Box Score BOSTON – Sophomore lefty Jacob Smith (East Longmeadow, MA) gave the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team strong starting pitching for the third consecutive day and was supported by errorless defense as the fifth-seeded Warriors moved into the championship round of the 2016 Little East Conference Tournament with a 7-3 victory over sixth-seeded Western Connecticut State University in the finals of the winners' bracket Friday afternoon at Monan Park.
Eastern (22-17) took the lead for good (4-3) against Western by scoring three runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run triple by junior Alex Zachary (Enfield) and wild pitch, and junior righty Sam Kosterich (Stamford) recorded his second save in as many days – seventh on the year -- by preserving a two-run eighth inning lead with two ground ball outs and closing it out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Eastern looks to become the lowest seed to win the tournament since sixth-seeded Rhode Island College in 2011. Making their third straight championship round appearance, the Warriors face Western (22-19) Saturday at noon, and need one win for their second title in three seasons under head coach Matt LaBranche, ninth overall. The Colonials prevailed to top No. 1 UMass Boston for the second time in the tournament, 17-14, in a wild Friday night game which lasted nearly four hours, was played entirely in a steady rain, and ended after 10:30 p.m.
"In a lot of ways, this is a brand-new team and they've fought through a lot of adversity," said LaBranche afterward in an interview with the UMass Boston Beacon Broadcasting Network. "A lot of guys are playing for us for the first time and have been through a lot of ups and downs. It's a fresh start tomorrow, and a fresh championship game for this team. I think we're ready to go."
In Friday's second game, UMass Boston eliminated UMass Dartmouth, 11-3, to earn a repeat game against Western.
The Colonials are looking for their second conference title, first since downing the University of Southern Maine in the 2002 tournament played at Eastern (the Warriors gained an NCAA at-large bid that season and went on to claim their fourth national title). Western made one other championship round appearance, the No. 4 Colonials losing to No. 5 Rhode Island College in the 2005 tournament, also at Eastern.
The No. 5 and No. 6 seeds have never met in the championship round.
Regardless of Saturday's outcome, Eastern will host the NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament beginning Wednesday at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Western sophomore righty Shane Bierfeldt (2-3), who stopped Eastern on one hit through seven innings in his team's 1-0 win over the Warriors last Saturday, retired the first 14 Eastern batters in order Friday and led 3-0 with two out in the fifth before freshman Alex Parkos (Meriden) thumped his fifth home run of the year to break up the no-hitter and get Eastern on the board.
"It's a credit to our kids that they kept grinding, because (Bierfeldt) was giving us a hard time," noted LaBranche. "He's a heckuva pitcher. We knew that we would see him (today) and we were hoping that we would eventually -- we had seen him enough -- start getting some better swings."
Smith (2-1), who won his first decision since April 23, retired with a 4-3 lead. Redshirt freshman righty Jason Staub (Portland) allowed only two hits and a walk over the next two innings and the the Warriors extended the lead to 5-3 with a run in the eighth on Zachary's team-leading ninth home run of the year with two out, and added two insurance runs in the ninth when sophomore D.J. Scavone (Auburn, MA) singled down the right field line with two out, moved to third on Parkos' double, and both runners came home on senior captain Tim Budd's (Cheshire) single up the middle.
At right: Catcher Tim Budd applies the tag to Western's Bill Buscetto, who was gunned down by centerfielder Alex Zachary trying to score from second on a single in a scoreless game in the third inning. (Photo by Colleen Koen).
Kosterich – pitching in a third straight game for the second time this year – finished up. In his staff-high 17th appearance, Kosterich replaced senior righty Patrick O'Neill (Thomaston) with one out and a runner on second in the eighth. Facing the tying run, Kosterich got a ground ball to junior Christian Budzik (Cromwell) at short and inning-ending ground ball to senior Chad Adams (Ware, MA) at third.
After commiting four errors in Thursday's 9-7 win over UMass Dartmouth, the Warriors did not commit an error for the second time in three days. The play of the game came in a scoreless third inning, when centerfielder Zachary threw out Western sophomore Bill Buscetto trying to score from second on a two-out single by junior EJ Lavoie.
Zachary extended his hitting streak to 17 with a triple and home run, three RBI and two runs scored. Parkos also had two hits and drove in and scored a run. Zachary is batting .385 in the tournament (5-for-13) with a double, triple and two home runs and seven RBI.
Eastern has registered 35 hits in three tournament games, 19 of them for extra bases. The Warriors are batting .318 in the tournament. Their pitchers have a 5.00 ERA but have given up only seven extra-base hits -- all doubles -- and have stranded 32 runners. Junior Pat Sirois (Cromwell), Parkos and Zachary are all batting .385, with Scavone at .364 and Budd .333. Zachary and Parkos rank 1-2 in total bases with 14 and 13, respectively and have slugging averages of 1.077 and 1.000, respectively. Sirois, the leadoff hitter, has reached in half of his 16 plate appearances.
