Baseball Slugs Three Homers in 9-6 Win at Quinnipiac on Wednesday

Senior Dean Lockery launched a pair of homeruns for Central Connecticut in a 9-6 win at Quinnipiac in non-conference baseball action on Wednesday. Sophomore Chris Kanios added a three-run shot for the Blue Devils, who had eight players collect a hit on the day.

Central improves to 14-23 on the season, while Quinnipiac is now 20-24 overall.

The Blue Devils pounded out 13 hits as a team, with Lockery going 3-for-4. Sophomore Chandler Debrosse also added three hits, while freshman Jake Siracusa collected a pair of hits.

Freshman Peyton Stephens started and went 3.0 innings for CCSU. He struck out three and allowed two earned runs. Juniors Mike Appel and Patrick Mitchell allowed just one hit over the final 2.2 innings to seal up the win. 

The Blue Devils host Mount St. Mary's on Friday to open a four-game series.

Lockery opened the scoring with a leadoff homerun in the top of the first to make it 1-0.

The Blue Devils added four runs in the second inning. Senior Andrew Hinckley drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a single by Siracusa. With two outs, Kanios sent a shot to right-center to make it 4-0. Lockery followed with his second homerun of the day to make it 5-0 following the back-to-back homeruns.

The Bobcats got an unearned run in the bottom of the second. The first two batters of the inning were retired before Kyle Horton singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. An error on the next at bat allowed Horton to score and make it 5-1.

QU added a pair of runs in the third. A leadoff walk put a runner on first before Ben Gibson hit a two-run homer to left to cut the CCSU lead to 5-3.

Central got the runs back in the fifth. Lockery singled to lead off and scored on a double by Debrosse. The Blue Devils would load the bases with one out and a sac fly by freshman Christian Layne plated Debrosse to make it 7-3.

The Bobcats would cut the CCSU lead with three runs across the sixth and seventh innings. Back-to-back singles led off the sixth and Horton moved to third on a fly ball. Ian Ostberg singled to drive in a run with one out to make it 7-4. QU would put runners on first and second with one out in the seventh. A single by Horton would drive in a run to cut the CCSU lead to 7-5. With the bases loaded, a fielder's choice brought home another run to make it 7-6.

CCSU came back with a run in the top of the eighth. Lockery, who was intentionally walked, would score on a two-out double by Debrosse to make it 8-6.

The Blue Devils tacked on a run in the ninth. Layne reached on an error with one out and moved to third on a single by senior Dylan Maher. With two outs, freshman Matt Bertochi reached on an error that allowed Layne to score and make it 9-6. 

Central returns home to host Mount St. Mary's for a four-game Northeast Conference series beginning Friday.