CARY, N.C. – The New Haven baseball team dropped a pair of one-run games to start their weekend trip to Cary, North Carolina on Friday with a 5-4 loss to Dominican and a 3-2 defeat to Clarion. Sophomore shortstop
Noah Budzik (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) went 3-for-6 and drew four walks over the two games. Sophomore catcher
Josh Lester (Amityville, N.Y./Copiague) hit his first career home run in the opener against Dominican, and freshman outfielder
Tyler Wells (Danville, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) had two hits, including a triple and two RBI in game one. Sophomore
Thomas Eletto (Locust Valley, N.Y./Locust Valley) went 3-for-4 with a double, triple, RBI and run scored in game two against Clarion, and
Matt Chamberlain (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles in the nightcap.
On the mound, sophomore
Dominic Rutigliano (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) fired four shutout innings while allowing just two hits in game one, and junior
Andrew Cain (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) fired three hitless innings of relief in the nightcap as the Chargers (3-3 , 0-0 NE10) rallied to pull within one run in the late innings. Both pitchers earned no-decisions.
GAME ONE VS. DOMINICAN
Dominican (1-6, 0-0 CACC) opened the scoring right away in the first inning with an unearned run, then added two more with three consecutive hits to begin the third inning, including a leadoff home run.
Trailing 3-0 and seeking their first baserunner, Lester answered the bell by leading off the bottom of the third with his first career homer to get the Chargers on the board. Chamberlain later reached on a fielder's choice, and came home on a RBI knock by
Billy Huber (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) to pull the Chargers within 3-2.
After a scoreless fourth inning, both teams pushed runs across in the fifth. Dominican took advantage of three hits and a walk to push across a pair of runs, both of which scored in a two-run single with two outs to extend the lead to 5-2.
New Haven got one run right back to pull within two as Chamberlain drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a single by Budzik, then came home on a single by Wells.
That was all the scoring until the bottom of the ninth when Huber reached on a fielder's choice and stole second. Wells the stepped up and ripped a two-out triple to plate Huber and get the Chargers within 5-4, and put the tying run on third base. But, that was it for the scoring as Dominican ended the game with a strikeout to strand the tying-run at third.
GAME TWO VS. CLARION
Clarion stranded three runners over the first two innings before jumping on the board to take a 1-0 lead in the third, courtesy of a one-out triple and a sacrifice fly. The Eagles scored two more runs in the fourth inning with three of the first four batters pegging doubles to up their edge to 3-0.
The Chargers fought back with a single run in the home half of the sixth courtesy of a leadoff knock by Wells, who then scored on a triple by Eletto. Eletto sparked the Charger rally once more the following inning, clubbing a one-out double. He then raced home one batter later on a fielding error by the shortstop to pull the Chargers within on run once again.
Down to their final two outs with the bases empty in the ninth, Chamberlain drilled his third hit of the game for a double to put the tying run in scoring position with one out. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Chamberlain was erased on a fielder's choice on a ground ball when the second baseman came home to cut down the tying run at the plate. The Eagles were able to secure the win with a ground out to shortstop moments later to hand the Chargers their second defeat of the day.
New Haven will return to action late tomorrow afternoon with a single game against Saint Thomas Aquinas starting at 5 p.m. No live stats or video will be available. Check back to NewHavenChargers.com for a recap following the game.
