Baseball Completes Sweep of Mount St. Mary's, 4-0, Sunday
Freshman Ron Grant and sophomore Jared Gallagher combine for CCSU's second straight shutout.
Another strong pitching outing carried the Central Connecticut baseball team to a 4-0 win over Mount St. Mary's on Sunday. The win completed the three-game sweep of the Northeast Conference series as CCSU improves to 9-7 overall and 3-0 in the NEC.
Freshman Ron Grant started and tossed 7.0 shutout innings for his first collegiate win, while sophomore Jared Gallagher threw the final two frames to pick up his fourth save of the year.
The Blue Devils' pitching staff threw two shutouts in the series and allowed the Mountaineers batters to hit just .151 (13-of-86). CCSU pitchers did not allow a run over the final 26 innings of the series - Mount's only run came with no outs in the 2nd inning of game one. Blue Devils starters allowed no runs and just 12 hits over 25 innings.
The teams were locked in another pitcher's duel in the early going, combining for two hits in the first three innings. CCSU broke the deadlock when senior Franklin Jennings singled to right and scooted to third on a misplay. Senior Tyler Coleman followed with a single up the middle to make it 1-0.
The Blue Devils took advantage of another miscue in the fourth to double the lead. Junior Ryan Costello lofted a ball to left field that was mishandled and allowed him to reach second base. Junior Mitch Guilmette would drive him in on a single to make it 2-0.
That would be all the support Grant would need as he allowed just three hits and a walk in his first NEC start. He struck out four and walked two. Grant did not allow a Mount runner to reach third base until there were two outs in the sixth inning, but he induced a fly ball to end the threat.
Central added a run in the seventh after Guilmette doubled with one out. After freshman Chris Kanios came in to pinch run, he moved to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a single by junior Nick Garland to make it 3-0.
Central tagged on a run in the eighth when Coleman doubled and moved to third on a single by junior Dean Lockery. Costello followed and grounded out, but Coleman was able to cross home to make it 4-0.
Coleman and Guilmette each had two hits and an RBI for the Blue Devils.
Seth Schubert started for Mount and took the loss as the Mountaineers slipped to 0-14 on the year and 0-3 in NEC play. He allowed three runs, one earned, in 6.1 innings on four hits. He walked two and struck out one.
Jared Urban went 2-for-4 at the plate for Mount.
The Blue Devils are slated to be back in action on Wednesday against UConn at CCSU Baseball Field.
