Come from behind victories were the common theme in the New Haven baseball team’s three-game series against the College of Saint Rose. With a doubleheader on Saturday followed by a single game on Sunday to conclude the weekend series, the Chargers were able to come back from a deficit in each game and finish the weekend with a sweep of the Golden Knights.
In game one, Saint Rose got on the board first in the top of the first inning with one run on an RBI single from designated hitter Louis Gendron.
New Haven took no time to answer back as they answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. The first run came on a double from first baseman Matt McIntire and brought home center fielder Nick Ungania, who led off the inning with a walk. After a sacrifice fly to center field from right fielder Tyler Wells that advanced McIntire to third, left fielder Owen Pincince brought home the second run with a groundout to third. The score remained 2-1 until the Chargers struck again in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run from shortstop Kenneth Franquiz and gave the Chargers a two-run lead.
Saint Rose made a late comeback in the seventh with three runs to take back the lead after a double from right fielder James Ward and a two-run single from Gendron. New Haven would not go down without a fight as they scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth as third baseman Joseph Frazzetta lined a single into left field that brought home catcher Cam McGugan and designated hitter Shaun Callahan.
Closing pitcher Drew Silverman came in to close out the game in the top of the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning to end the game with a 5-4 victory for New Haven.
Starting pitcher Liam Carroll tallied up eight strikeouts over 6.2 innings and allowed seven hits and three earned runs. Relief pitcher Randy Ramnarace earned the win on the mound as he threw a scoreless eighth inning and struck out two.
Game two started similarly to the first as Saint Rose struck first with three runs in the top of the first. After RBIs from Gendron and left fielder Josh Foglia, a wild pitch from right-handed pitcher Michael Gatti brought home Gendron to score the third run in the top of the first inning. New Haven shortened the deficit in the bottom of the first with one run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Callahan to bring home Ungania.
The Golden Knights kept their foot on the gas pedal with two more runs in the top of the second after an error by McIntire brought home the first of the inning before another sacrifice fly made it a 5-1 game. The Chargers continued to chip away at the lead as they cut the lead to three in the bottom of the second after a sacrifice fly from second baseman Aedan Forde brought in Frazzetta.
Two scoreless innings went by before Saint Rose scored their final run of the game in the top of the fifth inning off a solo home run from first baseman Nathan Toms.
The rally started with a single from Franquiz, followed by a walk from Forde and another single from Ungania that loaded the bases with no outs. A wild pitch brought in the first run, followed by a groundout from McIntire that scored Forde. Callahan followed with a single to right field to bring in Ungania to make it a one-run game.
The Chargers needed to continue the rally with two outs after a strikeout and right fielder Cole Maucere tied the game at six, followed by a double from Frazzetta to give the Chargers a 7-6 lead.
Frazzetta scored the sixth and final run of the inning on catcher Casey Cerruto’s double down the left field line.
The Golden Knights were unable to score again, while New Haven put up one more in the bottom of the sixth. The rest of game two remained scoreless and ended with a 9-6 victory for the Chargers. Gatti took the win on the mound after six innings in which he gave up seven hits and five earned runs with seven strikeouts.
McIntire led the way at the plate on Saturday for the Chargers with a combined four hits and three RBIs. Frazzetta and Franquiz also tallied three hits each on the day.
New Haven put up the first run of the game in game three with one run in the bottom of the first inning.
After Ungania singled to right field and stole second base, McIntire advanced the runner on a groundout to third base. Ungania then scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the game.
The Golden Knights fired back in the top of the third with four runs on four hits. The Chargers chipped away at the three-run deficit in the bottom of the fourth, after Pincince tripled down the right field line and later scored on a single from Maucere.
Saint Rose went back ahead by three in the top of the fifth after a double followed by a throwing error put a runner on third and came around to score on a groundout from Gendron.
New Haven made it a one-run game in the bottom of the sixth after two runs on a double from Pincince followed by a solo home run from Maucere.
Jake Zenger came on in relief of left-handed pitcher Vincent Fusco in the top of the seventh inning. Zenger allowed the Golden Knights’ sixth and final run of the game after a single from Gendron.
New Haven finally took back the lead in the bottom of the seventh after two errors from the defense and RBIs from McIntire and Maucere. The Chargers held a 7-6 lead until the bottom of the eighth when they scored three huge insurance runs to secure the win for New Haven. The first run came on a single from Ungania, followed by a two-run single from Wells. The Golden Knights couldn’t scratch any runs across in the top of the ninth and sealed the final game of the series with a 10-6 Chargers win.
Maucere led the offense on Sunday as he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Pincince also had a strong day as he went 2-for-4 with a double and triple.
With the weekend series sweep, New Haven improved to 15-13 on the year and 7-4 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The next game for the Chargers will take place at Southern Connecticut State University, where New Haven will face the cross-town rivals for the second of three games this season. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. For more information, visit NewHavenChargers.com.
