MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team broke an early tie in the second game by scoring four times in the third inning – two on senior Jack Rich's (Meriden) first home run of the year – to post an 11-3 win over Saint Joseph's College (ME) and compete a non-conference doubleheader sweep Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
 
In the second game, seniors Rich and Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) and junior Matt Malcom (East Lyme)  all drove in two runs as the Warriors put up runs in five different innings as Eastern (3-0) improved to 15-2 all-time against Saint Joseph's (2-6) with its tenth straight win over the Monks.
 
In the first game, Eastern scored a single run in five different innings – erasing an early 3-1 deficit – to gain a 5-4 victory.
 
After SJC tied the second game with two runs in the top of the third on an RBI single by freshman leadoff hitter Dawson Gundlah and a ground ball, Eastern batted around in the third to score four runs on four this (the first three batters reached safely) and three walks to move out to a 6-2 lead, then outscored the Monks 5-1 the rest of the way. Rich's third career home run was a two-run blast and chased home senior John Mesagno (Tappan, NY), who had doubled to open the inning. A fielder's choice sent in the third run and Bagdasarian's two-out single made it 6-2.

 
Freshman righty Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) was credited with his second win in his second relief appearance in the second game, fanning three and allowing only one hit in two innings as the second of five pitchers. Senior right-hander John Parker (Brunswick, ME) struck out four in two scoreless innings later in the game, giving up only one hit (to his first batter).
 
Game 1

Second-year Division II transfer righty pitcher Josh Vincent (New London) won his first decision as a reliever in his third career outing by limiting SJC to one run and five hits over the final five innings as the Warriors defeated the Monks for the ninth straight time.
 
Eastern tied the game with an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double by senior Holden White (Wallingford) and took its first lead with another unearned run in the fifth on a two-out RBI triple by senior cleanup batter Luke Broadhurst (Stafford).
 
Vincent (1-0) was credited with the win after entering a tied game in the top of the fifth. Vincent shut out the Monks through his first four innings before No. 9 hitter Zach Miles drew a leadoff walk in the ninth and was driven in from third on a single by No. 3 hitter Ben Gravel.
 
Junior righty Zach Player (East Hampton) pitched into the third inning  and was lifted after allowing three hits and a walk while SJC was scoring three runs to take a 3-1 lead. Senior righty Bryan Albee (Killingly) walked two but got the final two outs of the inning and pitched a 1-2-3 fourth before giving way to Vincent to start the fifth with the score tied.
 
Broadhurst drove in two runs with two hits, Malcom had two hits, scored three runs and drove in a run, and White had three hits and his fourth-inning game-tying RBI double.
 
Led by Gravel (three hits, a run, RBI), the top four hitters in the SJC lineup combined for eight of the team's nine hits and three of its runs and drove in two of its runs. Gundlah and graduate student Drew Healey each had two hits.
 
On the day,  Broadhurst had four hits, including a double and triple. Malcom had three hits – including two home runs. He homered leading off the eighth inning of the first game and gave Eastern a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning of the nightcap with the eighth of his career. Mesagno and White both added three hits on the day.
 
In his first career at-bat, freshman Jason Claiborn (Prospect) recorded his first hit, extra-base hit and RBI  with a run-scoring double in the seventh inning of the second game. First-year University of Connecticut sophomore transfer righty pitcher Tim Pfaffenbichler (Windsor Locks)  made his collegiate debut with a hitless ninth inning that closed out the second game.
 
Eastern visits Johnson & Wales University Wednesday in a 3:30 p.m. non-conference doubleheader.