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WEST HAVEN, Conn. – With four hits on the day, sophomore left fielder Owen Pincince (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) led the Chargers in a split in the final two games of a four-game home-and-home series with the Felician Golden Falcons on Monday afternoon at Frank Vieira Field. With the split decision Monday, the Chargers are now 2-6 on the season.
Pincince closed out the day going 4-of-7 at the plate with a pair of RBI. His best outing of the two came in the early game when he finished with three hits in four appearances at the plate while driving in a pair of runs.
Also closing out the day with multiple hits was sophomore center fielder Nick Ungania (Mineola, N.Y./Chaminade) who all combined on the day finished with three hits, including going 2-of-5 with a run scored in the opening game. In addition to Pincince's two RBI in game one, sophomore catcher Cam McGugan (Mystic, Conn./Fitch) drove in a run while he also finished with a hit and a run scored in his lone plate appearance in game two. Senior shortstop Kenneth Franquiz (Bellmore. N.Y./Mepham) was the only other player to finish with a hit as the Chargers closed out the day with a combined nine hits.
On the hill, it was the starters that put in the most work on the day, both going six full innings but it was the second game starter that did so without allowing a run despite surrendering five hits. He also struck out four and walked two batters. Reliever Jake Zenger (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) earned the victory on the afternoon, his first collegiate win as he threw to a pair of batters in the top of the seventh inning.
The opening game starter, Michael Gatti (East Norwich, N.Y./Oyster Bay), was tagged with a pair of runs which cam eon six hits while he struck out a staff-best six batters in his six innings of work. Both Christian De Risi (Hempstead, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) and Drew Silverman (Commack, N.Y./Commack) provided relief work in game one with the latter of those two suffering the loss after throwing 3.1 innings of work.
After completing the home-and-home series with Felician on Monday, the Chargers can now look forward to warmer weather and sunnier skies as their next five games will come in the Sunshine State and Boca Raton, Fla. First up in the Spring Break stretch of games will be a Friday afternoon contest against the host school for the week, Lynn University, with first pitch set for 2:00 p.m.
GAME 1: Felician 4, New Haven 3
In the opener it was Felician who broke up a scoreless three innings for both teams with single runs in the fourth and sixth inning. In the fourth, the Golden Knights used an RBI single to open the scoring while a sacrifice fly scored the second run of the game.
New Haven answered with a three run bottom of the sixth, taking a 3-2 lead into the top of the seventh, which was scheduled to be the final frame. Ungania began the three-run rally when opened up the inning with a double down the left field line which was followed by Joseph Frazzetta (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) reaching on a fielding error at short.
After a walk to Shaun Callahan (Newington, Conn./Newington) loaded the bases, Pincince stepped into the box to face a new pitcher, lacing a single to center that allowed Ungania and Frazzetta to score and left two runners in scoring position. McGugan then came through with a one-out sacrifice bunt to give the Chargers the 3-2 lead.
Felician answered right back with a single run in the top of the seventh, knotting the score at three and forcing what turned into three extra innings. In the top of the 10th inning it was a leadoff walk that came back to haunt the Chargers with Thomas Kendr earning the free pass and eventually scoring the game-winning run.
GAME 2: New Haven 3, Felician 2
What began as a pitchers dual between the starters for each squad turned into a seventh inning thriller as the Chargers would go on to wrap up the series with a victory.
With Kyle Allen (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) coming out of the pen to replace the starter Fusco, Felician began a two-run rally that broke up six scoreless innings with a single to right field from the leadoff batter. After a sacrifice advanced the runner into scoring position Haiden Walte followed with a double to right field to record the first run of the game. After another pitching change, back-to-back singles would score another run for the Golden Falcons before the inning ended with a Felician runner trying to stretch a double.
Facing the two run deficit, New Haven turned to a pinch hitter to lead off the bottom with McGugan coming through with a leadoff single to right. That was followed by another single, this time from Pincince before the Chargers turned to another pinch hitter in freshman Jake Russo (Yaphank, N.Y./Bellport). The rookie catcher did exactly what he was asked to do which was to drop down a sacrifice bunt down the third base line, the problem for Felician being a throwing error that allowed Russo to reach safely and McGugan to score from second.
With one run across, the Chargers would benefit from a pair of wild pitches to score the game-tying and game-winning runs. Pincince was able to score on the first of those out of control pitches which came on a third strike but allowed the batter to reach first safely. The second came after the Golden Knights intentionally walked a batter to load the bases, but the second pitch to find the backstop allowed New Haven to walk-off with the victory.
