by David F. Pendrys [Official SHU Box Score]

BRIDGEPORT, CT- It didn’t take long for the Bryant Bulldogs to pull out to a 5-0 lead over the Sacred Heart Pioneers in the first half of their Saturday doubleheader. But a 5-0 loss would have been preferable to the 15-0 total by game’s end. Bryant’s James Karinchak would pitch a complete game gem shutout, striking out 6 along the way. Sacred Heart’s Robbie Maguire took the lost giving up the first 5 runs. He was later relieved by Connor Landers, who gave up 7 (5 earned), and James Taubl gave up 3 unearned runs though at that point the game was pretty much out of sight.

The probability of an SHU comeback was seriously diminished after the fourth inning when Bryan put up 8 runs. Landers relieved Maguire at the start of the inning and promptly gave up a home run to Daniel Palazzo. After one batter was out, Jordan Mountford was hit by a pitch and eventually stole second. Brandon Bingel singled to drive Mountford in. Matt Albanese was hit by a pitch, and Robby Rinn was walked to load the bases. John Mullen came up and grounded to third, however the throw to first went awry, and as the runners were already moving due to the force out possibilities, everyone originally on base scored and Mullen got an unlikely triple. Zach Wood came in to run for Mullen and was driven in by Cole Fabio’s ground out. The score was 11-0 before Al Zarozny was hit by a pitch causing the exit of Landers. Taubl came in to pitch. Palazzo came up to bat again and hit to second base but the grounder was mishandled allowing both runners to be safe. Dan Cellucci came to bat and hit to first, but the ball took a ridiculous bounce and flew over the first basemen, and in came Zarozny scored as Palazzo made it third. Mountford then singled to drive in Palazzo. Taubl finally go the Pioneers out of the wacky inning, but the 13-0 score was daunting.

Karinchak didn’t even open the door slightly though the rest of the way, and Bryant tacked on two more runs, though these stemmed all basically from one fielding error sparing Taubl the earned run count. A bright spot for the Pioneers was Zach Short got two hits off the Karinchak despite his stellar day, but there was little good news other than the weather.

Editor’s Note: Game Joined In Progress.