by Dillon Meehan
Central Connecticut’s baseball team appears to building on the success they had last week, winning three out of four games for the second weekend in a row.
It has been a strange season for the Blue Devils, who started out rather slow. After losing 14 of their first 22 games, CCSU has bounced back, winning six of their last eight.
For most teams, playing at home usually guarantees a win, but New Britain has not been kind to the Blue Devils who are 4-9 on the season and were 1-8 before this weekend. CCSU has done the majority of their damage on the road, where they are 7-4.
CCSU (13-16, 6-6 NEC) only lost their final game of the weekend series against Mount St. Mary’s (4-23, 2-10 NEC).
Over the four games, the Blue Devils outscored the Mountaineers 31-8, including a massive 19-4 on Friday.
Ryan Costello was the player of the game. The sophomore infielder had three hits, including a grand slam, and five RBIs on the day. It has been a breakout season for Costello, who hit his second home run on Friday. The sophomore has 34 hits in 29 games, which ranks second on the team; he also has tallied 18 RBIs and scored 19 runs, both of which are team highs.
The Blue Devils continued to take care of business on Saturday by sweeping the double-header. CCSU narrowly won the first game 2-0, with senior Corey Lerche singling home both runs, the first coming in the opening inning and the second coming all the way in the sixth.
Junior Andrew Hinkley threw a complete game shutout, all while allowing only four hits and striking out three batters.
The Blue Devils won their second game of the doubleheader handily with another shutout, by a score of 6-0.
Freshman Mike Appel got his first win of the season, having pitched an impressive two-hit shutout while striking out three batters.
The Blue Devils got the scoring started early in the first when sophomore Dean Lockery knocked in two runners with a single in the second inning. Lockery has built on his impressive freshman season. The infielder leads the team in both hits and batting average and is tied for third in the team with 11 RBIs.
The Blue Devils batted in another two runs in both the third and fifth inning, to extend their lead to six, and pull out their second shutout win.
The Blue Devils will be on the road for the next week. Fans can catch them next week when they play Siena on Tuesday, April 19.