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Second-seeded Sacred Heart and fourth-seeded Monmouth moved into the winner’s bracket of the four-team, double-elimination Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament on Thursday afternoon at New Britain Stadium in New Britain, CT. Back in the NEC Tournament for the first time since winning it all in 2006, Sacred Heart outlasted Nutmeg State rival Central Connecticut State, 16-13, to earn a date with Monmouth at 3:30 pm on Friday. The Hawks knocked off top-seeded Wagner, 14-8. As a result, Wagner faces CCSU in an elimination game at 12:00 pm tomorrow.
Game One: #4 Monmouth 14, #1Wagner 8
Monmouth put up a pair of six-run innings to outslug top-seeded Wagner, 14-8, in the opening game of the 2009 Northeast Conference Baseball Championships presented by Akadema.
The Hawks received a great deal of production from the top half of lineup down through t he heart of the order. Monmouth’s first five hitters went 10-for-22 and drove in 11 runs.
Ryan Terry (Levittown, PA/Truman), Chris Collazo (Wall, NJ/Wall), and Paul Bottigiliero (Milford, CT/Garden City CC), batting second, fourth, and fifth respectively, each drove in three runs apiece for the fourth-seeded Hawks who face No. 2 seed Sacred Heart at 3:30 pm on Friday.
Wagner’s bats weren’t quiet by any means. The Seahawks pounded out 12 hits and scored runs in five different innings.
It didn’t take long for Monmouth to break through against NEC Pitcher of the Year Matt Watson (Howell, NJ/Howell). The Hawks put up six runs in the second inning, which began with a hit-by-pitch, sac bunt, and a walk. Monmouth catcher Bobby Dombroski (Denville, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) delivered the first big blow when his one-out double scored the game’s first two runs. Four hits and one error followed Dombroski’s blast and the Hawks took a 6-0 lead.
Watson settled in over the next three innings, holding the Hawks to two hits and no runs. The right-hander went 6.1 innings over which he surrendered nine hits and seven runs (six earned).
MU starter Brett Brach (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Twp.) responded to his six-run gift by retiring the side in order in the bottom half of the second frame and again in the third inning.
Wagner put its first run on the board in the fourth frame when Matt Logan’s (Wall, NJ/Wall) two-out bloop hit to left field scored Jared Gruccio (Landisville, NJ/Buena Regional). Logan finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBI and one run scored.
Trailing 6-1 in the fifth frame, Wagner received a spark from the bottom of its order. Seventh hitter Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ/Hackettstown) led off by singling and Brian Martutartus (Carlsvad, CA/La Costa Canyon) made it back-to-back base hits. Joe Conforti (Staten Island, NY/Farrell) was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no one out.
The Seahawks appeared poised for a big inning, but wound up plating only one run in NEC Tournament history. On what was eventually declared a run-scoring triple play, Wagner’s all-NEC centerfielder Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Twp.) ripped a pitch into deep right-center where Monmouth right fielder made a sliding catch. Lucas scored on a tag-up from third, but the other two baserunners were called out.
The Seahawks put the first two batters on in the sixth inning to end Brach’s day.
Wagner rudely greeted Hawks’ relief pitcher Nick Meyers (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick). Seth Boyd sent an RBI single through the right side before Matt Logan plated another two by tripling to centerfield. Catcher Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) followed with a sacrifice fly, but Meyers set down the next two to stop the bleeding with Monmouth clinging to a 7-6 lead.
The Hawks blew the game open in the ninth inning, their second six-run frame of the day. Monmouth needed only three hits to do the damage as Wagner pitchers issued four free passes (2 BB, 2 HBP).
Game Two: #2 Sacred Heart 16, #3 Central Connecticut State 13
There weren’t many zeros on the New Britain Stadium scoreboard for game two of the 2009 Northeast Conference Baseball Championships presented by Akadema. In what was the epitome of a slugfest between two Nutmeg State rivals, second-seeded Sacred Heart outlasted No. 3 Central Connecticut State, 16-13.
The game featured 36 hits, 13 of which went for extra bases.
The triumphant Pioneers, who will face No. 4 Monmouth in Friday’s second game slated to start at 3:30 pm, scored multiple runs in five separate innings while CCSU did so in four different frames.
The fifth, and final, home run of the day ultimately provided the difference between the two offensively-inclined clubs who both entered the Tournament with team batting averages in excess of .310.
Sacred Heart already had 16 hits when Mike Drowne (South Hadley, AM/South Hadley) came to the plate with one out and one on in the eighth inning, but the Pioneers’ centerfielder had none of them. The second team all-NEC outfielder changed that in a big way, belting a 2-1 pitch an estimated 420 feet over the centerfield wall to put the Pios ahead for good, 15-13.
SHU tacked one more run in the inning on an RBI single from Robert Griffith (Lake Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem North).
CCSU threatened in the top of the ninth when all-NEC third baseman Sean Allaire (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) was hit by a pitch and Casey Walko (Freehold, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) followed with a double that sent Allaire to third. Sacred Heart right-hander Ryan Lynch (North Babylon, NY/North Babylon) retired the next three men to face him and send the Pioneers into the winners’ bracket.
The first home run of the Tournament came in the first inning during which Sacred Heart jumped out to a 3-0 lead. After Tyler Santos (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) opened the scoring by lacing an RBI double, all-NEC catcher Jeff Heppner (Aquebogue, NY/Riverhead) slammed his 12th home run of the season.
An RBI triple from Tommy Meade (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River) and Sean Parker’s (Worcester, MA/Maine) run-scoring double gave CCSU its first lead, 4-3, of the game. Sacred Heart right fielder Paul Schmidt prevented at least one more run from scoring in the inning when his diving grab on a sinking liner stranded Parker.
Fittingly, Schmidt led off the bottom half of the frame and cracked the first pitch over the right-centerfield wall to put the Pioneers back in front, 4-3.
CCSU scored 10 of its 13 runs in the middle three innings.
Blue Devils’ all-NEC outfielder Richie Tri (Everett, WA/Barnstable) drove in six of those runs to match a single-game NEC Tournament record set by Mount St. Mary’s Josh Vittek a year ago. Tri pulled a two-RBI single through the right side during CCSU’s four-run fifth before unloading the bases with a grand slam the following frame.
With his team trailing 12-6 heading into the bottom of the sixth, the NEC’s regular season batting champion Jeff Hanson (Woodstock, NY/Onteora) started the comeback by sending a two-run shot over the right-centerfield fence.