Baseball Wins 5-1 at Hartford on Tuesday
Blue Devils will finish the regular season beginning on Thursday vs. Sacred Heart
Seven Central Connecticut pitches combined for a five-hitter as the Blue Devils topped Hartford 5-1 on Tuesday afternoon in their final non-conference game of the season. It marks the fourth staight game of allowing zero or one run for the Blue Devils who have allowed just two runs in their last 33 innings. With the win the Blue Devils are now 24-18 overall. Hartford is 29-19.
Central scored first in the third inning on an RBI groundout from senior Josh Ingham. Senior J.P. Sportman walked and went to third on a single from classmate Anthony Turgeon. Ingham's groundout made it 1-0.
The lead reached 2-0 in the fourth inning on an RBI double from sophomore Connor Fitzsimons. Freshman Pat Sirois doubled to lead off the inning and scored on the play.
The Blue Devils scored twice in the seventh inning to make it 4-0. Sportman helped engineer the first run. He singled to third and went to second on a fielding error on the play. He went to third on a throwing error by the catcher as he tried to pick Sportman off of second base. He then scored on a short sacrifice fly from Turgeon to push the lead to three. Later in the inning Ingham walked, went to third on a single and then scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to four.
An RBI fielder's choice from junior Dominic Severino in the ninth inning made it 5-0. Hartford scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Junior Jesse Frawley pitched the first two innings for the Blue Devils and allowed one hit without allowing a run. He struck out one and walked one. Senior Nick Boyd pitched innings three and four without allowing a run and striking out one. Freshman Austin Salnitis pitched the fifth inning and allowed just one base runner.
Freshman Brett Susi came in to pitch the sixth and after getting a pair of outs and allowing two base runners senior Anthony Mannuccia came in to get out of a jam against his former teammates. He pitched a scoreless seventh and was relieved by freshman Kevin Connolly in the eighth inning.
Sirois finished the game with three hits and a run scored. Central out-hit the Hawks 11-5 on the day. Jennings had two hits and scored once, while Fitzsimons added a pair of hits and an RBI. Turgeon, Ingham and Severino each drove in a run in the victory.
The Blue Devils will finish the regular at home hosting Sacred Heart in a four-game series beginning on Thursday afternoon. The Blue Devils will be the visiting team for the weekend series, which was moved to New Britain after SHU's field became unavailable.
