Baseball Rallies Past Wagner in NEC Tournament Opener

The Central Connecticut baseball team rallied for an 8-3 win against Wagner in its opening game at the Northeast Conference Tournament at Heritage Financial Field in Wappingers Falls, NY on Friday. The third-seeded Blue Devils scored three runs in the sixth inning to come back and topple the second-seeded Seahawks.

CCSU will play top-seeded LIU on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN+.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE

Score: CENTRAL CONNECTICUT 8, WAGNER 3
Pitching Record: W: Borghese (10-2) | L: Toporek (8-1) | Save: Cameron (5)
Records: CCSU (29-14, 23-7 NEC), WAGNER (30-21, 23-7 NEC)
Location: Heritage Financial Field | Wappingers Falls, NY

KEY MOMENTS

• Central opened the scoring in the third inning. Aidan Redahan singled through the left side with two outs. Chris Brown followed with a double down the left field line to make it 1-0.
• Wagner got the run back in the bottom of the inning. Matt Sutera led off with a double down the line in right field. Nicholas Mazzotta followed with one out, singling through the left side to drive in the tying run.
• The Seahawks nudged ahead in the fourth inning after they put runners on first and third with two outs. Sutera and Lukas Torres hit back-to-back singles to drive in a pair of runs to make it 3-1
• Bo Yaworski was hit by a pitch to open the top of the sixth and he moved to second following a one-out single by Antonio Ducatelli. Kyle Gordon delivered a double down the line in right field to drive in both runs and tie the game, 3-3. Gordon moved to third on a groundout before Brady Short singled through the middle to drive in the go-ahead run.
• Wagner would put its leadoff batters on second and third to begin the bottom of the seventh. Following a groundout, Wyatt Cameron came on to pitch to the middle of the Seahawks' lineup. He would get a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning and leave the runners stranded.
• CCSU responded in the eighth by tacking on insurance. Gianno Merlonghi drew a walk to lead off and moved to third on a passed ball and a groundout. Matt Falk would single to left field to drive in one run and Short followed with a single to drive in another and make it 6-3. Following a strikeout, Redahan roped a single to right field to plate the third run of the inning to make it 7-3.
• Merlonghi walked to lead off the ninth and would score from first on a single by Ducatelli to push the lead to five runs.

NOTES

• Cameron would earn his fifth save of the season, tossing 2.2 shutout innings. He allowed two hits and had two punchouts.
• Vincent Borghese started and went 6.1 innings for the Blue Devils, allowing three runs and striking out three.
• Short, Redahan, Brown and Ducatelli each had two hits for CCSU.
• Short and Gordon each drove in two runs.
• Gordon was on base four times in the game, scoring a pair of runs along with the two driven in.
• Central has collected 10+ hits as a team in 34 games this season.
• CCSU is 12-3 all-time against Wagner in the NEC Tournament.

UP NEXT

• CCSU plays LIU on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

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