Eight Strong from Blandino Leads Felician over Bridgeport, 3-0, at NCAA East Regional
RINDGE, N.H. (May 19, 2016) -- Single runs in the bottom of the first and second innings would be all Matt Blandino of fourth-seeded Felician would need on Thursday afternoon at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. The junior right-hander authored eight innings of two-hit, shutout ball to lead the Golden Falcons to a 3-0 victory over fifth-seeded Bridgeport in the opening game of the NCAA Baseball Championship East Regional, hosted by Franklin Pierce University.
With the win, Felician improves to 34-19 and advances to face top seed and host Franklin Pierce at 3 p.m. on Friday. With the loss, Bridgeport falls to 27-23-1 and will face elimination against a to-be-determined opponent at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Blandino (9-4) used just 91 pitches (67 strikes) and faced just 27 batters while breezing through eight shutout innings on the mound for Felician. He surrendered just two hits, did not issue a walk, threw two wild pitches and struck out five. Sophomore right-hander Danny Naif tossed a scoreless ninth to pick up his 10th save of the season.
In the first inning, sophomore shortstop Bruce Strickland worked a six-pitch walk leading off, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on a second-pitch RBI single through the right side of the infield by junior center fielder Andrew LaMura. In the second, sophomore first baseman Jason Polgano pulled a double down the left-field line leading off, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI single pushed through the right side by junior right fielder Ronnie Grant, who had three hits on the day.
Felician would tack on a run in the bottom of the seventh, to create the 3-0 final, when junior third baseman J.R. Meneses drove a one-out, solo home run an estimated 360 feet to straightaway left field.
Senior right-hander Rob Anderson (4-2) took the ball and threw 63 pitches (45 strikes) over the opening 4.2 innings for Bridgeport. He allowed two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three while taking the loss.