Vigliotti Raps Out Pair Of Hits As Baseball Sees 2006 Campaign Come To End With 5-1 Setback To Southern Connecticut In Northeast-10 Championships

May 12, 2006

STONEHILL BASEBALL

2006 Northeast-10 Conference Championships

Friday, May 12, 2006

LeLacheur Park, Lowell, Mass.

FINAL: SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT 5, STONEHILL 1

123 456 789 R H E

Southern Connecticut (33-17) 100 110 101 - 5 9 1

Stonehill (28-17) 000 000 100 - 1 5 2

BATTERIES

SCS: Matt Hennessey and Jim McLaughlin

STO: Billy Sittig, Joe Breen (7) and Matt Vaughn

WP: Hennessey (7-3) LP: Sittig (7-3)

LOWELL, Mass.-- Sophomore Joe Kahlden (Norwalk, Conn.) drove in three runs in support of a complete-game effort on the mound by senior Matt Hennessey (Wallingford, Conn.) as third-seeded Southern Connecticut advanced to the championship round of the 2006 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championships with a 5-1 victory over second-seeded Stonehill in single elimination round action Friday afternoon at UMass Lowell's LeLacheur Park.

The Owls (33-17), who dropped a 6-5 decision in the championship game to fourth-seeded UMass Lowell, jumped out to a 1-0 first inning lead in semi-final round play when freshman Michael Diaz (Monroe, Conn.) led off with a triple and scored on an error. Southern Connecticut took a 2-0 edge in the fourth on senior Joe Pagan's (Bridgeport, Conn.) RBI groundout, and a pair of Kahlden sacrifice flies in the fifth and seventh frames, respectively, extended that margin to 4-0. The Skyhawks, who finish the season at 28-17 overall, plated their lone tally of the day in the bottom of the seventh on sophomore David Fradette's (Goffstown, N.H.) sacrifice fly, and the Owls closed out the scoring in the ninth on sophomore Billy Hite's (Shelton, Conn.) sacrifice fly.

Junior Nick Czekaj (Branford, Conn.) rapped out three hits in the triumph for Southern Connecticut, which also received two hits each from junior Jose Ortiz (Waterbury, Conn.) and freshman Karl Derbacher (Northford, Conn.). Hennessey went the distance in scattering five hits and allowing an unearned run in besting Stonehill for the second time in a week, as he fanned a pair to improve to 7-3 on the season.

Junior Max Vigliotti (Stamford, Conn.) collected two of the Skyhawks' five hits in the setback, as senior All-America Billy Sittig (West Roxbury, Mass.) allowed six hits and four runs in falling to 7-3 on the mound for Stonehill. Sittig fanned one to finish his career with a school record 286 strikeouts, as fellow senior Joe Breen (Swampscott, Mass.) allowed an unearned run over the final 2 1/3 innings of relief for the Skyhawks.

Stonehill, which made its eighth appearance in the Northeast-10 final four in nine seasons, has won 25 or more games in each of the last six seasons. Southern Connecticut will await word of an at-large selection in the NCAA Division II tournament.