ALMEIDA HURLS ANOTHER GEM; BULLDOGS
OPEN UP QUINNIPIAC SERIES WITH IMPRESSIVE 4-1 WIN
BOX
SCORE
HAMDEN, CT – The Bryant baseball team opened up a
four-game series at Quinnipiac University Thursday afternoon with a
4-1 victory as senior right handed hurler Brent Almeida
(Fairhaven, Mass.) took a no-hit bid into the seventh
inning. Bryant (28-21, 19-6) remains three games ahead in the NEC
standings over second place Sacred Heart, while the
Bobcats—one of many teams vying to make the four-team NEC
tournament that begins May 27th—fell to 14-32 and
13-12 in the NEC.
Almeida kept the Bobcat bats hushed for the first six innings,
only allowing a batter to reach base on an error in the third
inning and a walk in the fourth. The Fairhaven, Mass., native upped
his record to a perfect 5-0 with the victory, tossing his second
consecutive complete-game, allowing one run on two hits, striking
out four .
Senior right-hander Michael Oskandy took to the hill for the
host Bobcats, and his first pitch of the game was drilled to
right-center field by freshmen Kevin Brown (Northborough,
Mass.) for a leadoff single. Jordan English
(Windsor Locks, Conn.) moved him over to second base with
a sacrifice bunt, and two batters later Nick Campbell
(Raynham, Mass.) hit an opposite-field single through the
right side to plate Brown and give Bryant an early 1-0 lead.
Campbell wisely moved up to second base on the throw from right
field, and then came around to score on a single to left center by
Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, RI) to extend the
Bulldogs early lead to 2-0.
Bryant would get another run in the top of the third without the
benefit of a hit. Brown opened up the inning with a walk, and after
moving over to second and third base on back to back groundouts,
scored on a wild pitch to put the Bulldogs up 3-0. Oskandy's
1-0 offering to Campbell slipped out of his hand and wound up in
the Quinnipiac dugout, allowing Brown to trot home.
Quinnipiac had hopes of getting into the scoring column when Ben
Farina, who had his 18-game hitting streak snapped Thursday, led
off the fourth with Almeida's first walk of the afternoon.
Farina promptly moved over to second on a pitch in the dirt to get
into scoring position with no outs. Almeida then went to work,
getting Brian Monack to fly out to left for the first out of the
inning. Joe Poletsky then ripped a ball to Zakary
Cianciolo's (Prospect, Conn.) right side, but the
junior shortstop got to it and fired a strike across the diamond to
get the second out of the inning. Almeida then caught the
outside corner on a 3-2 fastball to end the inning and
Quinnipiac's first threat to score all game.
Almeida had some defensive help behind him to help keep the
potential no-hitter intact. Brown made a nice over the shoulder
catch in the bottom of the first on a deep drive by Farina. In the
bottom of the sixth, first baseman Jamie Skagerlind
(Holden, Mass.) ran full speed and made a sliding catch
with his back to the play in right field foul territory to haul in
the second out of the inning.
Bryant would scratch another insurance run across in the top of
the seventh, as Connor Carignan (Norwich, Conn.)
reached base on a throwing error by Quinnipiac shortstop Mickey
Amanti. Brown, who had three hits on the afternoon, then roped a
single off the glove of Bobcat second baseman Chris Migani.
Carignan, hustling the entire way, scored from second by beating
the throw from Quinnipiac first baseman Gabe Guerino to make the
score 4-0.
Poletsky ended Almeida's bid for his first-career
no-hitter leading off the seventh with an infield single up the
middle. Migani then followed with a single to right center planting
runners on the corners with no outs. But Almeida fought out of the
jam getting Guerino to hit into a 4-6-3 double play before a Kyle
Nisson ground out ended the inning. Poletsky scored on the double
play to bring the score to 4-1.
Campbell complemented Brown's three hits going 2-3 with a
run batted in and a run scored. No other player in the game had
multiple hits in what was a very well-pitched baseball game.
Oskandy went all nine innings for the Bobcats in the loss, and was
the tough-luck loser falling to 2-6 on the year.
Bryant and Quinnipiac will continue their four game series in
Hamden, Conn., with a double-header Friday afternoon. First pitch
is slated for 12pm.
