Uniondale, N.Y. - Trailing 5-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the University of Bridgeport baseball team rallied to score four runs on its way to a 6-5 win over the top-seeded Dowling College Golden Lions and stay alive in the 2015 East Coast Conference Championship Tournament being hosted by Molloy College at Mitchel Field in Uniondale, N.Y. The Purple Knights, who are the number two seed in the tournament, advance to face another elimination game this afternoon at approximately 4:00 p.m. against the loser of the Winner's Bracket game between LIU Post and St. Thomas Aquinas. UB is now 24-23 overall, and Dowling is 27-15. The Golden Lions will now await word to see if they receive an at-large bid to the 2015 NCAA Division II Championship Tournament which will begin next weekend.
In the bottom of the eighth, junior Dave Egeland (Toms River, N.J.) got the Bridgeport scoring parade started with an RBI ground-rule double to make the score 5-3 and put runners at second and third. Sophomore Casey McCone (Milford, Conn.), who went 3-for-4 in the game, then tied the contest with a two-run single. Next, freshman Ben Torres (Hollywood, Fla.) singled to put runners at first and second base setting up the key play of the game. McCone and Torres would pull off a double steal that would see the throw to third to try and catch McCone sail into leftfield and allow Casey to score what proved to be the game-winning run on the error.
The four-run eighth by the Purple Knights would make a winner of freshman PJ Martino (Medford, N.Y.) who picked up starter Anthony Alicki (Milford, Conn.) in the top of the seventh inning. Martino is now 3-4 on the season. Senior Brian O'Keefe (Milford, Conn.) worked a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to notch his second save of 2015.
Seniors John Ascenzia (West Haven, Conn.) and Tim Bickford (Wallingford, Conn.) each drove in runs in the bottom of the third inning on sacrifice flies.
Freshman Jose Negron (New Haven, Conn.) also had two hits in the win for UB.
Freshman Dennis Buckstein (0-2) took the loss for Dowling.
Provided by the Bridgeport Sports Information Department.
