Baseball Wins at Hartford, 8-5

The Central Connecticut baseball team continued its hot play of late with an 8-5 win at Hartford on Tuesday afternoon at Fiondella Field. The Blue Devils won their third straight as six hitters recorded a multi-hit game, including each of the top three batters in the lineup.

CCSU improves to 16-28 overall with the win, while Hartford falls to 19-28 overall.

The Hawks jumped out to a fast lead with a three-run first inning. Trey Stover led off with a walk before moving to second on a single by David MacKinnon. Ryan Lukach knocked in the first run with a single to right center. A double steal scored MacKinnon and Lukach moved to second base. Billy Walker singled to left field to bring in another run and make it 3-0.

The Blue Devils responded with runs in each of the next two innings to tie the contest. Freshman Mike Arman singled up the middle to lead off the second inning and stole second. With two outs, junior Connor Fitzsimons singled to left to make it 3-1.

Senior Dominic Severino led off the third with a walk and came home on a triple by freshman Dylan Maher to make it 3-2. A sacrifice fly by junior Ian Glassman scored Maher to tie the game at 3-3.

The Blue Devils took the lead in the fifth after a two-out single by Glassman and a double by frreshman John Lippincott put runners in scoring position for Fitzsimons. The junior singled to left to score a run and give the Blue Devils a 4-3 lead. Severino then added to the lead in the sixth with a solo homerun to left center, his sixth of the year, to give Central a 5-3 cushion.

The Hawks came back with a run of their own in the sixth. TJ Ward reached on a bunt single and then a double by Sebastian DiMauro moved runners to second and third. A ground out by Aaron Wilson brought home a run to make it 5-4.

Central responded in the top of the seventh with two runs to push its lead to three runs. Glassman led off with a single and was pinch run for by junior Matt Martinez. With two outs, Fitzsimons and freshman Mitch Guilmette drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Freshman Dean Lockery delivered with a single to right center to score two runs and give CCSU a 7-4 lead. 

After Lockery added a run-scoring double in the top of the ninth to push the lead to 8-4 the Hawks tried to rally in the final at-bat. DiMauro led off with a double and moved to third on a fly out before scoring on a single through the left side to make it 8-5. A ground out and single put runners on the corners with two outs beforet a fly out ended the game.

The Central bats pounded out 16 hits, led by Fitzsimons who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Lockery finished with a team-high three RBIs.

Sophomore Brendan Smith started for Central and threw four innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out a batter. Freshman Cody Younger earned the win and allowed one run in 1.1 innings of relief. Sophomore Austin Salnitis earned his first career save after throwing 3.0 innings and allowing just one run on three hits with three strikeouts.

MacKinnon finished 3-for-5 at the plate to lead the Hawks. Kevin Tise started for Hartford and threw two innings, allowing two runs. Justin Robarge took the loss after allowing a pair of runs in his 2.2 innings of work. 

The Blue Devils open the final Northeast Conference series of the weekend against Sacred Heart on Thursday at CCSU Baseball Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.