MANSFIELD, Conn. – Kevin Duffy drove in the tying runs with a two-out pinch single in the top of the seventh inning and Tim Lombardi belted a tie-breaking two-run home run with two out in the ninth to propel the Johnson & Wales University baseball team to a come-from-behind 6-4 non-conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Sunday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

Johnson & Wales (8-4) trailed 4-0 after one inning but got two runs back in the second, tied the game in the seventh, and won the game in the ninth when Lombardi drove a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence – his second homer of the year.

Johnson & Wales pitching ace Keith Grant recovered from a rocky first inning by shutting out Eastern (7-5) over the ensuing six full innings before giving way to Kyle Cutler after retiring the leadoff batter in the eighth with the score tied 4-4. Cutler (1-1) threw 17 of his 26 pitches for strikes to record the final five outs – four on strikeouts -- allowing only a two-out single in the ninth and getting a swinging strikeout to end the game.

Grant had allowed only three earned runs in 28 innings prior to his fifth start, but was reached for four earned runs in the bottom of the first (throwing 35 of his 131 pitches) on four hits and a hit-by-pitch. He allowed only two hits and four baserunners over the next six full innings, however, before giving way to Cutler after retiring the first batter of the eighth with a routine fly ball to center. Grant fanned eight, hit two batters and walked one in the no-decision.

In the first, D.J. Scavone's (Auburn, MA) one-out, two-run opposite-field double to left gave Eastern a 2-0 lead, Collin Russell (Sandwich, MA) knocked in the third run with a single to right and Anthony Stigler(Mansfield)  made it 4-0 with a triple to right.

The Wildcats got two back against Eastern freshman righty Matt Curtis (Toland) in the second on two singles, a walk and infield ground ball, and while the Warriors' bats were being silenced by Grant, tied the game in the seventh. Edison Mercado singled to left and Aidan Hagarty singled off Curtis' foot to open the seventh, and after Joe Maracic moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt, Duffy bounced a four-hopper up the middle on a 1-2 pitch to even the score. It was only his second plate appearance of the season and the freshman's first hit and RBIs.

Lombardi, who had plated the Wildcats' first run in the second with a single, then drove a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence with two outs in the ninth for the go-ahead runs. Hagarty had laced a one-out single to right earlier in the inning – his third hit. He also scored three runs.

In his third start -- first at home -- Curtis pitched beyond the fifth inning for the first time. He was charged with four runs on five hits (all singles) while fanning four and walking one. He threw 52 of his 76 pitches for strikes.