MANSFIELD, Conn. --  Eastern Connecticut State University senior righty Pat Barnett (Windsor) pitched six scoreless relief innings to gain his first two wins of the season, combining on the first shutout of Keene State College in ten years in the nightcap as the Warriors swept the Owls, 7-6, 3-0, in a Little East Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

At right: Following Andrew Scully's game-ending RBI single, the Warriors walked away with the Game 1 victory. (Photo by Drew Rice).

Barnett (2-0) who had pitched only 7 1/3 innings through the team's first 14 games, closed out the first game by limiting Keene State (4-10, 0-2 Little East) to one hit over the final two inning and earned the win when sophomore DH Andrew Scully (Stratford) ended the game with a one-out, ninth-inning single that plated senior third baseman Mike Vaccarelli (Wolcott).

Junior righty Chuck Vogt (Windsor Locks) – a second-year transfer from Keene State -- Barnett and sophomore righty Adam Merritt  (Seymour) combined on a three-hit shutout in the nightcap – Eastern's first shutout of the Owls since a 14-0 triumph in the first game of a 2004 home doubleheader. Vogt was in command of a one-hitter through the first four innings but left for precautionary reasons. Barnett allowed only two hits over the next four innings, and Merritt chalked up his third save with a scoreless ninth.

Trailing 5-2 in the first game, Eastern (12-4, 3-1 Little East) got two back in the fourth on a ground ball by No. 9 hitter Joe Perez (North Branford) and two-out single by senior shortstop Brendan Lynch (Wethersfield), tied the game on Scully's two-out single in the fifth and took its first lead in the sixth when Lynch walked with one out, stole second, moved to third on a ground ball, and scored on a wild pitch. The Owls tied the game, 6-6 in the seventh on two walks and three hits, with Ian Seawards plating starting pitcher Cody Dube, who had walked.

Eastern scored the only run it would need in the second inning of the second  game when senior first baseman Gavin Lavallee (New Milford) led off with his fifth walk of the day, against Eddie Dionne (0-2), stole second, move to third on Scully's ground ball to the right side, and scored on sophomore No. 8 hitter Tim Budd's (Cheshire) sacrifice fly.  The Warriors tacked on two more in the fifth off Dionne on a rally ignited by the bottom third of the order. Scully, Budd and Perez all singled, Scully coming home on a balk and Budd on Lynch's ground ball.

A winner of five straight, Eastern got four hits, two RBI and two runs from Scully, three hits, two RBI and two runs from Lynch and three hits and a run from junior rightfielder Kyle Hart (Guilford), who extended his hitting streak to seven with three hits in the opener before going hitless in one official at-bat in the nightcap. Lavallee reached safely seven times with six walks and a hit and scored twice. His four first-game walks were one shy of the program game record.

Keene, which has lost six straight, got three hits from Seawards and Nick Vita, with Brett Dootson, Andrew Gummow, Dube and Matt Boulay adding two hits each. Boulay was the only Keene player with more than one RBI, totaling two. Dube scored three times and Gummow twice and both walked twice.

Eastern hosts Bridgewater State University Wednesday at 4 p.m.