By Kenny Barto

In the first on-campus home baseball game since 2007, the CCSU Blue Devils lost to the Hartford Hawks 12-11.

The Blue Devils had 15 hits, including a four-for-five, three RBI performance by left fielder/pitcher Normand Gosselin. Gosselin also had an outfield assist, throwing out Hartford’s Rodger Wilmot in the second inning.

“He’s an intriguing player,” Head Coach Charlie Hickey said. “He’s one of those players that can hit and pitch well, and I’m anxious to see him play more this season.”

Gosselin took the mound in the ninth, but let up one run that broke the 11-11 tie to give him his second loss of the season.

CCSU’s pitching staff has been problematic all season, posting a 9.45 ERA with 60 hits over 33 1/3 innings.

“We have a new pitching staff, and we’re trying to understand what roles that they can be effective in,” Hickey said. “We have to continue to play games and have these sort of situations to figure it out.”

CCSU had a 10-4 lead going into the fifth inning when the Hawks went on a three-run rally to cut the deficit to three. CCSU answered with a run in the fifth, but was shut out for the rest of the game by a strong Hartford bullpen. The Hawks tied the game with a four-run seventh inning, but they broke the tie in the ninth, and freshman closer Brian Rice pitched a one-two-three bottom half to shut the door on the Blue Devils.

“We would have liked to win the first one here,” said coach Hickey. “But, there will be a lot more games played here.”

The new CCSU baseball facility is complete with artificial turf, and a grandstand with about 10 rows of seats that stretches from dugout to dugout and is named after CCSU alum and former major leaguer Ricky Bottalico.

“This is becoming a first class facility,” Hickey said. “There’s no one that has a better one in the northeast.”

Although the field and grandstand are in place, there are a few missing elements. The new scoreboard will be installed soon, along with improvements to the landscaping around the perimeter of the field and a concession stand.

Even though the artificial surface is playable in most conditions, it was a perfect day for baseball.

“You catch a day like this in the first couple of days of March, and it’s great,” Hickey said. “To have a facility like this that’s ready to be played on, that’s even better.”

CCSU was rained out this past weekend at George Mason, but will return to action at Seton Hall on Friday at the 2010 Strike Out Cancer Tournament where they also have scheduled games against Stony Brook and Iona.

They will then begin their conference schedule with a three game set at Fairleigh Dickinson from March 26-28, and another out of conference game at Rhode Island on March 30 before returning home on April 1st against Monmouth.

FIRSTS AT THE NEW CCSU BASEBALL FIELD
First pitch: 2:26 p.m., Donny White (CCSU), Strike
First at-bat: Donny White (CCSU) strikes out Andrew Siano (Hartford) with no outs in first inning
First strikeout: Donny White (CCSU) strikes out Andrew Siano (Hartford) with no outs in first inning
First hit: Simon Kudernatsch (Hartford), single to center with one out in first inning
First double: Richie Tri (CCSU), doubled down right field line with one out in second inning
First triple: Andrew Siano (Hartford) tripled to center field with no outs in the top of the third inning
First home run: Jared Canney (Hartford), solo home run to left field with no outs in the top of the second inning
First RBI: Normand Gosselin (CCSU), RBI single with two outs in bottom of the first inning (drove in Anthony Scialdone)
First stolen base: Rodger Wilmot (Hartford), stole second with two outs in second inning
First run: Anthony Scialdone (CCSU), scores on RBI single with two outs in the first inning by Normand Gosselin (CCSU)