Baseball Downs Caldwell, 22-2

Recap, photo courtesy of Southern Connecticut State University

LANTANA, Fla. – The Southern Connecticut State University baseball team defeated Caldwell, 22-2, in a non-conference matchup at the Santaluces Athletic Complex in Lantana, Fla. With the win, the Owls improve to 6-9 on the season while the Cougars drop to 2-5.

Nate Carney (Bristol, Conn.) was dealing for the Owls as he held Caldwell to one run while scattering nine hits over seven strong innings. Carney struck-out a season-high nine batters while not issuing a walk.

At the plate, John Spoto (Stamford, Conn.) drove in five runs while Connor Redahan (Greenwich, Conn.) was 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored. Cameron O'Toole (Grafton, Mass.) also drove in three runs and scored four more. Nolan Cloutier (Wallingford, Conn.) continued his hot streak with a pair of hits as well as two RBI and three runs scored.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Owls first run of the game came in their first at-bats when O'Toole scored on a wild pitch. The Owls tacked on four more runs in the second inning, three of which were unearned.
• The Owls put together a nine-run inning in the fourth highlighted by RBI singles from Cloutier and O'Toole and a two-run single by Spoto.
• In the sixth, Spoto lined a two-run double before Cloutier drove in another run with a base hit to give the Owls a 17-0 lead.
• Caldwell finally broke through with a run in the seventh inning, ending Carney's shutout bid in his final inning of work.
• Southern responded with a five-run eighth inning to take a 22-1 lead with Redahan driving in another run and freshman Mike Ferrett (Hamden, Conn.) with a pinch-hit, two-run double.
• Jared Henry (West Stockbridge, Mass.) came on in relief of Carney in the eighth, and gave up a hit to the first batter he faced, who scored to cut the Owls lead to 22-2.

NOTES

• Carney picks up his first win of the season with his longest outing of the year. He logged six innings in each of his first two starts of the season.
• He also runs his streak of innings without a walk to 21 1/3 innings over five appearances. Going back to last season, has gone 39 innings without issuing a walk and has just one in his last 45 innings pitched.
• Carney's nine strikeouts tie his most in a start since he struck-out nine batters against Southern New Hampshire on Apr. 8, 2017 as a freshman.
• Spoto's five-RBI day are a career-best, topping his four-RBI day against American International on Apr. 28, 2018.
• The third-year Owl has been on a tear in Florida as he now owns a five-game hitting streak in which he is hitting .370 (10-27) in seven games with three multiple-hit games.
• Cloutier also picks up his team-best ninth multiple-hit game of the season and fifth in his last seven games. Cloutier is hitting a team-leading .500 (12-24) during the Owls' Spring Break trip and has plated a team-best 10 runs.
• Redahan's two-hit day gives him a 14-game hitting streak, the longest for Southern since Nick Lamberti's 17-game run in 2017.
• Lamberti has now reached base safely in eight-straight games.
•  As a team, the Owls set season-highs in runs scored (22), RBI (19), walks (15) and batters hit-by-pitches (6). The Owls' 22 runs are its most since they scored the same amount against Lynn on Mar. 22, 2016.