Baltimore, MD - - -Central Connecticut State remained in first place in the Northeast Conference regular-season baseball race with a 9-3 victory over UMBC, Monday afternoon at UMBC Alumni Field. The Blue Devils improved to 21-12-2 (13-6 NEC) and the Retrievers dropped to 14-19 (11-7 NEC). The win game CCSU a 2-1 series victory over UMBC.Blue Devils junior righthander Lewis Papppariella (5-3) went the distance, allowing just three runs on 10 hits. Retrievers? starting righthander Mike Johnson allowed five earned runs on 14 hits in his 7.0 innings of work and fell to 1-2 on the season.Central Connecticut State scored a pair of runs in the opening frame on sophomore first basemen Phil Rothkugel?s double to center. Rothkugel came all the way around to score after a throwing error by UMBC centerfielder Mike Orlando.Sophomore leftfielder Tom Pezzello gave the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage with an RBI single in the top of the third inning. UMBC got a run back on a sacrifice fly by Orlando in the bottom of the frame.Leading 4-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, UMBC scored two runs to close the gap to just 4-3. Freshman designated hitter Issac Friedel smacked an RBI double and sophomore first baseman Kyle Wildasin added an RBI groundout.The Blue Devils, however, scored the final five runs of the contest. Junior rightfielder Robert Hosgood belted an run scoring double in the top of the seventh and junior second baseman Keith Stegbauer launched a three-run homer (3) in the top of the eighth. Senior third baseman Nick Macellaro added an RBI single in the top of the ninth.Macellaro went 4-for-5 and junior catcher Tim D?Aquila, Rothkugel and Pezzello all recorded three hits each.UMBC junior second baseman Kevin Brooks went 3-for-3 to lead UMBC.