BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (March 17, 2023) – In search of the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of its home opener, the Sacred Heart University baseball team loaded the bases with one out, but left them all out there. In the ninth inning on Friday afternoon, the Pioneers would make no such mistake. On the first pitch of the inning with a runner in scoring position, Justin Jordan (Darien, Conn.) poked the ball through the left side of the infield to chase home Mark Smith (East Haven, Conn.) from second base with the winning run at Veteran's Park, as Sacred Heart secured a 4-3 victory in its Northeast Conference weekend opener against Stonehill.
Earlier in the day, Sacred Heart (7-7, 3-1 NEC) built a 3-0 lead through the first four innings. In the bottom of the third inning, Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.) led off with a single to left field. Two batters later, Sam Mongelli (Marlboro, N.Y.) followed with a booming two-run homer to left field, his second of the season. In the fourth, Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.) worked a one-out walk and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to deep left by Smith.
Meanwhile, right-hander Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, N.J.) got off to a strong start on the mound for the Pios. He struck out six over five scoreless innings to start the afternoon, but then ran into trouble in the sixth. After a pair of singles on either side of a fielder's choice, Babuschak surrendered a pair of loud doubles: the first straight over the head of the center fielder by Trey Ciulla-Hall, and the second deep to left by Jack Marshall.
The game suddenly tied, head coach Pat Egan turned to right-hander Charlie Costello (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), who was nothing short of stellar out of the bullpen. Into the game with one out and the tying run in scoring position, Costello got Blaine Lidsky to pop up for the second out, but then surrendered a sharp single through the right side to Chris Roberti. However, Kovalchik charged hard from right field, gathered and fired a one-hop seed to cut down Marshall at the plate to end the inning and keep the game tied.
Costello (1-0) was lights out from there. He surrendered only one more hit and walked one, against three strikeouts, while throwing scoreless ball over the final 3.2 innings.
The Pios had a golden chance to strike for the lead in the eighth, as a pair of walks and a single by Ryan Donnelly (Fairfield, Conn.) loaded the bases with one away. After Kovalchik struck out for the second out, McGuire tried to surprise the Skyhawks with a squeeze bunt, but pushed the ball straight back to the pitcher instead, and SHU came away empty.
It was no harm, no foul though, as the red and white found the winning run after Costello put together a 1-2-3 top of the ninth. In the home half, Smith took a leadoff walk, which proved costly for Stonehill (1-10, 0-1 NEC). Mongelli advanced the runner with a sacrifice bunt, and then Jordan wasted no time. The SHU center fielder went with the first pitch he saw and knocked it through the left side of the infield. Smith easily beat the throw to the plate, and the Pioneers stormed out of the dugout to celebrate the win in their first home game of the season.
For Stonehill, the sixth-inning runs got Zach Gleason off the hook, after the right-hander surrendered three runs on six hits and three walks over four innings of work, though he also struck out five. Right-hander Joe Castrichini turned in 3.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts, and right-hander Matt Tyman (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing the run in the ninth.
The two teams will wrap up their three-game weekend series on Saturday, with a doubleheader at Yale. First pitch is set for noon at George H.W. Bush Field in New Haven.
