BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (March 29, 2024) – Another Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, N.J.) start, another Friday, series-opening, Northeast Conference win for the Sacred Heart University baseball team. The senior right-hander struck out six over 7.2 innings of two-run, eight-hit ball at Veterans Memorial Park, while Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.) demolished a pivotal home run to key a come-from-behind, 4-2 victory for the Pioneers over Long Island University.
 
Sacred Heart (12-11, 9-1 NEC) has now won five in a row and eight of nine overall, as well as seven straight NEC games
 
Babuschak (4-3) largely cruised through the early portions of the game, as he worked around a hit batsman leading off the first, rolled up a double play to erase a one-out single in the second, and then retired the side in order in the third and fourth, before running into trouble in the fifth.
 
A pair of singles and another hit batter conspired to load the bases with two outs, but Babuschak would leave them all out there, with an assist from Kovalchik, the man of the afternoon. The LIU lineup flipped back to the top for Seth Surrett, who hit a 1-1 pitch on a line to center field. The liner was sinking fast, but Kovalchik got a good jump on it and laid out to make a diving catch coming straight in towards the infield, to retire the side and keep the game scoreless.
 
It was more trouble in the top of the sixth. Babuschak got a leadoff groundout, but then JC Navarro lost a 1-0 pitch in the woods behind the left-field fence for his team-leading seventh home run of the season to open the scoring. Two batters later, Jack Power went the other way and poked one over the fence in left as well, for his second of the season, to double the lead to 2-0.
 
SHU got the two runs back for its ace immediately, in the home half of the inning. Dante D'Amore (Southington, Conn.) worked an eight-pitch walk leading off. Kovalchik was next, got ahead in the count, got a 2-1 pitch in the happy zone and unloaded. The game was tied the instant the ball left the bat, and the Pioneer center fielder had his second home run of the season when the ball finally returned to Earth on the far side of the left-field fence.
 
The Pios weren't done yet in the frame and struck for the lead as well. Peter Link (Holmes, N.Y.) followed Kovalchik with a single back through the middle of the infield, before Alex Ungar (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) singled through the left side and Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.) dropped down a bunt single to third base, as the bottom half of the order loaded the bases. Charlie Tallman (Fair Haven, N.J.) lifted a sacrifice fly to left to put Sacred Heart ahead to stay.
 
After Babuschak retired LIU (7-15, 6-4 NEC) in order in the top of the seventh, the SHU lineup got him an insurance marker in the bottom half. D'Amore started things with a walk again, before being lifted for pinch runner Joey Vitiello (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). LIU proceeded to hand the Pioneers a run, as an errant pickoff throw from PJ Moritz allowed Vitiello to move to second. The first baseman, Navarro, compounded the miscue after he chased down the errant throw, as he made a throw of his own which escaped the Shark infield and got into left field, allowing Vitiello to take third as well. Link cashed him in from there, with a one-out RBI single back up the middle.
 
Babuschak got into one final jam in the eighth, as LIU went single, strikeout, single, walk, to load the bases with one away. SHU head coach Pat Egan made a mound visit with the tying run now on second base, but stuck with Babuschak for one more hitter. The ace used the last of his 111 pitches (75 strikes) to fan Noah Sorensen on five pitches for the second out.
 
With left-handed designated hitter Bentley Boekhout due up, Egan turned to left-hander Owen MacDonnell (Londonderry, N.H.) out of the bullpen. The southpaw got Boekhout to roll over a 2-0 pitch and ground it to second base for an inning-ending fielder's choice.
 
MacDonnell rolled up three consecutive groundouts in the ninth to finish off his third save of the season.
 
LIU right-hander Garrett Yawn (0-3) matched Babuschak through five innings, but was unable to record an out in the sixth. He also threw 111 pitches (68 strikes), but over five-plus innings, was charged with three runs on seven hits, walked four and struck out seven.
 
The two teams will wrap up the weekend series with a Saturday doubleheader, beginning at noon at Veterans Park.