Sean Allaire was 1-3 with an RBI in the CCSU loss.
By Kenny Barto
The Blue Devils were able to stick with a tough opponent in the Florida State Seminoles for seven innings, but ultimately fell short, losing 11-3 in the first game of the NCAA tournament after giving up a combined seven runs in the last two innings.
“We faced a good opponent today, we knew what we were going into,” said CCSU head coach Charlie Hickey. “We tried to do as much as we could to stop their running and their aggressiveness.”
CCSU’s appearance in this year’s NCAA regionals is their first appearance since 2004, when they lost against Florida and Oklahoma in the regionals held in Oklahoma City.
“We stuck with Florida State for seven innings,” said Pat Epps. “I mean, they’re an ACC powerhouse, and we might not match up to them that well, but we were able to stick with them for a while.”
CCSU started the game off by getting two runners on, both via walks, but they were unable to capitalize.
Florida State struck quickly in the bottom half, as a lead off double by Tyler Holt led to him stealing third, and then advancing on a slow dribbler down the first base line that was bobbled by pitcher Dave Krasnowiecki that was ruled a hit by the official scorer. CCSU was able to turn an important double play to end the inning, and hold FSU to only one run.
“I don’t think I was locating my pitches early,” said Krasnowiecki. “But as the game went on, I started locating them better, and just making good pitches.”
In the bottom of the second, the Seminoles were able to get runners on first and second with one out. A curveball in the dirt brought the runner on first off of the base just far enough for catcher Danny Hickey to throw him out for the second out of the inning.
“I tried to find some video online, trying to see what their tendencies were,” said Danny Hickey. “But, in the game you’re not really trying to think about that, you’re just reacting to what’s going on.”
Krasnowiecki kept the Seminoles off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth, which was good enough for the Blue Devils to gain 2-1 lead in the top half on a sacrifice fly by Danny Hickey, and an RBI single by NEC Player of the Year Sean Allaire.
FSU was able to answer with two runs of their own, and another in the bottom of the sixth.
CCSU added a run in the top of the seventh when Danny Hickey hit an RBI double to the left-center field gap that scored Kyle Zarotney.
The flood gates opened in the seventh, however, as a home run by the lead off batter Rafael Lopez. Krasnowiecki was replaced by Roy Natoli after giving up seven runs on eight hits over six innings of work while walking five, and striking out four.
Natoli and Donny White gave up a combined four runs over the final two innings.
After the game, Hickey was encouraged by what he saw from the Blue Devils.
“This was probably as relaxed a team playing in the first game I’ve seen,” said Hickey. “That’s not by accident, as this was the best match up we could’ve asked for, a number four seed playing a number one seed in our state.”
CCSU was given an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after they won the NEC tournament, beating Sacred Heart in back-to-back games just last week.
CCSU will take on UConn, who lost its tournament opener to Oregon, Saturday at 2 p.m. at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn.
