WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The Southern Connecticut State University baseball split the final two games of its four-game Northeast 10 Conference Southwest Conference series at University of New Haven, dropping the first game, 4-3, before winning the second game, 8-3. With the split, Southern goes to 6-7 overall and 5-7 in NE10 while New Haven stands at 6-6 overall and 6-5 in NE10 play.

Tyshaun Diaz (Holyoke, Mass.) was 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and a run scored, while also reaching base by walk and hit by pitch, twice. Tony Zambito (Ridgewood, N.J.) was 4-for-10. Zach Rodgers (Parrish, Fla.) picked up his first win of the season after holding New Haven to three runs on eight hits over five innings while striking out five. Tommy Hughes (Newington, Conn.) converted his second save of the season after spinning four scoreless innings in the nightcap.

GAME 1
Tony Zambito was 3-for-4 with a run scored while Andrew Eng (Ridgewood, N.J.) and Tyshaun Diaz both drove in runs. Joe Nemchek () pitched effectively and took his second-straight hard-luck loss in a row. Nemchek gave up two unearned runs on four hits over four innings.

• In the top of the 1^st inning, Zambito led off the game with a single to second and then stole second base. After he moved to third on Billy Sullivan's come-backer to the mound, Eng drove Zambito in with a groundball to short.
• UNH responded in the bottom half of the inning when they plated two unearned runs to take a 2-1 lead.
• New Haven pushed across another run in the 3^rd inning to take a 3-1 lead.
• In the top of the 5^th inning, Zach Healy led off the inning with a single to left field and moved to second on Derrick Jagello's ground-out. Diaz then singled to right field to drive in Healy and cut New Haven's lead to one, 3-2. On the play, and error by the Chargers' right fielder allowed Diaz to advance to third.
• Zambito then went down swinging, but attempted to advance to first on a dropped third strike. On the throw to first, Diaz stole home to tie the game at 3-3.
• After UNH took the lead back in the bottom of the 5^th, Southern had an opportunity to score in both the 6^th and 7^th, including runners on second and third in the final inning, but couldn't push another run across.

GAME 2
Mike Ferrett (Hamden, Conn.) hit his first home run of the season, driving in two runs, while Izaiah Walker also drove in two runs for the Owls. Zach Rodgers improved to 1-1 on the mound with a five-inning outing before leaving with a lead. Tommy Hughes dominated in a four-inning save performance, scattering three hits while holding the Chargers scoreless.

• New Haven got the board first in the second game of the twin bill with a run in the 2nd inning.
• In the 4^th, Sullivan led off the inning with a single to left field before stealing second and moving to third on a passed ball. Ferrett then connected for his first home run of the season to give the Owls a 2-1 lead.
• After Jack Drewry (Wolcott, Conn.) reached on an error, Walker worked a four-pitch walk before both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Healy ground-out to the pitcher, holding the runners on base, before Jagello walked to load the bases. Drewry and Walker both scored on wild pitches to give the Owls a 4-1 lead.
• UNH got two runs back in the bottom of the 4^th to make it 4-3 before Walker drove in Andrew Eng with a single in the top of the 5^th to push the Owls lead back to two runs, 5-3.
• All was quiet before the top of the 9^th inning when the Owls' offense put up five runs to take a 10-3 lead, which stood as the final. Sullivan and Eng walked to lead-off the inning before moving up a base on one wild pitch before a second wild pitch allowed Sullivan to score. After Ferrett walked to put runners on the corners, Drewry doubled to drive in Eng and move Chad Fedeli, pinch running for Ferrett, to third. Walker then hit a sacrifice fly to score Fedeli before Diaz stroked a two-out double to score Drewry and Healy.

NOTES

• Tony Zambito ran his team-best hitting streak to 11 games with a hit in each game. He matches the effort by Mike DeMartino in 2019.
• For the four-game set against New Haven, Zambito was 8-for-16 with four runs scored and three stolen bases while posting a team-best .579 on-base percentage. For the year, Zambito is hitting .480 (24-50) while leading the team with 15 runs scored and 13 stolen bases, as well as a team-best .559 on-base percentage and a 1.119 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
• With a RBI in the first game, Andrew Eng now has 20 for the season to lead the Owls, in just 13 games. For the series, Eng had six RBI on six hits while also scoring six runs to go-along with his team-leading fifth home run on Friday. He also stole three bases in the series.
• Billy Sullivan, playing in his ninth game of the season out of the Owls' 13 contests, became statistically eligible and sits second in the Owls' lineup with a .382 (13-34) average and is second to Eng with 10 RBI.
• Zach Healy saw a three-game hitting streak against New Haven, totaling four hits against the Chargers for the weekend.
• Tyshaun Diaz drove in three runs and scored another for the weekend. Mike Ferrett and Izaiah Walker also drove in four runs, each, for the weekend.
• Tommy Hughes has now appeared in seven of the Owls' 13 games and boasts a 2-0 record with two saves, all in relief, with a 4.08 ERA. Of late, Hughes has not allowed a run in 8 1/3 consecutive innings over his last four appearances.

UP NEXT
Southern Connecticut will host St. Rose on Apr. 30, May 1-2, with Senior Day festivities slated for Saturday, May 1 before the start of their doubleheader against the Golden Knights.