Baseball Keeps NEC Tournament Hopes Alive With Sweep of Monmouth on Saturday

The Central Connecticut baseball season will come down to one game. With a doubleheader sweep (11-6, 8-5) of Monmouth on Saturday, the Blue Devils have moved into a tie with Mount St. Mary's for the fourth and final spot in the next week's Northeast Conference Tournament. The Mount has finished their conference season. CCSU plays at Monmouth on Sunday at 1 p.m. With a win they advance to the tournament and be the third seed. A loss ends the 2009 campaign for the Blue Devils.

with the two wins the Blue Devils are now 25-20 overall and 15-11 in NEC play this season.

In the first game the Blue Devils climbed out to a 4-0 lead with two runs in the second and two more in the third inning. In the second inning junior Tommy Meade singled with two outs and he scored on a two-run home run by senior Sean Parker.

In the third inning junior Anthony Scialdone reached on an error to lead off the inning and then scored on a teo-run blast by sophomore Pat Epps, making it 4-0.

Monmouth scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 4-2. The Blue Devils answered in the top half of the fifth inning plating three runs to up the score to 7-2. It was the long ball once again that helped the Blue Devils extend the lead. With Epps and junior Richie Tri on base, Schillaci hit a three-run home run to stretch the lead to give.

Monmouth answered in the bottom of the sixth with three runs to make it 7-5. The Blue Devils scored four in the seventh to put the game away. A pair of errors accounted for two of the runs. Senior Casey Walko and Scialdone each had an RBI in the inning. Monmouth scored once in the seventh to make it 11-6.

Senior right Taylor Kosakowski, making the final regular season start of his career, pitched six innings allowing five runs, all of them earned, and just five hits. He struck out five as he improved to 4-3 on the year.

It was much of the same at the start of the second game as the Blue Devils climbed out to a 5-0 lead after three innings. Epps and Schillaci each drove in a run in the first inning as the Blue Devils used three hits and an error to lead 2-0.

A three-run third inning, courtesy of a bases clearing double off the bat of Parker, pushed the lead to 5-0. Parker's double scored Schillaci, Tri and Meade and came with two outs in the inning.

The Blue Devils opened it up in the top of the sixth inning, on their way to the sweep of the two games. Walko singled and went to second on a single by Scialdone. Epps loaded the bases with a single through the left side. A single by Schillaci scored Walko and Scialdone. With one out Meade singled up the middle to score the third run of the inning and make it 8-0.

Monmouth scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the lead in half, 8-4. They added another in the seventh to make the final score 8-5.

The two teams will finish the weekend series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.