the third to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Tri drew a walk to lead off the inning and, after the next two hitters were retired, when to second when Adam Taha also walked. Matt Memoli followed with a triple to right to score both runners. Schillaci then singled to score Memoli and end the day for Pioneer starter Chris Howard.

Sacred Heart scored twice off CCSU starter Adam Piechowski in the bottom of the third. Bobby McKee, Josh Enos and Jeff Hanson led off with consecutive singles. Hanson's hit drove home McKee and he took second on the throw. Enos scored on a sac fly by Maiella but Piechowski was able to work out of further trouble.

Single runs in each of the next three innings put the Blue Devils ahead 8-3 and Piechowski settled down to keep the Pioneers off the board with the help of three acrobatic catches by his defense. With Jeff Hanson on second and one out in the fifth, Taha made a diving catch of a line drive to left hit by Maiella to rob him of a hit. Second baseman Seth Brown did the same thing to the next batter, Rob Tencza, to end the inning. In the sixth, Tri made a diving grab of a ball hit to deep center to rob Dave Kaloyanides of extra bases and an RBI.

Piechowski ran into trouble in the seventh with McKee, Enos and Hanson again getting consecutive singles, scoring a run and having runners at the corners with no outs. A wild pitch sent Hanson to second and an infield hit by Maiella cut the CCSU lead to 8-5 and ended the night for Piechowski.

Evan Scribner, who pitched a seven-inning complete game on Saturday, came on and got Rob Tencza to ground to third, putting runners on second and third with one out. He then struck out Tony Diaz and got Dan Garcia to fly to center to end the threat.

Central got the runs back in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Schillachi and a run-scoring groundout by first baseman Garrett Walker. SHU wasn't quite done, however, and a two-run single by Maiella in the bottom of the inning closed the gap to 10-7.

With two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the ninth, Scribner hit Kandybowicz and then an RBI single to McKee to make it 10-8. The right fielder misplayed the ball on the hit, allowing both runners to advance and put them on second and third. With the tying run at second, Scribner got Josh Enos to ground to short for the final out and end the game.

The Pioneers outhit Central 18-10, but left 14 runners on base.