April 22, 2007

Final Stats

BRIDGEPORT, CT - Freshman Steve Tedesco (Mission Viejo, CA) collected three hits and a pair of RBI, while freshman pitcher Jared Balbach (Pine Bush, NY) allowed just one run in seven innings, his longest collegiate stint, as the Sacred Heart University baseball team completed a four-game Northeast Conference sweep of Long Island University, 6-1 on Sunday afternoon.

The Pioneers, 17-17 overall and 8-3 in the NEC, scored two runs in the bottom of the first on a double by Jeff Hanson (Woodstock, NY) off the glove of a diving LIU third baseman that scored Tedesco and Jovan Rodriguez (Bronx, NY). Hanson had a pair of doubles in the game, raising his batting average to .420.

LIU, 7-24 and 2-9, got its only run in the top of the second. Frank Dimasi led off with a single to center, stole second and went to third on a Balbach wild pitch. He scored on a ground out by third baseman Gerard Tingos.

Sacred Heart opened up a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the inning on bases loaded RBI singles by Tedesco and Rodriguez. SHU made it 5-1 in the third on a two-out single by sophomore Phil Tantillo (Blue Point, NY) that scored Rob Tencza who had singled after the first two batters were retired.

Meanwhile, Balbach danced in and out of trouble in his seven innings. He yielded just four hits, but walked seven batters. He got the outs when he needed them, however, as the Blackbirds stranded 11 runners on base. Senior George Lamar (Briarcliff, NY) pitched the final two innings of the game to help the Pioneers to their fourth straight win. Balbach picked up his first collegiate win, improving to 1-4.