Andrew Francella Fires A No-Hitter As UB Baseball Blanks Queens (N.Y.) College, 10-0

Bridgeport, Conn.-It was a special day on the diamond for the University of Bridgeport baseball team on Friday afternoon, as Andrew Francella (Grad., New Rochelle, N.Y.) fired a no-hitter to lead the Purple Knights to a 10-0 East Coast Conference victory of the visiting Queens (N.Y.) College in Seaside Park.  Francella allowed only three base runners the entire game, as a QC player reached on a walk in the fourth inning, an error in the fifth inning and a hit by pitch in the seventh.  Andrew needed 109 pitched to complete his masterpiece; 74 of which were strikes.

The win lifts Francella's season record 4-5.

Two exquisite defensive plays helped preserve the non-no in the sixth inning when sophomore Jake Woods (Stony Brook, N.Y.) opened the frame with a diving catch in leftfield, and Conall Roberts (Grad., Mt. Laurel, N.J.) made a barehanded, charging play and perfect throw from shortstop to end the inning.

UB is now 16-21 overall and 6-7 in conference play.  Queens is now 19-11 overall and 11-2 in the ECC.

On offense in the win, every player in the Bridgeport lineup had at least one hit on the day, as UB notched 13 as team.

The Purple Knights broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the bottom of the fifth and added five more in the seventh and added one more in the eighth.

Sophomore Anthony Pascale (Stony Brook, N.Y.), who caught Friday's no-hitter, had three hits for the winners, scored three runs and had two RBI.  Freshman Jeremy Rodrigues (Monroe, Conn.) drove in three runs for the Purple Knights and he also had two hits.  Jake Woods also had two hits for UB on Friday.

Friday's 10 runs mark the sixth time this season that the Purple Knights have reached double-digit scoring, and it's the first time the team has accomplished that in back-to-back games after crossing the plate 16 times on Wednesday against Dominican (N.Y.) College.

Up next, the same two teams will close out their three-game weekend series with a 12 noon doubleheader hosted by Queens in Flushing, N.Y.