Seniors Lead Blue Devils to 6-4 Win Over #19 Illinois on Sunday in Winter Haven

Senior catcher Sean Parker's two-run single and six strong innings from senior lefty Derek Roberts were the difference as the Central Connecticut baseball team posted a 6-4 win over #19 Illinois on Sunday in Winter Haven, FL. The Illini were ranked 19th in the Collegiate Baseball poll as of last Monday. The win is the second straight for the Blue Devils over a Big Ten team. They also defeated Indiana on Saturday. CCSU and Illinois will play two more games in their series on Monday and Tuesday.

The Illini took an early 1-0 lead with single run in the top of the first inning off of Roberts.

The Blue Devils took their first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Junior Richie Tri singled and went to third on a two-out double by Anthony Scialdone. Both runners scored on an RBI double by senior Jay Schillaci.

Illinois tied the game with a run in the top of the fourth. The Blue Devils answered, and led 3-2, following an RBI single by Scialdone. Sean Allaire had singled and then scored on the hit by Scialdone. Illinois answered again in the top of the sixth inning tying the score at 3-3.

Central Connecticut retook the lead with three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. CCSU loaded the bases with no outs on a walk to junior Tommy Meade, a single by senior Casey Walko and a walk to Mitch Wells. Parker single to center field to plate two runs and give CCSU the two-run edge. It marked the second straight game that Parker drove in a pair of runs. Tri walked to reload the bases and following a foul out by Allaire, Angelo Buscemi's RBI ground out scored the third run and made it 6-3 in favor of the Blue Devils.

The Illini plated another run in the top of the seventh off of Blue Devil reliever Warren Sternburg to cut the lead to 6-4. Dan Markoya entered the game and recorded the final two outs of the inning to keep the lead at two.

Allaire had three hits and has seven in the last two games. He scored once. Schillaci and Parker each drove in two runs in the win. Markoya picked up his second collegiate save pitching the final 2.2 innings without allowing a run. He yielded only three hits and struck out one.

Roberts finished the game pitching six innings and allowing three runs and 10 hits while striking out two batters. He walked three. He allowed single runs to the Illini in the first, fourth and sixth innings. In his other three innings he faced a total of only 12 batters. He is now 2-0 on the season.

The Blue Devils and Fighting Illini will continue their three-game series with another single game on Monday. The two teams will also square off on Tuesday, completing the trip to Florida for Central Connecticut.