Pictured Above: Senior right-hander,
Eric Ligda (Credit: Greg Fencik)
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New Britain, CT – A low-scoring affair early on dominated by a stellar outing from Wagner senior right hander,
Eric Ligda, needed extra frames to decide the outcome as in the bottom of the tenth inning, Central Connecticut loaded the bases and got the game-winning RBI single off the bat of Jay Devito as the Seahawks fell to the Blue Devils, 7-6, in the series opener on Friday afternoon.
With the loss, the Green & White stand at 6-15 overall while Central Connecticut moves to 9-8 on the year. Both squads stand at 2-2 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play.
Ligda tossed six strong innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits while walking three and striking out a career-high 11 batters. The West Grove, PA native notched at least two strikeouts over a three-inning span, highlighted by three punchouts in the bottom of the fourth. Junior
Nick Robino was tagged with his first loss of the season.
The 11-strikeout performance by Ligda this afternoon are the most by a Seahawk pitcher since April 30, 2017, when All-NEC and All-ECAC First Teamer,
Danny Marsh, fanned 11 LIU Brooklyn batters in preserving an 11-0 home victory.
Seven of the nine starters recorded at least one base hit with five Seahawks producing a multi-hit day, led by senior CF
Joe Silvestrone, who drove in two of the six RBIs for the visitors. Classmates
Anthony Pecora and
Will Johnson along with junior DH
Freddy Sabido and 1B
Tyler Sanfillippo all had two hits.
Wagner's 1-through-4 batters combined to go 8-for-22, scoring four of the six runs and driving in four of the six RBI. Junior
Griffin Schneider and sophomore catcher
Brandon Hall were credited with an RBI as well.
Sam Loda led CCSU with three hits while Dave Matthews, Buddy Dewaine, Jake Siracusa and Matt Bertochi all had two hits apiece. Matthews and Siracusa combined to plate home four of the seven RBIs for the Blue Devils. Jared Gallagher earned his first win of the season.
In the bottom of the tenth, Dewaine was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a one-out hit single by Loda. Siracusa poked a single to right that loaded the bases for Devito. Junior
Ryan Lauk came on for Robino and allowed what turned out to be the game-winning hit.
The Seahawks led off the game with back-to-back base hits before Silvestrone sent a RBI grounder to second base that plated home the first run of the contest.
CCSU evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the second. Loda led off the frame with a single back up-the-middle and moved into scoring position on a throwing error from sophomore SS
Mike Ruggiero. Ligda was able to strike out the next two batters before Bertochi singled that brought in Loda to tie the game at one.
Ligda was able to close out the inning by getting Chandler Debrosse to fly out to right, stranding Bertochi at third, after he stole second and moved over on the throwing error from Hall.
Sanfillippo kicked off Wagner's third inning with a ground-rule double to the deepest part of center field. After moving to third on the flyout to right by Pecora, Johnson grounded out to second, which brought in Sanfillippo, putting Wagner back in the lead at 2-1. Silvestrone drew a walk and made it to third on a pair of wild pitches.
Sabido wrapped a RBI single to a right field, plating home Silvestrone to up the Seahawks lead to 3-1. Ligda continued his dominance on the bump, retiring the Blue Devils in order, while picking up his fifth strikeout of the contest after fanning Matthews and Dewaine. The former Avon Grove product faced a bit of trouble in the bottom of the fourth.
After striking out Jack Nolan for his sixth of the ballgame, he issued back-to-back walks to Loda and Siracusa, giving the Blue Devils runners on first and second. He was able to strand the runners as he recorded strikeouts of Christian Layne and Bertochi, getting out of the inning.
Ligda returned to the bump in the bottom of the fifth. He got the first out before issuing a walk to Peyton Stephens. The next batter, Matthews, was able to turn on Ligda's pitch, sending a two-run shot over the right field wall knotting the ballgame at 3-3. Ligda rallied back with his ninth strikeout of the contest in retiring Dewaine before Nolan flew out to center ending the inning.
The game remained tied until the eighth. Wagner scored twice in retaking a 5-3 lead as Schnedier sent a run scoring single to center before Hall sent a base hit to right, scoring Silvestrone. CCSU answered back with two in the bottom of the eighth to even the score at 5-5 on Siracusa's two-run double to left.
With one out in the ninth, Wagner went back up, 6-5, as Silvestrone flew out to center, scoring Sanfillippo who walked to start the inning. The Blue Devils matched the Seahawks run as Dan Covino, who was inserted as a pinch-hitter, lofted an RBI sac-fly to left to tie the game.
These two teams square off tomorrow afternoon from CCSU Baseball Field with first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m.
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