WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven baseball team got strong pitching from Vincent Aprea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) and two relievers, but was upended by the Southern Connecticut State University Owls 2-1 on Friday afternoon at Frank Vieira Field in a Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division matchup.

With the win, the Owls are now 12-13 overall and hold a 4-5 record both in the NE-10 and the Southwest Division. New Haven falls to 6-8 overall, is 3-4 in conference and 3-2 in divisional play.

The Chargers scored the initial run of the game in the second inning. TJ Riccio (Port Jeff Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) walked and moved to second on a single by Robert Petrillo (Branford, Conn./Branford). After a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Cullen (Dumont, N.J./Dumont) moved the runners to second and third, Nick Russo (Shirley, N.Y./William Floyd) drove home Riccio with a sac fly to center, putting New Haven up 1-0.

Southern Connecticut State took the lead with two runs in the top of the third inning. From there, the pitching took over. Aprea wound up going seven innings for New Haven, allowing just the two runs on six hits. Connor Moriarty (Branford, Conn./Branford) and TJ Margiotta (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown North) were both strong out of the bullpen with a scoreless inning each. Unfortunately for the Chargers, A. J. Turnier was just a bit better, going the distance for the Owls, striking out nine.

Offensively for New Haven, Petrillo had three hits while Brendan O'Reilly (Devon, Pa./Conestoga) had two.

The Chargers are back in action on Saturday at noon when they will host Adelphi for a doubleheader. The first game is scheduled for nine innings and is a Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division game. The second game will be a non-conference tilt and is scheduled for seven innings.