After a long road trip in Maryland and Florida, the Central Connecticut baseball team returned home and took care of business against Saint Peter’s, sweeping the three-game series.

The Blue Devils took game one of the doubleheader on Saturday behind senior starting pitcher Tom Curtin, who threw six scoreless innings. Though he finally surrendered three runs in the seventh, the Blue Devils still maintained a 5-3 lead, which would be the final score.

It was Curtin’s third start of the season and now sits with a 1.89 earned run average (ERA). This is a massive improvement over his 11.02 ERA from last season.

“I was just able to keep the ball low and allow my defense to play well behind me,” Curtin said of his performance.

In game two, the Blue Devils trailed 4-0 in the fourth inning when freshman second baseman Dylan Sanchez, making his first start of the season, singled to right field with the bases loaded. But the ball got by the Peacock right fielder, clearing the bases. Another Peacock error allowed the Blue Devils to tie things up.

But the Peacocks retaliated by scoring two in the top of the sixth.

In the bottom half of the innings, the Blue Devils had gotten one back when junior second baseman Chandler Debrosse, who did not start the game, plated two Blue Devils, giving them back the lead.

Despite the two wins, head coach Charlie Hickey felt his team was fortunate to win both games.

“They opened the door for us and gave us some opportunities with some extra runners, some walks,” Hickey said. “We need to execute better offensively and move runners and produce runners in these types of conditions and we really didn’t do a good job at that. But when they gave us chances, we took advantage of it.”

The Blue Devils took things more into their hands Sunday when they exploded for 12 runs on 14 hits, defeating the Peacocks 12-4.

Sophomore shortstop Matt Bertochi was the star of the day, going 3/5 with a double, a triple and four runs batted in. Hickey has been pleased with Bertochi’s performance in his first season as the starter.

“I think when the ball is hit to shortstop, we’re getting an out. And that’s the consistency I’ve been looking for,” Hickey said. “When he can be productive offensively, it’s another element, but it’s the consistency in terms of making the routine plays that allow your pitching staff a lot more confidence.”

Classmates Sam Loda and Peyton Stephens both chipped in two hits apiece at the bottom of the order.

Despite the improved offense, Hickey feels there is still room to grow with their approach.

“We had a couple of occasions with runners on and the bases loaded and we didn’t deliver and we had another time with a runner on third and one out and we didn’t deliver,” Hickey said. “Those are mistakes we have to eliminate. We have to make productive outs and score and advance runners in that spot.”

On the pitching side, senior Patrick Mitchell threw a complete game, yielding four runs while striking out three.

“Patrick was efficient,” Hickey said. “They [Saint Peter’s] go up and they’re very aggressive in terms of swinging and you’re not necessarily going to see that with most teams. He was able to pitch all nine innings because of that.”

The Blue Devils sit at 6-5 on the season. Hickey said their record is indicative of what kind of team they are at this stage in the season.

“We haven’t been consistent enough in our approach offensively,” Hickey said. “That concerns me, but with our older pitching staff, if they can continue to keep us in games and be successful, the idea of that after 10, 11 games, I’m okay with. We need to get better every day.”

Central will take on Albany at home Wednesday before traveling to Bryant over the weekend for their first series in the Northeast Conference.