Junior Armand Rugel pitched three shutout innings and earned the win for Stonehill (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Baglini's 12th inning sacrifice fly gives Stonehill second straight win
Winter Park, Fla. (March 9, 2013) – The Stonehill College baseball team defeated the University of Bridgeport Purple Knights in a non-conference matchup at Alfond Stadium on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.
Sophomore Christian Baglini (Milford, Conn./Notre Dame High) went two-for-five a knocked in the game-winning sacrifice fly to lead Stonehill. Freshman Chris Hoyt (Walpole, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) collected two RBIs including his first career home run.
Junior Armand Rugel (Middletow, R.I./Middletown) pitched three scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory for the Skyhawks. Rugel struck out three batters while holding the Purple Knights to two hits in the outing. Sophomore Neal Horan (Mashpee, Mass./BC High) started and pitched 6.2 innings, yielding two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks. The sophomore struck out a career-high seven batters in the game.
The Purple Knights took a 1-0 lead in the third. After John Ascenzia (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) singled and advanced to second on a ground-out, Brock Roggie (Lowville, N.Y./Jefferson) hit an RBI single up the middle to give Bridgeport a lead.
Stonehill responded in the bottom half of the third. With Billy Horobin (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Shehan) and Baglini on first and third with one out, Hoyt roped an RBI single to the shortstop to tie the game at one.
After Bridgeport regained the lead in the seventh inning, Stonehill tied the game in the ninth. Hoyt stepped to the plate with two outs in the inning and launched an inside-the-park home run to tie the game.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the 12th inning. Dan Fratus (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) hit a lead-off single and Anthony Pagano (Cranston, R.I./Cranston West) reached on an error. Fratus and Pagano were moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Brett Matzen (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge), which moved the batters into scoring position. Two batters later Baglini hit a deep fly ball to right field to plate Fratus for the game-winning run.
Stonehill (9-5, 0-0 NE-10) returns to action when it travels to Bridgeport on Friday, March 15. Bridgeport (1-3, 0-0 ECC) continues play today when it faces Assumption College at 2:30. The Purple Knights face off against Bentley for a pair of games tomorrow afternoon beginning at 12:00 pm.
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