BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (May 2, 2023) – The Sacred Heart University baseball team showed some late life on Tuesday afternoon, but it was not enough to climb out of an early hole at a soggy Veterans Park. The Pios scored five in the eighth, but had surrendered 16 across the first six innings and suffered a 16-7 non-conference defeat at the hands of visiting Yale. Ryan Donnelly (Fairfield, Conn.) hit his third home run in five games in the sixth inning, to record his 200th career hit.
Yale (16-21) got things started immediately and took the lead for good with three runs in the top of the first, when Jimmy Chatfield clubbed a three-run homer to left-center, his team-leading fifth of the season. SHU (18-24) got one back in the home half, on an RBI groundout by Donnelly.
From there, it was all Yale through the early and middle innings. The Bulldogs picked up another in the second and two in the fourth, before breaking the game wide open with four in the fifth and six more in the sixth. Max Imhoff socked his first homer of the season in the second inning. Jeff Pierantoni had a 3-for-5 day with a double and scored three runs, while Alec Atkinson was 2-for-3 and drove in three.
In the last of the sixth, Donnelly – who had 90 hits over three seasons across town at University of Bridgeport before logging the last two years in the Pio infield – yanked a one-out solo home run down the right-field line, to record his 200th career hit in style.
SHU then came to life in the bottom of the eighth, with a five-spot to close the final gap to nine runs. Donnelly drove in his third run of the game with a single in the frame, while Tyler Galletti (Plainview, N.Y.) had an RBI single as well, Dennis Gamester (West Haven, Conn.) reached on an error while driving in a run, and Sam Mongelli (Marlboro, N.Y.) took a bases-loaded walk to force home a run.
With things decided early, both starting pitchers stood as the pitchers of record on the afternoon. For Sacred Heart, left-hander Michael Attonito (White Plains, N.Y.) threw the first four innings, allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits and struck out three while taking the loss (1-2). For Yale, right-hander Daniel Cohen (3-4) threw 89 pitches (54 strikes) over six innings of two-run ball, allowed three hits, walked three and struck out seven.
SHU is back home on Wednesday, to host Fairfield in a non-conference contest at 2 p.m. at Veterans Park.
