By Chris McLaughlin
Though the CCSU baseball team rallied to tie Hartford in the ninth inning, no more could be done as daylight faded and the game was called in the 11th inning with the score tied 3-3.
It was the home opener for the Blue Devils (0-2-1) and although the team would have preferred a win, darkness made that impossible. CCSU got six-plus strong innings from Ray Natoli, giving up only two runs on six hits. On offense, the Blue Devils scattered 10 hits over the 11 innings. Though the Blue Devils stranded 13 runners, it got enough timely hits to prevent them from losing.
“It’s a little disappointing to tie, but on the flip side we were only one at-bat away from losing,” said Head Coach Charlie Hickey. “We understand that with this group it’s a process. We are nowhere near as good as we think we are.”
Hartford (0-4-1) struck first, scoring two runs in the third. In the inning, Hartford was able to pick up four hits off of Natoli and played enough small ball to get two home. After the first baserunner got on, he was promptly bunted over to second and made it to third on a fielder’s choice. He scored on a two-out RBI single to left field by Simon Kudernatsch, who stole second once he was on base. Kundernatsch was driven in by another two-out single by Victor Santana. Another base hit put Santana on third, but no more damage would be done, as Natoli got out of the jam.
“Roy’s downfall was that he loses focus, but he was able to recover on a day when the wind was blowing in and the temperature was 38 degrees,” said Hickey.
Down two, the Blue Devils got its first real opportunity to even things up in the fourth. A walk, a single and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for CCSU with nobody out. Anthony Turegon grounded into a fielder’s choice at third allowing one run to cross the plate, putting the Blue Devil’s first run on the board.
Though CCSU seemed poised to do more, Hartford’s starter, Ryan Lukach, induced a pop-up and struck out J.P. Sportman to end the inning.
“We had a couple opportunities, but we weren’t smart enough to capitalize,” said Hickey. “We gave too many at-bats away and it could have cost us. We have to get better offensively.”
Natoli had a shaky third inning, but settled down nicely. After the last hit of the third inning, Natoli retired the next 12 batters he faced. In doing so he was able to outlast Hartford’s starter and kept CCSU from falling further behind.
In the fifth inning, CCSU picked up its second run on a RBI single from Mitch Wells, tying the game at two. Natoli made it to the seventh inning and retired the first two batters, but two straight singles drove him from the game. With two on and two out, Hickey went with freshman pitcher Nick Boyd to get out of the inning. Boyd obliged, getting the batter to ground out to end the inning.
“Natoli was a bright spot today, we hope we can get another,” said Hickey. “Boyd did a solid job as well in his second outing as a freshman.”
While Boyd got out of trouble in the seventh, the eighth didn’t treat him as well. He only gave up one hit, but a run crossed the plate all the same, giving Hartford a late lead. Hartford took its lead into the ninth and gave Vincent Foire the task of closing out the game.
After a lead off walk advanced to third, Foire was still only one out away from the save. He even got exactly what he wanted when Tyler Caserta hit a groundball to the shortstop, but the shortstop couldn’t field the ball cleanly. Caserta reached first safely and A.J. Lowers crossed home safely to tie the game. This was all it took for Foire to lose complete control. He walked the next batter and a wild pitch placed Caserta on third. On another wild pitch, Caserta broke for home, but was gunned out, sending the game into extra innings.
“We caught a break in the ninth and it’s good to know you can battle to the last out, but we didn’t take it to the next level and get a win,” said Hickey.
Both teams got hits in the extra innings but neither could get its baserunners to cross home plate. Boyd took the game the rest of the way for CCSU and after the final out of the 11th inning, the umpire called the game because of darkness.
The Blue Devils are on the road this week, but will return for a five-game homestand that begins with in-state rival Yale on March 15.