MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Southern Connecticut State University baseball team lost a non-conference matchup to Dominican at Griffith Field at The Ripken Experience complex in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Owls drop to 1-4 through their first five games while the Chargers open the season at 1-0.

At the plate, Mac Finnegan (Old Saybrook, Conn.) was 3-for-4 with two doubles, one RBI and three runs scored. Mike DeMartino (New Haven, Conn.) drove in a pair of runs while Nolan Cloutier (Wallingford, Conn.) was 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Nate Carney (Bristol, Conn.) took the no-decision after working six solid innings in his second start of the year. Carney gave up five runs – four earned – on 10 hits with three strikeouts without walking a batter and left with a lead.

How It Happened
The Owls got on the board early with a three-run first inning, keyed by four hits in their first at-bat. Jim Palmer (Milford, Conn.) and Anthony Zambito (Ridgewood, N.J.) led off with the inning with a pair of singles, before Palmer was retired at third attempting a steal. After Tyler Criscuolo (Branford, Conn.) worked a one-out walk, Finnegan drove in Zambito with the game's first run before  DeMartino lined his fourth double of the season to drive in two runs and give the Owls the early lead.

Dominican chipped away with two runs in the second – one unearned- before tying the game in the third.

In the fourth, Finnegan led off with a double to the warning track in right field for his second hit of the day. Connor Redahan (Greenwich, Conn.) then worked a four-pitch walk before being retired at second on a fielder's choice. Cloutier then delivered a two-out bloop single to right-center field to score Finnegan and John Spoto (Stamford, Conn.) to give Southern a 5-3 lead. Palmer then blasted a double to the left-center field gap to plate Cloutier and give the Owls a 6-3 lead before being retired at third to end the inning after attempting to stretch his double to a triple.

In the sixth, Dominican's Anthony Bartolomei led off with a double before Bill Rotella followed with a two-run homer to left field to cut the Owls' lead to a run, 6-5. Carney was able to navigate through the last three batters to end the Chargers' run.

In the bottom half of the inning, Finnegan picked up his third hit in as many at-bats with a double off the right-field wall. DeMartino's chopper to first moved him to third before Redahan drove him home with a single to short to give the Owls a 7-5 lead.

Patrick Webler (Brookline, Mass.) entered the game in relief of Carney to start the seventh. Webler struck-out Dominican lead-off hitter Patrick Bateman looking before hitting the next batter with a pitch and walking the Chargers' third batter. After a come-backer glanced off his glove, Webler was able to retire the last two batters he faced to work out of the jam.

In the eighth, Webler retired the first batter he faced before giving up a pair of hits. After retiring pinch hitter Nicholas DeCandia for the second out of the inning, a throwing error allowed two runs to score to tie the game. Quantique White (New London, Conn.) entered the game and gave up a single through the left side of the infield that drove in the go-ahead run to give Dominican an 8-7 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.

In the ninth, White worked through the first two batters of the inning before issuing a two-out walk to Brian Sanders before Benjamin Mezza delivered a two-out, pinch-hit home run to give Dominican a 10-7 lead heading into the Owls' final at-bat.

Up Next
The Owls will play on Saturday, Feb. 23 starting with a 2 p.m. start against Molloy and a 5:30 first pitch against Mercy.