Scialdone's Hit Streak Reaches 27 as Blue Devils Top Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday

Junior shortstop Anthony Scialdone ran his hitting streak to 27 games as the Central Connecticut baseball team topped Fairleigh Dickinson 14-8 on Sunday afternoon in New Britain. The Blue Devils trailed 4-0 after the first half inning but scored nine unanswered runs to come away with the victory. Sophomore Pat Epps drove in four runs in the victory. With the win the Blue Devils improve to 22-15 overall and remain in a tie for first place in the Northeast Conference with a 12-7 mark. The Blue Devils return to action on Tuesday hosting Hartford at Beehive Field in New Britain.

Fairleigh Dickinson wasted little time putting runs on the board striking for four in the top of the first to lead 4-0. Matt Maher singled and Matt Holsman reached on an error. A triple by Zachary Sand scored both runners and Sand scored on a double to deep right field by Brian Dillon. Dillon scored on a wild pitch for the fourth run of the inning.

The Blue Devils answered in the bottom of the inning. Junior Sean Allaire singled and later went to third on a single by senior Casey Walko. Scialdone's RBI single up the middle scored Allaire. Epps singled to left to plate Walko and with one out junior Richie Tri singled up the middle to score Scialdone and make it 4-3.

Scialdone's single ran his hitting streak to 27 games, the longest in the 10 seasons under head coach Charlie Hickey.

Central Connecticut scored four more runs in the bottom of the second inning, taking a 7-4 lead. Freshman Mitch Wells singled and stole second. He scored on a deep triple to right field by Allaire. Allaire scored on a single up the middle by Walko to give CCSU the 5-4 lead. Walko got to third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Epps, giving the Blue Devils the two-run lead. Schillaci singled, went to second on a throwing error by the catcher and then to third on a wild pitch. He scored the fourth run of the inning on a single to center field by Tri.

Schillaci's single in the inning ran his hitting streak to 14 games. He would later double in the fourth inning for his team-leading 20th extra-base hit of the season.

Senior Sean Parker drove in a run in the fourth inning to up the lead to 8-4. Schillaci doubled with one out and came around to score on the RBI single by the senior catcher. Scialdone hit his second home run of the season over the right field fence in the fifth inning to increase the Blue Devil lead to 9-4.

The Knights added a run in the top of the sixth inning and two more in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to 9-7.

Epps drove in two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 11-7. With two outs in the inning Allaire, Walko and Scialdone all walked to load the bases. Epps singled through the right side to score a pair of runs. Schillaci singled through the left side to plate Scialdone and make it 12-7.

The Knights used a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 12-8. An RBI single by Wells scored the 13th run of the game for the Blue Devils, pushing the lead back to five. Walko singled up the middle and plated Wells to make it 14-8.

The first six batters in the Blue Devil order had at least two hits and one RBI in the victory. Epps drove in four runs and the top three in the order, Allaire, Walko and Scialdone all scored three times.

Senior lefty Derek Roberts pitched six innings to earn the victory. He allowed five runs, four of them earned, and eight hits while striking out seven. After allowing three hits and four runs in the first inning, he went the final five innings allowing just five hits and one run to earn his team-best fifth victory of the season.

The Blue Devils return to action on Tuesday hosting Hartford at Beehive Field. The game time will be moved to the afternoon, at either 2 or 3 p.m. Please check CCSUBlueDevils.com for information on Monday.