BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (May 11, 2024) – It was certainly a game the Sacred Heart University baseball team could have lost on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park. Down 4-0 early against a competitive Central Connecticut State team, the Pioneers could have simply looked ahead to a potential rubber game on Sunday. But then, switch pitcher PJ Rogan (Wildwood, Mo.) provided quality, calming innings out of the bullpen, and the SHU bats decided they would rather have the series win here and now. Four in the fifth got the team back in the game and an eighth-inning triple from Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.) ultimately made the difference, as the Pios rallied for a 7-5 Northeast Conference win.
 
The victory clinched a winning season for SHU (29-20, 22-7 NEC), which will be the first for the program since the 2016 squad finished 30-28. One more victory would see the Pios claim their first 30-win campaign since 2016 as well.
 
Meanwhile on Long Island, LIU and Wagner split their doubleheader on Saturday, which leaves first-place SHU two games clear at the top of the NEC standings heading into Sunday's weekend finales. It also guarantees the Pios will have sole possession of first place and control their own destiny heading into the final weekend of the season, when they will visit winless Maryland Easter Shore. CCSU (16-22, 15-13 NEC) is currently tied with Fairleigh Dickinson for the NEC's sixth and final postseason spot.
 
After four straight weeks of increasingly more impressive performances, SHU first-year right-hander Elijah Foster (Plainfield, N.J.) did not have his best stuff on Saturday afternoon. He struggled to find any pitches which could put away CCSU batters and worked several deep counts on the way to a 2.2-inning outing which still required 77 pitches (48 strikes). Foster was ultimately charged with four runs on five hits, walked three and struck out two.
 
Foster stranded a pair in the first and another in the third, but could not escape trouble in the top of the third, as CCSU struck for four runs. A leadoff walk to Brady Short and a one-out single from Dan Hussey spelled troubled, before Jeff Nicol squirted an infield single on the left side to drive in the game's first run. After another walk loaded the bases, Elliot Good poked a single through the right side to make it 2-0. Rogan came on and allowed a two-out single up the middle to Michael Torniero to score two inherited runners, but then got out of the inning from there.
 
Rogan would log the next 5.1 innings on only 69 pitches (44 strikes) and ceded only one run of his own on five hits, with one walk and three strikeouts. It was exactly what he needed to do to give SHU a chance to get back in the ballgame and he was rewarded appropriately.
 
The Pios scratched one in the fourth to get a foothold against CCSU right-hander Luke Garofalo. Gavin Donohue (Melrose, Mass.) doubled inside the bag at third and later scored on an RBI single to center by Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.).
 
The seal now broken, SHU got down to serious business in the last of the fifth, with a four-spot and a knockout blow against Garofalo. The right-hander got the first two outs with no trouble, but then issued a walk to Michael Simonelli (Milford, Conn.) and it was all downhill from there. Another walk and a wild pitch put two in scoring position for Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.), who went with a pitch and rapped a two-run single through the right side of the infield. Left-hander Sam Hutchinson took over on the mound, walked a batter and then gave up back-to-back RBI singles to McGuire and Alex Ungar (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.), as the Pios struck for a 5-4 lead.
 
The only blemish against Rogan allowed CCSU to tie the game in the top of the eighth. Torniero knocked a one-out single to right, advanced on a groundout and scored when Short dumped an RBI single into right-center.
 
No worries though, as the SHU bats found a pair in the home half of the inning to make a winner out of Rogan (1-1) anyway. McGuire looped a single inside the left-field line to open the frame, and was later at third base with two outs when Skarad came to the plate against Wyatt Cameron, who had taken over mid-inning with Hutchinson (4-1) in trouble. Skarad got ahead in the count 2-1, got a pitch up in the zone and drilled it the other way. Right fielder Gianno Merlonghi nearly made a sprawling catch retreating towards the fence but could not get there. McGuire trotted home to score while Skarad raced around to third with a go-ahead triple. John Greene (Naugatuck, Conn.) added an RBI single through the shortstop to make it 7-5.
 
Right-hander Jake McDowell (Brookfield, Conn.) needed just 12 pitches to retire the side in order in the ninth and pick up his third save of the season.
 
Sunday's series finale is set for 1 p.m. at the Vet. The Pios will honor their senior class prior to the start of the game. The Senior Day ceremony is scheduled to start at 12:40 p.m.