WALTHAM, Mass. --  The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team stranded 11 baserunners through five innings, and Brandeis University made the Warriors pay by scoring nine runs on ten hits in the fifth to pull away for a 16-6 non-conference victory Wednesday afternoon at Stein Diamond.

Eastern (14-10) managed only two runs through the first five innings despite putting 12 runners aboard via  six hits, five walks and a hit batter, and Brandeis (14-15-1)  battered two Eastern pitchers in the fifth by sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring nine earned runs on ten hits.. Freshman second baseman Ben Bavly capped the outburst with a grand slam.

Seventeen of Brandeis' 21 hits off six Eastern pitchers were singles, with the top four hitters in the lineup combining for 12 hits, seven RBI and seven runs scored.

Eastern had 15 hits and was issued five walks from three Brandeis pitchers, but stranded 15 and commited five errors, although only one of the defensive lapses led to runs and that came in the eighth inning with the outcome well out of hand.

Junior leadoff hitter Pat Sirois (Cromwell) had three hits, junior centerfielder Alex Zachary (Enfield) and freshman DH Alex Parkos (Meriden) two each. Zachary reached four times with a solo home run in the third, two-run single in the sixth and two walks. The homer was his team-leading fifth of the year and gave Eastern a short-lived 2- lead.

Sophomore first baseman D.J. Scavone (Auburn, MA) extended his hitting streak to eight games with a ninth-inning single through the right side.

The contest was the first for these former NCAA regional tournament rivals in 13 years – since the Warriors won their fifth straight in the series with a 14-0 shutout in the 2003 NCAA Division III regional tournament.

Eastern hosts Westfield State University Thursday at 6 p.m.