The Central Connecticut baseball team used a season-high 21 hits to come away with a 14-4 home non-conference victory over Iona on Saturday afternoon. The victory is the second straight for the Blue Devils, who are now 20-19 overall on the season. Iona falls to 6-35 with the loss.
Central took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. With two outs junior J.P. Sportman tripled and then scored on an RBI single from senior Tyler McIntyre.
The Gaels took a 2-1 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning off of Blue Devil junior starter Nick Neumann.
The Blue Devils regained the lead, 3-2, on a two-RBI single from senior Mike Washburn in the third inning. He plated both Sportman (single) and McIntyre (walk) on the play to give Central the one-run edge.
Central scored two more in the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead. Sportman's third hit of the game, a single, put men on second and third with two outs. McIntyre drove in two with an infield single.
Central opened it up with five two-out runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The first run scored on an RBI single from junior Dylan DelaCruz. The next two runs scored on a double from senior Bobby Migliazza, when his infield pop-up dropped in between four Iona players and two runners scored. An RBI single from Sportman, his fourth hit of the game, scored Migliazza and the fifth run scored on an error, making it 10-2.
Three more runs in the seventh made it 13-2. Junior Josh Ingham drove in two and sophomore Jeff Buck posted his first career hit and RBI to score the third run.
Neumann improves to 4-3 on the season with the victory. He pitched seven innings allowing just three hits while striking out six. He retired the final 12 batters that he faced in the game. He posted five 1-2-3 innings in the victory.
The Blue Devils will return to action on Tuesday, travelling to Albany for a non-conference game at 3 p.m. Next weekend they host Bryant in a key Northeast Conference series beginning on Friday. Fans can listen to all four Bryant games live by CLICKING HERE.
