Baseball Falls 4-3 at Home to Northeastern on Wednesday Afternoon

The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped a 4-3 decision at home in a non-conference game against Northeastern on Wednesday afternoon. The Blue Devils drop to 23-22-1 overall with the loss, and now prepare for a key Northeast Conference series at Long Island this weekend. Central travels to Long Island on Friday for the series opener beginning at 3 p.m.

Central scored first with single runs in the first and second innings. Freshman Anthony Turgeon had an RBI double that scored junior Jake Matuszak in the first. In the second junior Danny Hickey had an RBI single to push the Blue Devil lead to 2-0.

Northeastern scored on in the one run in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead.

The Blue Devils answered in the bottom of the fifth inning. Hickey was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and went to second on a fielding error by the Huskies. Following a sacrifice bunt, Hickey scored on an RBI single from junior Mitch Wells to tie the score at three.

Northeastern loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth inning and plated the go-ahead run on a single from Aaron Barbosa, taking a 4-3 lead.

Freshman righty Tom Coughlin pitched the first three innings for the Blue Devils and did not allow a hit or a run. He struck out one and walked one while facing 10 batters before exiting before the fourth inning.

Roy Natoli pitched 2.2 innings of relief for the Blue Devils. He allowed three hits and also faced 10 batters.

Matuszak had a pair of hits for Central in the loss. Hickey, Wells and Turgeon all drove in a run.

The Blue Devils return to action on Friday on the road at Long Island at 3 p.m. Central and the Blackbirds will play a four-game series, completing the Northeast Conference regular season this weekend. The Blue Devils need one win to qualify for the NEC Tournament being held next week in Norwich, CT beginning on Thursday, May 19.