Baseball Downs Mount St. Mary's on Saturday to Earn Weekend Sweep

The Central Connecticut baseball team downed Mount St. Mary's 5-3 on Saturday at CCSU Baseball Field to sweep its three-game Northeast Conference series. Junior Jay Devito and sophomore Dan Covino each had two hits for CCSU, while a trio of Blue Devils hurlers held the Mount scoreless over the final seven frames for the win.

GAME ONE INFORMATION
Score: CCSU 5, Mount St. Mary's 3
Records: CCSU (10-5, 7-2 NEC), MSM (5-17, 1-8 NEC)
Location: CCSU Baseball Field | New Britain, CT
Pitching Record: W: Buchek (1-0) | L: Huff (0-2) | Sv: Niman (1)

KEY MOMENTS

• The Blue Devils opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Sophomore Dan Covino led off with a walk and moved to send on a single by junior Jay Devito. With two outs, a passed ball would move the runners up a base, before a wild pitch-ball four to senior Dave Matthews brought home Covino.
• Mount St. Mary's did all of its scoring in the second inning. With two outs and runners on second and third, CJ Kozorosky plated a run on an infield single to tie it 1-1 Myles Nicholson followed with a two-run double to left to push the lead to 3-1.
• Covino and Devito led off the CCSU third with back-to-back doubles. The second of which brought home a run to make it 3-2. Devito moved to third on a ground out and sophomore Jack Nolan drew a walk to put runners on the corners. An error on a failed pick off at first base would allow Devito to come across the plate to tie the game.
• The Blue Devils took the lead with two runs in the sixth. Junior Sam Loda led off with a double as CCSU strung together three hits to open the inning. Junior Peyton Stephens' single would drive home Loda to make it 4-3. Covino would loft a fly ball to left field that brought home freshman Michael Torniero to make it 5-3.
• The Mount would load the bases with two outs in the seventh. Sophomore Tim Buchuek would work out of the threat after Devito made a nice play to gobble up a hot shot and step on third for the force to end the inning. Freshman Dominic Niman would record the final six outs for his first save of the year.

NUMBER TO KNOW

28 - Central pitchers collected 28 strikeouts in the weekend series, while allowing just four walks.

NOTES

• Freshman Anthony Mozzicato started and went 5.0 innings. He scattered six hits, allowing three runs, while recording five strikeouts against a walk.
• Buchek would toss 2.0 scoreless innings on three hits to get the win.
• Niman got his first career save, tossing 2.0 innings. He allowed one hit, while striking out two.
• Devito had his second straight multi-hit game, going 2-for-4. He went a combined 5-of-7 in the final two games of the series.
• Covino went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
• Matthews had two stolen bases in the game. He is tied for the team lead with Covino with six on the year.
• CCSU swept its first Northeast Conference series of the season and has won six straight against Mount St. Mary's dating back to 2019.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils will carry a four-game NEC win streak into next weekend's series at home against Merrimack. The teams open the series on Friday, April 9, at 3:00 p.m.