WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Trailing by five runs early, the New Haven baseball team battled back to within one run before ultimately falling short in a 5-4 loss to Southern Connecticut State on Tuesday afternoon in the team's final home game of the season. Southern scored all five of its runs and picked up five of their 13 hits in the first inning. Freshman Thomas Eletto (Locust Valley, N.Y./Locust Valley) started on the mound and went the first four innings, allowing five runs on five hits, and also went 2-for-5 at the plate with a RBI and a run scored. Catcher George Pappas (Binghamton, N.Y./Susquehanna Valley) went 2-for-5 with a run scored and senior James Myers (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown East) scored a pair of runs. Kevin McNiff (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City), Dominic Rutigliano (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) and Christopher Leindecker (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) all combined to throw five shutout innings of relief for New Haven.
Southern (18-25, 9-14 NE10) keeps its postseason hopes alive with the win, while the Chargers' (11-23-1, 5-15-1 NE10) winless streak moves to 12 games. New Haven will close out the regular season this weekend with a three game series at Saint Rose, beginning with a single game on Friday a 4 p.m.
The Owls surged out to a fast 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning, stringing together five consecutive hits to start the game. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Tyler Criscuolo drilled a line drive deep into the right field corner for a bases clearing triple, and Connor Redahan followed with a first pitch double to the left field wall to give the Owls a 4-0 lead. Eletto then recovered and got three straight ground balls, one of which drove a run, to end the inning.
New Haven had an answer in the bottom of the inning, getting one run back as Eletto lined a two-out RBI single to left field, scoring Myers from second to make it 5-1.
Eletto settled in and did not allow a hit over his final three innings, issuing one walk while retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced.
New Haven came back and put two runs on the board in the fourth. Eletto led off with a double on 3-2 to right center, Pappas then singled, and after two straight strikeouts, Eletto scored from third on an error by the third baseman. Pappas then raced home during the next at bat on an errant throw by the catcher during a steal attempt, cutting it to 5-3.
The Chargers took advantage of another error by the Owls to get within one in the fifth. Myers reached on a hit by pitch leading off, stole second, and went to third on a hit by Andrew Garcia (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue Medford). Two batters later, Myers came home to score unearned when a throwing error by the shortstop extended the inning.
McNiff took the mound to start the fifth and threw 35 pitches over two innings, 23 of them for strikes. He worked his way out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the sixth by picking up a pair of huge strikeouts to end the inning and keep the deficit at one.
Southern put the first two runners on in the seventh before Rutigliano entered the game, and promptly got a popup on a bunt attempt, then induced a grounder to third for a 5-3 double play to end the threat. Rutigliano also got a fly ball to end the eighth inning, leaving the bases loaded.
The Chargers put two on with two out in the seventh but could not score, and then put the tying and winning runs on base with one out in the ninth, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the game.
