FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Junior centerfielder Joe Perez (North Branford) drove in four runs and senior righty Greg Porter (Mystic) pitched a three-hit shutout over the first five innings as the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team won its first game under new head coach Matt LaBranche, 11-2, Saturday afternoon against Farmingdale State College.

                                                   Far right: Head Coach Matt LaBranche; Near right: Greg Porter

Porter (1-0) fanned eight and was supported by a four-run Eastern (1-1) second inning. Farmingdale's (2-1) runs came in its final at-bat.

Batting leadoff, Perez had two hits and scored a run in addition to driving in four, and senior third baseman Mike Vaccarelli (Wolcott), batting second, had three hits and a run scored.  Senior shortstop Brendan Lynch (Wethersfield), junior second baseman Corey Keane (Tolland), and senior leftfielder Nik Ververis  (Plainfield) all added two hits, with Lynch driving in two runs and Keane, Ververis and sophomore catcher Tim Budd (Cheshire) all scoring twice.

The Warriors collected five of their 14 hits when they scored the only four runs they would need in the second, with Keane and Perez both tripling.  Keane tripled to open the inning and was singled home by junior rightfielder Kyle Hart (Guilford), and Perez later tripled home two more and scored the fourth run on a wild pitch.

Eight Eastern hitters contributed to the attack and four pitchers combined to strike out 11 without a walk.

 As a sophomore, Porter was 4-0 with a 1.52 ERA in 41 1/3 innings before an assortment of injuries dropped him to 1-3 with a 7.11 ERA in 25 1/3 innings a year ago. Saturday's performance raised his career strikeout-to-walk ratio to 1-2.5 (90 strikeouts against 36 walks).

Eastern is scheduled to play eight games in seven days in Florida beginning Saturday. The Warriors face Greenville College (10 a.m.) and Rowan University (1:30 p.m.) in their openers at Winter Haven.