Little East Tournament Schedule

MANSFIELD, Conn. – Eastern Connecticut State University senior starting pitcher Pat Barnett (Windsor) didn't allow a hit over his five-inning stint and junior centerfielder Joe Perez (North Branford) drove in three runs as the Warriors closed out the regular season with their sixth straight win, 7-3, over Wesleyan University Sunday at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

                                                                                                              At right: Pat Barnett

Ranked No. 2 in the NCAA New England Region, Eastern (28-7) won its final six regular-season games and 21 of its final 24 under first-year head coach Matt LaBranche. Among the wins was Friday's sweep of No. 6 nationally-ranked University of Southern Maine which gave Eastern a share of the Little East Conference regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for the LEC tournament. The Warriors will host the six-team, four-day tournament at the Eastern Baseball Stadium, opening the tournament Wednesday at 11 a.m. against No. 6 seed Rhode Island College.

The right-handed Barnett (6-0) allowed only one baserunner over the first five innings (hitting  Jonathan Dennett with two out in the fifth) and was lifted with a 6-0 lead.  Barnett struck out three without a walk and lowered his earned run average to 2.40.

Eastern scored three unearned runs in the second inning  after there were two out and none on, and added three more in the fourth before Wesleyan (24-10) answered with all three of its runs in the sixth when it collected its first four hits of the game.

Two infield errors, a wild pitch, run-scoring singles by sophomore No. 8 hitter Tim Budd (Cheshire) and No. 9 hitter Perez gave the Warriors their first three runs in the second and Perez drove in the first two runs of the fourth and scored the third on senior third baseman Mike Vaccarelli's (Wolcott) double.

Trailing 6-0, the Cardinals got three back in the sixth when junior leftfielder Ben Hoynes (Rhinebeck, NY) , freshman third baseman Ellis Schaefer (Newtown Square, PA) and junior second baseman Andrew Yin (Potomac, MD) opened with singles and junior centerfielder Donnie Cimino (Westwood, NJ) contributed a two-run double. Cimino scored the third run on an infield ground ball.

Eastern scored another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-3. In the ninth, Wesleyan loaded the bases with two out but junior righty Brent Pelella (Southbury) got Hoynes – the tying run -- on a fly ball to right to end the game.

Budd and Perez both had three hits for Eastern, and senior leftfielder Nik Ververis (Plainfield) had a two-out single in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Vaccarrelli and junior second baseman Corey Keane (Tolland) both added two hits, Vaccarelli ending the regular season on a six-game hitting streak.

Wesleyan ends the regular season with losses in four of its last five games and competed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament this weekend.