March 21, 2009

LOZEAU LEADS BASEBALL TO 5-1 WIN SATURDAY AS BULLDOGS SPLIT DOUBLEHEADER

March 21, 2009

BRYANT BASEBALL PICKS UP 5-1 WIN IN FIRST OF TWO SATURDAY

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ- Bryant senior Dan Lozeau (Pelham, NH) pitched seven strong innings allowing just one run on three hits and senior Pat O'Connor (Mattapoisett, MA)

Senior Dan Lozeau pitched a complete-game three-hitter in Bryant's 5-1 win over Monmouth in the opener Saturday. www.dspics.com

blasted his fifth home run of the year to lead the Bryant baseball team to a 5-1 win over Monmouth in the first game of Saturday's non-conference doubleheader.

The win in the opener by the Bulldogs snaps Monmouth's six-game win streak, but the Hawks would come back and take the second game, 5-3. The two teams will close out the four-game series with a single game Sunday at 1 pm.

In the opener, the Bulldogs struck early, scoring two runs in the top of the first off starter Ryan Buch. Pat McKenna (Orange, CT) led off the game with a single down the right field line and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, RI). After Nick Campbell (Raynham, MA) struck out, O'Connor put the Bulldogs on the board with a home run to left.

Lozeau kept the Hawks off the scoreboard with a solid start for the Bulldogs on the mound. The Bulldog righty allowed just one hit through the first four innings.

The Hawks would finally get on the board in the fifth as Paul Bottigliero doubled to right off Lozeau to lead off the inning. Mike Casale would reach on an error trying to sacrifice allowing Bottigliero to move to third.

The Bulldogs would catch a break as Bobby Dombrowski lined out to Tim Norton (Barnstable, MA) at third and quickly tagged out Bottigliero trying to get back to the base. Monmouth's Josh Boyd would follow with a two-out double down the left field line. Casale would have to hold up at third, but would score on called balk by Lozeau to make it 2-1. The Bulldogs would get out of the inning however with the one-run lead.

Bryant would get the run back in the top of the sixth as McKenna showed some hustle reaching on an infield hit and would move to second by Stone's second sacrifice. Two batters later, after McKenna moved up to third following a strikeout by Campbell, O'Connor singled to left to score McKenna. O'Connor would steal second to move into scoring position and cross the plate on a Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, CT) single to right to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.

From there, Lozeau would settle down in picking up his second win of the season and first complete game. O'Connor finished the game going 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs and two runs scored. McKenna had a pair of hits to go with two runs.

GAME TWO - Monmouth 5, Bryant 3

In the second game, the Bulldogs took advantage of two fielding errors by Monmouth to take a quick 2-0 lead in the first. McKenna reached on a walk to lead off the game and moved up to second on a sacrifice. He would come around to score on a throwing error by Hawk pitcher Nick Vallillo attempting to field a Campbell sacrifice. Campbell would come around to score when Vigurs reached on the second Monmouth defensive error of the inning.

Monmouth would get a run back in the bottom of the second, but Bryant would make it a two-run lead with a run in the third as McKenna stayed red-hot at the plate, leading off the inning with a double. The senior would come around to score on a fielder's choice by O'Connor. He would finish with two hits in the game.

Monmouth would add a run in the bottom of the third and took its first lead of the game scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth, two of which were unearned by a fielding error by the Bulldog defense.

Both teams committed three errors in the game. Vallillo would pick up the win going the distance for the Hawks as the junior lefty held Bryant to just three hits in the game and raised his record to 2-0 on the season.

Game 1 - West Long Branch, NJ
Bryant 5, Monmouth 1
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Bryant ... 200 002 1 - 5 7 3 (12-6)
Monmouth ... 000 010 0 - 1 3 0 (6-7)
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Battery: Bryant - Lozeau and Vigurs. Monmouth Buch, Ballard (6)and Dombrowski.
Win- Lozeau(2-0) Loss-Buch(1-2) T-1:38 A-150
HR - O'Connor (5)

Game 2 - West Long Branch, NJ
Bryant 5, Monmouth 1
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Bryant          ...    201 002 0 - 3 3 3      (12-7)
Monmouth     ...    011 300 x - 5 6 3      (7-7)
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Bryant - Ryan, Griswold (4), Almeida (5) and Vigurs.
Monmouth- Vallillo and Dombrowski.
Win- Vallillo (2-0) Loss- Ryan (1-2)   T-1:33
HR - Pulsonetti