May 1, 2010

BRYANT BASEBALL TAKES PAIR FROM WAGNER
Senior Day Sunday at 12 pm

Game 1 – Bryant 6, Wagner 5 (8 innings) - BOX SCORE
Game 2 – Bryant 6, Wagner 3  - BOX SCORE

Nick Campbell went 3-for-3 including a key seventh inning home run in Bryant's 6-5 win in the opener Saturday against Wagner.  The Bulldogs would take the nightcap 6-3.  Bryant and Wagner close out their series Sunday at 12 p.m.

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The surging Bryant University baseball team picked up two more wins Saturday from visiting Wagner College Saturday as the Bulldogs now sit alone in first place in the Northeast Conference by three games heading into Sunday's finale of a key weekend series between the top two teams in the conference.

Bryant (22-19, 14-5), winners of eight-straight NEC games and eight of its last nine, took the opener Saturday against Wagner 6-5 in eight innings and followed with a 6-3 win in the nightcap. 

With the two losses, Wagner (17-22) drops into a tie for second place in the NEC with Sacred Heart at 11-8 in conference play.   

In Saturday's opener, Jamie Skagerlind (Holden,  Mass.) went 3-for-3 with an RBI while senior Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.) had three hits and drove in a pair in Bryant's 6-5 win in eight innings.

Just as they did in Friday's 8-4 win, the Bulldogs jumped out quickly on Wagner starter Matt Watson, the NEC Pitcher of the Year in 2009, scoring two runs keyed by a leadoff double by freshman Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.). 

But Wagner, showing why the Seahawks were the preseason favorites to win the league, came alive in the third, pushing across four runs against starter Eric Polvani (Wallingford, Conn.) to take a 4-2 lead.  Consecutive singles by Tommy Higgins, Seth Boyd, and Vin Avella and a two-run home run by Kevin McDonnell keyed the Wagner rally.

Bryant would chip away at the lead with a run in the fourth and run in the fifth to tie the game at 4-4. 

In the top of the seventh, Wagner's Hayden Hunter belted his first career home run to deep left field leading off to give the visitors a 5-4 lead.  But the Bulldogs would answer as Campbell led off the bottom of the seventh with his second home run of the year to tie it at 5-5 and send the game into extra innings.

In the eighth, the Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs for junior Zachary Cianciolo (Prospect, Conn.).  Cianciolo sent a high chopper to short, but in an effort to get Bryant's Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, R.I.) on a force at second, the throw was high and Jordan English (Windsor Locks, Conn.) came in from third with the winning run.

Polvani picked up his fourth win of the season (4-5), finishing with six hits allowed while striking out eight and walking three. 

In the night cap, Sal Lisanti (Bronx, N.Y.) picked up his second win of the season allowing just three runs on five hits through 5 1/3 innings.  The Bulldogs scored twice in the first once again as Campbell followed singles by Brown and Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn.) with his 54th career double to left-center to put the Bulldogs up 1-0.  Stone would follow with an RBI ground out to third to make it 2-0.

Wagner would even things up with two runs in the second, but the Bulldogs broke the game wide open in the fourth, scoring four times keyed by a triple by Brown and a double by Cianciolo down the left field line. 

Mark Andrews (Hillsborough, N.J.) came on in relief to pick up his 10th save of the season.  It was also the 20th save of the junior's career, tying him with Eric Volovo for the most saves in a career at Bryant.

Campbell's three hits in the opener and double in the second game extends his season-best hit streak to 14 games.

Bryant and Wagner will close out the series with a single game on Sunday starting at 12 p.m.  The Bulldogs will honor seniors Campbell, Stone, Tom Baker (West Brookfield, Mass.), Vigurs, Nick Laude (Wells, Maine), Polvani and Brent Almeida (Fairhaven, Mass.) prior to the start of the game. This game had been originally scheduled for 1pm, but was moved up an hour due to possible thunderstorms passing through Rhode Island in the late afternoon.