MANCHESTER, N.H. – The No. 21 University of New Haven baseball team rallied, scoring three fifth inning runs as the Chargers downed the Dominican Chargers 5-2 in their opening round game of the NCAA Division II East Region Championship on Thursday afternoon.
New Haven went up early on a homer by Nick Perrelli (North Branford, Conn./North Branford), but found itself down 2-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth. With a runner on second and two outs, PJ Contreras (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) doubled down the leftfield line, scoring Joe Caico (Hopedale, Mass./Worcester (MA)) to knot the game at 2-2. Matt Chamberlain (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) stepped in next and drove his second homer of the season over the rightfield wall to put the Blue and Gold up 4-2. An insurance run in the eighth proved plenty for the pitching staff as Tim Kennedy (Ridge, N.Y./Longwood), Brandon LaManna (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) and Josh Walker (Otisville, N.Y./Minisink Valley) combined to hold the Dominican lineup at bay through the final five innings.
HIGHLIGHTS
- New Haven escaped some trouble in the first when Dominican put runners on first and third with no outs, but Kennedy was able to get a foul pop-out and a double play to keep the No. 7 seed off the board.
- Leading off the second, Perrelli took the third pitch he saw over the centerfield wall for his fourth homer of the season, putting New Haven up 1-0.
- Dominican knotted the game up in the third on an RBI single from Arbely Soto. An inning later, another run came in on a wild pitch as the Chargers took a 2-1 lead.
- The Blue and Gold came through with the answer in the bottom of the fifth. Caico led off being hit by a pitch and moved to second on a groundout by James Myers (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown East). Contreras came up with laced a double down the leftfield line to score the runner and tie the game at 2-2. Chamberlain followed and cracked his second homer of the season over the right-centerfield fence, putting New Haven back on top, 4-2.
- The Chargers added an insurance run in the eighth on a bases loaded walk by Andrew Garcia (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue Medford) to score Walraven.
- Kennedy ran his record to 7-0 with 6.2 innings, striking out five.
- LaManna and Walker finished the final 2.1 innings with Walker picking up his third save of the year.
- Chamberlain, Perrelli and Walraven each had two hits in the game.
UP NEXT
New Haven advances to the winners' bracket where they will face the No. 3 seed Saint Thomas Aquinas Spartans on Friday, May 19. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.