MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team overcame early two-run deficits on the way to 3-2, 8-2 wins over Keene State College in a season-opening Little East Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

 Alex Zachary (Enfield) belted a grand slam in the fourth inning of the nightcap to give Eastern (11-5, 2-0 LEC) the lead for good. In the first game, the Warriors broke a tie in the eighth inning on an RBI single by D.J. Scavone (Auburn, MA). Keene State (8-10, 0-2 LEC) has lost six of seven.

Both teams were playing their first games in nine days.

Game 1: Eastern 3, Keene State 2

In the first game, Keene righty Cody Dube struck out seven through four innings and carried a no-hitter and two-run lead into the fifth before the Warriors tied the game with their first three hits, then scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth to defeat the Owls for the seventh straight time. The Warriors managed only seven hits (by seven different players), but parlayed three of them in the two-run fifth and three of them when they scored the go-ahead run in the eighth.

With the scored tied, Pat Sirois (Cromwell) and Alexander White (West Hartford) led off the eighth with singles, and Chad Adams (Ware, MA) moved both into scoring position with a ground out to the right side. After Zachary was walked intentionally to load the bases, Scavone singled up the middle to plate, sending home Sirois with the go-ahead run.

Eastern lefty Jacob Smith (East Longmeadow, MA) did not allow another run after Vinny Parilla staked Dube to a 2-0 lead with a two-run, two-out single in the first inning. He scattered five hits with three strikeouts before giving way to lefty Nick Rascati (Wallingford) with two out and the go-ahead run in scoring position in the seventh. Rascati (2-0) end the frame by getting No. 3 hitter Christian Bourgea (2-for-2 in the game to that point) on a fly ball to center.

Eastern tied the game with its first two runs in the fifth on Zachary's leadoff double, an RBI single from freshman Ryan Hood (Arlington, MA), two-out single by Tim Budd (Cheshire) and passed ball.

Righty Sam Kosterich (Stamford) recorded his fifth save in eight appearances by pitching a scoreless ninth. With one out, Kosterich hit a batter and surrendered a base hit to No. 9 hitter Mac Struthers, but induced a foul pop up to the right side, where first baseman Scavone ended the game by snagging the ball while tumbling over the four-foot retaining fence.

Dube (2-2) tossed his second complete game in five starts. He struck out ten and walked two and was charged with only two earned runs. 

Game 2: Eastern Conn. 8, Keene State College 2

Making his first career start after five relief appearances, freshman righty Jordan Muchin (West Hartford) surrendered single runs in the third and fourth, but Zachary's second home run off the season off Keene starter Michael Crimi put the Warriors ahead for good. Crimi had loaded the bases by sandwiching walks to Sirois and Adams around a single by White with none out.

Leading 4-2, the Warriors tacked on three more in the fifth. Crimi gave up a single to Christian Budzik (Cromwell) and walked Sirois before being lifted. White greeted lefty reliever Keith Simpson with a two-run double and Hood later made it 7-2 with a two-out RBI single.

Muchin (3-0), whose previous longest stint came in his second appearance March 19 (3 1/3 innings), lasted until the seventh, when he was removed with two out and the bases loaded. Freshman lefty Noah Gulino (Farmington) diffused the threat by getting an infield ground ball to end the inning.