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Extra innings were needed to decide both games on Day Two of the 2009 Northeast Conference Baseball Championship presented by Akadema. Top-seeded Wagner outlasted Central Connecticut State, 6-5, in 10 innings of an elimination game. Afterwards, #4 Monmouth remained undefeated in Tournament play by knocking off #2 Sacred Heart, 7-6, in 11 frames. Sacred Heart will face Wagner in the first game Saturday at 12:00 noon with the loser headed home and the victor advancing to face Monmouth at 3:30 pm. The fourth-seeded Hawks now have the inside track on their second NEC crown in three years, needing to win just once.
Game One:
#1 Wagner 6, #3 Central Connecticut State 5 (10 innings)
Senior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ/CBA) and Wagner live to play another day at the 2009 NEC Baseball Championships presented by Akadema. In what could have been the last inning of the first baseman’s career, Avella blasted a solo home run over the left-centerfield wall to lift the top-seeded Seahawks to an extra-inning victory, 6-5, over Central Connecticut State in an elimination game at New Britain Stadium.
Avella, who went 3-for-5 and scored twice, was one of two Seahawks to produce a three-hit performance. Sophomore shortstop Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, Ca/La Costa Canyon) went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two of which came in Wagner’s three-run sixth inning that tied the game at 5-5.
The Blue Devils cracked four home runs in jumping out to a 5-2 lead through the first five innings.
Neither team hit safely in either of the first two frames. CCSU senior Jay Schiallaci (McKeesport, PA/McKeesport) appeared to have the game’s first hit in the bottom of the second, but third baseman Matt Logan (Wall, NJ/Wall) made a diving stab and his subsequent throw across the diamond was on target for the third out of the inning.
Blue Devils’ catcher Sean Parker (Worcester, MA/Maine), who moved to the mound in the ninth inning and took the loss, opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. The all-NEC backstop blasted a two-run home run after Tommy Meade led off the frame with the game’s first hit.
Junior Richie Tri (Everett, WA/Barnstable) homered for the second straight day. CCSU’s all-NEC outfielder, who hit a grand slam on his way to a Tournament record-tying six RBI yesterday, blasted a solo shot off the right field light tower to extend the lead to 3-0 in the fourth frame.
Right-hander Dan Markoya (Carbondale, CO/Otero JC) started on the hill for CCSU. The junior hurler surrendered 61 hits in 45.1 innings this season, but was perfect through the first four frames on Friday while receiving some sparkling defense behind him.
Wagner centerfielder Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Twp.) scorched a high, hard liner to shortstop leading off the fourth inning, but Anthony Scialdone (West Hartford, CT/Hall) timed his leap perfectly to snag it. The Blue Devils recorded the third out of the inning when Tri made a diving catch on a bloop to center.
Wagner’s Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy) broke up the no-hit bid leading off the fifth frame. The all-NEC second baseman pulled a home run to right-center before Martutartus delivered an RBI single four batters later.
Central Connecticut State scored 18 runs in their first 14 innings of NEC Tournament play, but the Blue Devils bats fell silent for the final five frames Friday. Wagner starter Kyle Morrison (Middlesex, NJ/Immaculata) settled in to pitch 7.1 innings, surrendering nine hits and five runs while striking out four.
Morrison left with one out, two runners on, and Tri coming up to bat in the eighth inning.
NEC Coach of the Year Joe Litterio played the lefty-righty matchup and brought in lefthander David Rees (Staten Island, NY/Xavier HS) to face the dangerous Tri, and the move paid dividends. Facing his lone batter of the game, Rees struck out CCSU’s all-NEC outfielder swinging.
Litterio then went to senior closer Andrew Huebner (Hatfield, PA/North Penn), who is a perfect 13-for-13 in save situations this season, and the hard-throwing righty danced around three hits and one walk over 2.1 innings for the win.
Game Two:
#4 Monmouth 7, #2 Sacred Heart 6 (11 innings)
Monmouth has seemed to fine its home away from home at New Britain Stadium. The Jersey Shore-based institution needed 11 innings, but defeated second-seeded Sacred Heart, 7-6, in the winners’ bracket game of the 2009 NEC Baseball Championship presented by Akadema.
Hawks’ sophomore Nick Pulsonetti (Old Tappan, NJ/Northern Valley) sent a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Brett Holland (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) to win the game in walk-off fashion. The RBI was the 98th in Pulsonetti’s career, which has spanned exactly 97 games, and his second of the day despite going hitless.
As a result of the loss, Sacred Heart will face Wagner, who ended CCSU’s Tournament stay earlier today, in an elimination game on Saturday. Monmouth will wait to play the winner of that contest with the hopes of capturing a second NEC crown in three years.
The Hawks, who have won their first two games of this year’s Tournament, went a 3-1 in New Britain to claim the 2007 title.
Monmouth built a 5-0 lead through four innings, but fell behind 6-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth when the team’s top hitter (in terms of average) started a rally.
All-NEC second baseman Chris Collazo (Wall, NJ/Wall) singled to lead off the inning and eventually came around to score the tying run on a fielder’s choice.
Hawks’ starter Ryan Buch (Yardley, PA/Conwell Egan) was near-impossible to hit early on. The three-time all-NEC right-hander struck out the side in the opening inning on his way to retiring the first seven batters he faced. Buch went 7.1 innings in the no-decision, surrendering eight hits and six runs (three unearned) while striking out seven.
Sacred Heart began chipping away at the 5-0 deficit in the fifth inning.
SHU’s all-NEC catcher Jeff Heppner (Aquebogue, NY/Riverhead) drew a leadoff walk in the fifth inning and came around to score the Pioneers’ first run two batters later on a single from designated hitter Mike Olszyk (Hamden, CT/Suffield). Olszyk eventually relieved SHU starting pitcher Jared Balbach (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) in the eighth inning and wound up the losing pitcher on an unearned run.
Heppner, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored, tripled home Tyler Santos (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) in the top half of the eighth frame to bring Sacred Heart within 5-4. The Pioneers plated the tying run on an error before Robert Griffith delivered a pinch-hit sacrifice fly that game them their first lead of the game, 6-5.
The comeback was Sacred Heart’s second in two days, only this one didn’t hold up. The Pioneers were down 12-6 to Central Connecticut State Thursday before storming back to beat their Nutmeg State rival, 16-13.
Monmouth pulled even in the bottom half of the inning, which started with Collazo singling up the middle. MU first baseman Paul Bottigliero (Milford, CT/Garden City CC) followed by sending a single to right field, which ended Balbach’s day.
Olszyk permitted only one of the inherited runners to score on a fielder’s choice groundout.