May 25, 2006

Box Score

LAKEWOOD, NJ - Senior Josh Enos drove home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning, while junior Jay Monti threw his ninth complete game of the season to help the Sacred Heart baseball team defeat Central Connecticut State 7-5 in the opening game of the Northeast Conference baseball tournament Thursday afternoon.

The #4 seeded Pioneers, now 24-28 and winners of five straight, got a run in the top of the first on an RBI single by sophomore Jeff Hanson that scored Pete Kandybowicz, who had singled with one out and went to third on a single by Bobby McKee.

Central Connecticut, the top seed in the tournament, scored three times in the bottom of the inning on a bases-loaded double by left fielder Adam Taha.

Sacred Heart tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run triple by McKee, his fifth three-bagger of the season. The Blue Devils took the lead right back in the bottom of the frame with two runs off Monti. Richie Tri led off the inning with a triple and scored on a single by the next batter, Seth Brown. Brown would go to third on another single and score on a groundout by Matt Memoli.

The Pioneers came back a second time to tie the score at 5-5 in the seventh on a two-run single by McKee that scored Tim Lantz and Dave Kaloyanides, who had left off the inning with back-to-back singles.

Kaloyanides led off the ninth for Sacred Heart by drawing a walk from CCSU reliever Adam Piechowski. Kandybowicz sacrificed him to second and Piechowski was forced to intentionally walk McKee to put two runners on with one out. Enos then ripped a single to center to score Kaloyanides and chase McKee to third. Hanson followed with a single through the left side for an insurance run.

Catcher Scott Appleton led off the bottom of the ninth for the Blue Devils by drawing the second walk of the game from Monti. On a 1-2 count to the next batter, Garrett Walker, Monti threw a ball in the dirt that rolled a little away from Enos and Appleton tried to take second. Enos retrieved the ball and gunned the opposing catcher down. Monti then struck out Walker for the second out and got Tri to line to first to end the game.

Monti improved to 8-4 on the season. He allowed ten hits and struck out seven. Piechowski took the loss for CCSU to fall to 4-1.

The Pioneers will face the winner of the #2 Quinnipiac-#3 Wagner game in the winners bracket tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.