By Chris McLaughlin
Clutch hitting and solid pitching allowed the CCSU baseball team to sweep the March 21 doubleheader against Bryant.
While the Blue Devils (7-8-1) routed Bryant (9-12) 10-2 in the first game, the second game saw both teams blow saves before CCSU picked up the 5-4 walk-off win, because it was a doubleheader, both games only went seven innings.
Though Bryant struck first in game one, starting pitcher Dave Krasnowiecki maintained composure and kept CCSU in the game before the Blue Devils’ offensive explosion in the bottom of the sixth.
CCSU carried its momentum into the second game jumping out to an early 2-0 lead, but Bryant hung around and took the lead in the top of the seventh. After a Mitch Wells RBI double in the bottom of the seventh, freshman designated hitter Dylan DelaCruz hit the game winning single, capping off the doubleheader.
“We put ourselves in the position to sweep after winning the first one,” said Head Coach Charlie Hickey. “To their credit they battled, they fought and they got a hit at the right time, but instead of going in to tomorrow with the series 2-1, we’re 3-0,”
The doubleheader began with a solo homerun from Bryant’s shortstop Dave Soltis. Bryant’s starter Craig Schlitter struck out the first four Blue Devils he was put up agaisnt and faced the minimum number of batters through two, before an RBI single in the bottom of the third by Anthony Turgeon got the Blue Devils on the board.
Both starters would give up only one more run, but Schlitter was pulled in the fifth and his bullpen provided no relief. In the bottom of the sixth the Blue Devils batted around, sending 14 hitters to the plate. Eight runs crossed home and while the offense was there for CCSU, the Bryant athletes didn’t make things easier for themselves. Bryant pitchers combined to walk three consecutive batters with the bases loaded forcing in a run each time.
“That left handed style pitching can be very frustrating because if you keep trying to turn and pull the ball he can stay out there all day,” said Hickey. “What we did, which was really indicative, was take the ball the other way and he had no answer. I think once the game got to 6-2 they [Bryant] were trying to save their pitchers and we were able to maximize how many runs we could get in that situation, which obviously ended the game.”
With a 10-2 lead, Krasnowiecki was sent back out in the seventh to finish what he started. Even with the long layover between innings, Krasnowiecki made short work of Bryant’s hitters.
“We looked at it a lot of different ways, but I’m a believer of leaving the starter out there,” said Hickey.
The start of the second game saw the Blue Devils pick up where they left off. After a scoreless top of the first, the Blue Devils picked up 2 runs on a DelaCruz single. Making a spot start, pitcher Todd Savatsky shut down Bryant in the early going. The Blue Devils tacked on one more run in the third on a J.P. Sportman RBI single.
Bryant finally got on the board in the fourth, but Savatsky limited the damage. Savatsky made it through five before he ran into trouble in the sixth and was pulled with runners on second and third. Only one run crossed the plate in the inning and the Blue Devils took the lead into the final inning.
A leadoff single started things off for Bryant, and the team used the newly-found momentum to pick up two runs in the inning, giving the Bulldogs the lead. It could have been worse as Bryant left runners on the corners after Soltis grounded out to end the inning.
“We like to do it with pitching and timely hitting,” said Hickey. “What we got from Todd [Savatsky] was huge. He made a spot start and got us through five. In a perfect world you’d like to have a guy named Rivera out there to close it out, but we had two young inexperienced guys. Josh Ingham getting their number three hitter out turned out to be a pretty important out.”
As they’ve already proven this year, the Blue Devils are prepared to battle until the final out. Even with the first two hitters getting out, CCSU never panicked. Epps drew a walk and Mitch Wells hit a big RBI double to tie it. After Wells advanced to third on a wild pitch, DelaCruz hit a shot up the middle, scoring Wells and ending the game.
“Mitch [Wells] got a pitch to hit on 3-2 and we always look for those things from our veterans,” said Hickey. “We’ve seen some things from [Dylan] Delacruz and [J.P.] Sportman that are pretty interesting. For them to be able to step up and perform as young kids is what we’re trying to do to find ourselves and winning while we’re doing that makes it easier.”
[Front page header photo courtesy of Steve McLaughlin and ccsubluedevils.com.]