Baseball Sweeps Long Island; Walko Drives in Five and Scialdone Hit Streak Reaches 21

The Central Connecticut baseball team swept a Northeast Conference doubleheader at Long Island on Saturday afternoon. CCSU won the first game 6-2 and the second 9-5 to run its winning streak to six games. The Blue Devils are now 19-12 overall and 9-5 in league action, having won six straight in conference play. Senior Casey Walko was 4-for-4 in the first game and drove in two. He added three more RBI in game two. Junior Anthony Scialdone had two hits in the first game and one in the second to run his hitting streak to 21 games.

In the first game senior lefty Ken Kerski posted his third victory of the season pitching the complete game and allowing just two earned runs while scattering 12 hits and striking out two. It is his third win in his last four starts, all in NEC play.

Walko and classmate Jay Schillaci each homered in the victory. Walko was 4-for-4 with a double and his team-best fourth home run of the season. He drove in two runs in the game while Schillaci added three.

Scialdone was 2-for-4 in the win and extended his hitting streak to 20 games. In the second game he would stretch his streak to 21, the longest for the Blue Devils this season.

Central Connecticut scored two runs in the first inning and would never surrender the lead. They posted one in the third and three in the fifth to claim the victory.

In game two freshman Mitch Wells singled in the top of the seventh inning and broke a 5-5 tie to give the Blue Devils the victory. He finished the game with two hits and the RBI. Walko opened it up in the seventh inning with a three-run double to ice the 9-5 victory.

CCSU used just two pitchers in the first two games of the series but needed four for the victory in game two. Those four pitchers held the Blackbirds to only five hits in the game.

The Blue Devils trailed 4-0 after two innings in the second game, and quickly chipped away at the Blackbird lead. They scored one in the third inning and four in the fourth to tie the game 4-4. A single run in the fifth gave CCSU a 5-4 lead before Long Island scored in the bottom of the inning to tie the game for a second time. The four run seventh inning for the Blue Devils was the difference in the 9-5 win.

The CCSU pitching staff held the Blackbirds to only two hits and one run in the final five innings. Jack Greenhouse earned the win, he pitched 1.1 innings allowing just one hit. Junior righty Chris Chagnon pitched a perfect seventh inning and struck out two to help secure the victory.

The Blue Devils will complete the weekend series at Long Island with a single nine-inning game on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.