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GORHAM, Maine – Junior righty Jordan Muchin (West Hartford) became the first Eastern Connecticut State University baseball pitcher in program history to shut out the University of Southern Maine in a nine-inning game on the Huskies' home field in a 2-0 first-game win, and senior righty Sam Kosterich (Stamford) pitched seven stellar relief innings in a 7-5 second-game victory as the Warriors earned the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Little East Conference Tournament with a sweep Friday at Ed Flaherty Field on the USM campus.
Ranked first in the NCAA Division III New England Region and No. 16 nationally Southern Maine (26-10, 9-5 LEC) had won 13 of 14 home games prior to Friday and had been shut out only once (against No. 8 College of New Jersey in Florida) this year.
Seeded fourth or lower in each of the last three Little East tournaments, Eastern (22-14) enters Wednesday's tournament at top-seeded Massachusetts Boston as the No. 2 seed and will face No. 5 seed Plymouth State University (14-17) at 2:30 p.m. in the second of three games on the first day. Defending tournament champion UMass Boston (30-8) hosts No. 6 UMass Dartmouth (23-13) in Wednesday's first game at 11 a.m., and No. 3 Southern Maine (27-10) meets No. 4 Rhode Island College (19-13) in Wednesday's second game at 2 p.m. A win Wednesday sends Eastern into a 6 p.m. winners' bracket game Thursday, a loss dropping it into an 11 a.m. elimination game Thursday.
In his first career nine-inning shutout, Muchin (4-4) allowed only eight hits in a first game which featured 17 singles, and fanned seven without a walk. He stranded nine, preserving a 1-0 Eastern lead in the fifth with a swinging strikeout and foul fly to senior catcher Merlyn Herrera (La Yaquiza, DR) that stranded three. USM had as many as two hits in only two innings – the fifth and the eighth. In the eighth, Muchin got another foul fly to Herrera and a called strikeout to preserve a 2-0 lead.
In 112 previous games in this series which dates back to 1972, no Eastern pitcher had shut out USM on its home field over nine innings, until Friday. The last Eastern pitcher to shut out the Huskies was All-America righty and future professional Joey Serfass, who blanked Southern Maine twice in nine-inning games in 2003 at the Eastern Baseball Stadium in the final game of the regular season (6-0) and six days later in the fourth round of the LEC tournament (10-0).
Among Eastern's previous shutouts of USM were seven-inning no-hitters by future major leaguer Scott Chiasson in 1994 and by E-Club Hall of Famer Peter Daniels in 1988, both games played at Southern Maine.
In Friday's first game, senior first baseman D.J. Scavone (Auburn, MA) and Herrera singled leading off the second inning against Dalton Rice (2-2) and after a two-out walk loaded the bases, No. 9 hitter Ryan Hood (Arlington, MA) plated Scavone with the first run by legging out an infield single. The Warriors added a pad run in the seventh when the first three batters reached safely and Scavone greeted reliever Colton Lawrence with a ground ball that sent in junior centerfielder Alexander White (West Hartford).
At right: Alex Parkos' 16th career home run with two out in the eighth inning off New England save leader Josh Dexter tied the game and set up the Warriors' two-run ninth inning in the second-game victory.
Behind seven strong relief innings from Kosterich (3-2), Eastern completed its first sweep of Southern Maine since fifth-year head coach Matt LaBranche's first season in 2014. Trailing by two runs, the Warriors outscored the hosts 5-1 over the final four innings.
All-Region third baseman Alex Parkos (Meriden) tied the second game, 5-5, in the eighth with a two-out solo home run and Eastern pushed across the winning runs off junior closer Jake Dexter (4-3) on leadoff singles by Herrera and freshman rightfielder Anthony Stigler (Mansfield), freshman pinch hitter Jack Rich's (Meriden) one out, bases loaded ground ball and an infield throwing error – Southern Maine's only error of the day.
Parkos' game-tying home run in the eighth inning of the second game was his fifth HR of the season and 16th of his career and came off Dexter, the New England leader in saves (11) who had fanned 35 batters in 25 2/3 innings with a staff-leading 1.40 ERA entering play.
Kosterich gave up only two earned runs in seven innings in relief of junior lefty Nick Rascati (Wallingford), allowing six hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Stiger's two-out, two-run single had given Eastern a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the second game, but the Huskies tied the game on No. 9 hitter Sam Troiano's two-out, two-run single and took the lead against Kosterich in the third on three hits, a walk, hit-by-pitch and passed ball.
The Warriors tied the game, 4-4, with their two-run sixth, but Troiano cracked his fifth home of the year leading off the seventh to restore a one-run lead for the hosts.
Scavone broke the program career record for putouts with his 1,258th when the first USM batter in the first game grounded to senior second baseman Mike Funaro (Northford). Scavone finished the afternoon with 23 putouts which give him 1,280 in his four-year career, 13 shy of breaking the New England Division III record currently held by USM catcher Jody Curcuru (1998-01).
In the doubleheader, Scavone reached three times to extend his on-base streak to 22, with junior shortstop Dale Keller (Oxford) getting aboard three times with a hit and two walks to stretch his streak to 17. White (14), Herrera (13) and Funaro (13) also extended long on-base streaks. Parkos reached five times with three hits and two walks and scored three runs.
Stigler had four hits and two RBI on the day, Parkos and Scavone three hits each and Herrera two. Parkos, Keller, White and sophomore DH Jake LeFevre (Mansfield Center) all capitalized twice when five USM pitchers walked nine.
Eastern swept homestanding Plymouth State April 22 by scores of 7-4 and 6-5.Muchin pitched the seven innings of the first game for the win, allowing seven hits and two earned runs. Rascati and junior righty Cole Ogorzalek (Portland) combined on a three-hitter in the second game, Ogorzalek pitching the final four hitless innings for the victory. Only two of the runs charged to Rascati were earned.
