Baseball Stays Alive in Playoff Hunt

The Central Connecticut baseball team kept its post-season hopes alive with a 7-4 home victory over Mount St. Mary's on Friday afternoon.  Central is now 26-24 overall and 14-15 in Northeast Conference play.  The Mount is 10-35 overall and 5-24 in the league.

The Central win, coupled with a pair of Bryant wins and a Monmouth win, keeps the Blue Devils alive for the fourth and final NEC Tournament spot next week.  CCSU needs to win its last three games, and also needs a Bryant win on Saturday and two more Monmouth wins over LIU Brooklyn this weekend.

The Blue Devils struck first with a run in the first inning.  Central used four walks and a wild pitch to take the 1-0 lead.  Mount tied the score with a single run in the top of the second inning.

Central took a three run lead with one swing of the bat in the third inning.  Following a pair of walks senior Mike Washburn hit his second home run of the season to right field to score three and give the Blue Devils the 4-1 lead. 

The lead reached 5-1 on an RBI double from junior J.P. Sportman in the bottom of the fourth inning.  He drove in classmate Dylan DelaCruz who had doubled to lead off the inning.

Mount scored one in the fifth, one in the sixth and one more in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-4.

Central answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.  DelaCruz singled up the middle to drive in two runs and push the Blue Devil lead to three.

Sophomore lefty Cody Brown picked up his sixth win of the season, improving to 6-5, by pitching 6.2 innings and allowing 12 hits and four runs.  He struck out six Mount batters in the game. 

Sophomore Dominic Severino picked up his first save of the season pitching the final 2.1 innings without allowing a run.  He struck out three.

The Blue Devils and the Mount continue their weekend series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.