BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (May 10, 2024) – Two runs in the first and two more in the second wound up being plenty for the Sacred Heart University baseball team on Friday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park. Right-hander Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, N.J.) and left-hander Owen MacDonnell (Londonderry, N.H.) combined to cede just one run on eight hits, as the Pioneers opened up the penultimate weekend of the regular season with a 5-1 win over Northeast Conference and intrastate rival Central Connecticut State.
 
With LIU and Wagner idle thanks to wet weather, first-place SHU (28-20, 21-7 NEC) is now 1.5 games clear at the top of the standings. The Sharks and Seahawks are set for a doubleheader with each other on Saturday, while Sacred Heart will continue its weekend against CCSU with a 2 p.m. first pitch at the Vet.
 
On Friday, the Pioneers got cooking early, with two in the last of the first. Gavin Donohue (Melrose, Mass.) went with a pitch to right field to open the frame, advanced on a wild pitch and then scored when Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.) yanked a pitch inside the bag at third and down the line for an RBI double. After back-to-back two-out walks loaded the bases later in the inning, CCSU left-hander Jake Neuman hit Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.) with a pitch to force in the second run.
 
The game's pivotal inning came early, in just the second frame. CCSU (16-21, 15-12 NEC) threatened to answer immediately, as a single to center by Joe Rios, a walk to Elliot Good and a well-placed bunt single from Hunter Pasqualini loaded the bases with nobody out. That's when Babuschak asserted himself as the Sacred Heart ace. The Blue Devils would not put another ball in play in the innings, as Babuschak blew Dan Hussey away on three straight pitches, locked up Aidan Redahan with a full-count breaking ball and then froze Brady Short with a 1-2 fastball on the inside corner to escape the inning unscathed.
 
SHU made the missed opportunity extra painful with two runs in the home half of the second. With two outs and nobody on, Kovalchik took a walk ahead of Dante D'Amore (Southington, Conn.), who got a full-count pitch to his liking and unloaded. D'Amore took Neuman some 385 feet to the scoreboard in deep right-center for a two-run, opposite-field home run, his team-leading seventh of the season.
 
From there, it was largely academic. CCSU got its only run in the fourth, when Pasqualini went the other way and poked a solo homer inside the short pole in left, his second of the season. Otherwise though, the Blue Devils did not advance a runner beyond second base following the missed chance in the second.
 
SHU got the run back in the bottom of the fifth, when Ronan Donohue (Melrose, Mass.) bounced into an RBI fielder's choice with the bases full. That was it for the scoring on the afternoon.
 
Babuschak (7-3) got through six innings of one-run, seven-hit ball on 98 pitches (66 strikes). He walked one and struck out four. MacDonnell followed with three scoreless, one-hit innings, walked one and struck out two to notch his sixth save of the campaign.
 
Neuman (4-5) struggled with his command and needed 110 pitches (56 strikes) to navigate five high-traffic innings. He was charged with five runs on six hits, walked five, hit a pair, threw two wild pitches and struck out four.