BRYANT BASEBALL VS. STONEHILL
Bulldogs fall to Skyhawks, 4-3

SMITHFIELD, RI -  Trailing by one in the bottom of the ninth, the Bryant baseball team (10-24, 8-7 NE-10) could not get the tying run home, and lost to Stonehill (15-11, 10-3 NE-10) by the score of 4-3 this afternoon at the Bryant Baseball Complex. Stonehill's senior pitcher Billy Sittig (West Roxbury, Mass.) hurled a complete-game striking out nine to notch his fourth win of the season.

The Skyhawks got on the board with a pair of runs in the second inning as senior T.J. Piscatelli (Norfolk, Mass.) launched a two-run home run, his first of the year. Stonehill would tack on another run in the third, and hold a 3-0 lead.

After leaving the bases loaded in the third, the Bulldogs would respond with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior Mike Rocco (Tewksbury, Mass.) led off the frame with a single, and scored on a sac fly by senior Daryle Crowley (Danvers, Mass.).

Bryant would tie it with a pair of runs in the seventh, both unearned but again left a pair of runners on board. Crowley, who collected three hits on the afternoon, led off the seventh with a single and later scored. Sophomore shortstop Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn.) who reached on an error by the Stonehill shortstop, accounted for the third Bryant run, and second run of the inning.

In the ninth, Sittig induced the first two batters to ground out to short bringing Bryant down to its final out. A pair of errors by the Stonehill shortstop, who totaled four on the afternoon, put two runners on, including the tying run at second base and the winning run at first. Sittig then took matters into his own hands as he got Rocco to strikeout to end it.

Bryant left 12 men on base including three in the third, two in the fourth, two in the seventh and two in the ninth. Sittig fanned nine, scattered seven hits and allowed just one earned run en route to his fourth complete game of the season. Bryant righty Adam Vuolo (Walpole, Mass.) fanned three over the final two innings, but allowed one unearned run to take the hard-luck loss.

Bryant baseball looks to snap a two-game losing streak as it hosts Stonehill tomorrow, April 13 in a non-conference match up at the Bryant Baseball Complex. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.