This past weekend, the Central Connecticut State University baseball team got back to its winning ways by completing a three-game sweep over conference rival Sacred Heart University on Saturday, April 16.

A week after being swept by Long Island University, the Blue Devils went on the road to take on SHU in a three-game series, with the first two games taking place at Veterans Park in Bridgeport and the final match taking place at Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford.

Throughout the three-game series, the Blue Devils outscored the Pioneers, 28-10. CCSU’s offense was led by senior Jay Devito, junior Dan Covino, and sophomore Hunter Pasqualini. Devito had six hits in 13 at-bats in the series, while Covino and Pasqualini both had seven hits.

Thursday’s 5-3 win in the first game of the series as head coach Charlie Hickey’s 700^th win of his career, with 594 of them coming as head coach of the CCSU baseball program. Sophomore Dominic Niman took the mound for the Blue Devils to begin the series. He went 6.2 innings and gave up just one earned run, but the pioneers were able to score two additional unearned runs giving Niman the no-decision. Sophomore Luke Garofalo came in for relief with one out left in the sixth inning and would keep the door closed from there by going two more innings without allowing a run and picking up the win.

Freshman Vincent Spizzoucco got the start for the Blue Devils in game two on Friday. He put in a solid outing with six one-run innings, including four strikeouts and the win. Sophomore Jake Neuman struck out two and only allowed one hit over three scoreless innings to pick up his second save of the season. Neuman has ten career saves and has moved into fourth place on the CCSU all-time saves list. Big days at the plate from Pasqualini, Covino, and senior Sam Loda helped the Blue Devils to a 9-1 victory in game two.

It was a rough start on the hill for CCSU’s sophomore pitcher, Anthony Mozzicato, who allowed four earned runs over five innings pitched on Saturday. Despite Mozzicato’s messy stat line, he was able to pick up the win, mainly due to an offensive explosion from the Blue Devil bats. CCSU’s hitters combined to go 17-for-42 with 14 runs scored. CCSU’s first four batters of the lineup combined for nine RBIs and nine runs to help lift the Blue Devils to a 14-6 victory over the pioneers in the final game of the series.

The Blue Devils have won four in a row and are in third place in the Northeast Conference standings. They have a 7-5 conference record and a 15-11 overall record. Up next for CCSU is a single game contest against Quinnipiac University on Tuesday, April 19, before hosting Mount Saint Mary’s University for a three-game series that kicks off Friday, April 22.  With just five more conference series remaining in the regular season, the Blue Devils will look to finish strong to set themselves up for a shot at another Northeast Conference championship.