Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. – Hitting in his 14th consecutive game, D.J. Scavone (Auburn, MA) drove in three runs with a three-run home run in a 16-hit attack that carried the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to a 15-1 non-conference win over Manhattanville College Thursday evening at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Now 11-2 at home this year, Eastern (19-11) broke open a tight game with three runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth to end Manhattanville's (23-12) six-game winning streak. The Valiants were missing five of their top eight hitters, due to exams.
Savone reached safely four times with two hits, a walk and an infield error and scored three runs. He launched his fourth home run of the season over the right-field fence during a four-run seventh inning.
Leadoff hitter Pat Sirois (Cromwell) had three hits – extending his hitting streak to 11 -- and drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and single, while Alex Zachary (Enfield), Alex Parkos (Meriden) and Christian Budzik (Cromwell) all contributed two hits, with Zachary and Budzik each plating two runs.
Freshman second baseman Ryan Hood (Arlington, MA) enjoyed his finest game to date by driving in four runs with an infield ground ball and bases-clearing double in the fifth. Defensively, he contributed a pair of sparkling catches with diving catches in the fifth and seventh, was the middle man on a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play in the second and was the middle man when Luke Scoggins was thrown out attempting to stretch a double into a triple leading off the sixth. Hood fired a strike to third baseman Chad Adams (Ware, MA) from shallow right field after receiving Sirois' throw from the right field corner.
In his first start of the year, junior righty Luis Vega (Willimantic) improve to 2-0 this season by pitching the first five innings. He allowed five hits and one run while fanning one without a walk. Redshirt freshman Jason Staub (Portland) fanned four over the final two innings. Three Eastern pitchers combined on a seven-hitter without walking a batter.
Eastern visits University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Saturday for a noon doubleheader.
