WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Ramapo College baseball team was shut out over six innings after homering on the first pitch of the game and senior rightfielder Kyle Hart (Guilford) hit his first two home runs of the year for the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team in an 11-6 victory Thursday afternoon at Chain of Lakes Complex.

Eastern (3-5) concludes its Florida trip with three wins in its last four games after dropping its first three.

Hart's first home run of the year in the bottom of the first gave the Warriors the lead for good. Leading 3-1, the Warriors erupted for five runs on six hits in the sixth. Hart slammed a one-out home run to make it 4-1 before junior leftfielder Andrew Scully (Stratford), senior second baseman Corey Keane (Tolland) and senior centerfielder Joe Perez (North Branford) following with hits. Perez knocked in Scully and Keane with an RBI single and junior catcher Tim Budd (Cheshire) and No. 9 hitter Christian Budzik (Cromwell) added RBI hits to cap the rally.

Eight different players contributed to Eastern's 13-hit attack. Junior DH Jeffrey Zajac (Wallingford), Hart, Keane, Perez and Budd all had two hits. Hart drove in three runs, Keane, Perez and  Budzik two each.

In his second career appearance, junior righty Derek Allen (Wallingford) gained his first win. The second of four pitchers, Allen pitched shutout baseball for 3 1/3 innings, giving up only one hit and walking one. Senior lefty Matt D'Orsi (West Hartford) teamed on stellar middle relief with Allen. D'Orsi gave up only two hits and one run in 2 1/3 innings before sophomore Luis Vega (Willimantic) got the final six outs. Vega was charged with four runs in the ninth, but only one was earned because of two infield errors.

In addition to Allen earning a first, freshman middle infielder Mike Funaro (Northford) was credited with his first career hit. As a late-inning replacement at second base, Funaro led off the eighth inning with a single to left off new pitcher Charles Weinkofsky and came home on Budzik's sacrifice fly.

In the middle innings,  Budzik at shortstop and Keane at second base made several outstanding defensive plays to keep Ramapo (7-2) off the bases. Keane made back-handed plays over second base to throw out the leadoff batters in the fourth and fifth and Budzik made a diving over-the-shoulder catch in shallow left field to for the second out of the fourth. The pair also combined on a double play begun by Keane to end the seventh inning.

Eastern is scheduled to play Wheaton College (MA) Sunday at 1 p.m. at Central Connecticut State University.