MANSFIELD, Conn. – Freshman leadoff hitter Jason Claiborn (Prospect) extended his on-base streak to 14 games with four hits and senior leftfielder John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) had a home run and two doubles and scored four times as the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader with Rhode Island College Saturday afternoon at Art Pontarelli Field.
 
In the first game, Jarrad Grossguth hit a grand slam in the fifth inning to snap a 2-2 tie as Rhode Island (6-8) ended Eastern's (15-2) eight-game winning streak with a 9-6 victory. In the nightcap, the Warriors survived Grossguth's game-tying two-run home run in the sixth inning by scoring twice in the seventh and adding an insurance run in the ninth in a 7-4 victory.
 
Mesagno had leadoff doubles in the seventh  and ninth innings and scored both times as the Warriors scored three times over their last three at-bats after RIC had tied the game on Grossguth's tying home run in the sixth inning of the second game. In the seventh, Mesagno doubled, stole third and scored what proved to be the winning run on senior third baseman Luke Broadhurst's (Stafford) sacrifice fly. Senior centerfielder Ryan Bagdasarian's (Glastonbury) walk and stolen base and an infield throwing error made it 6-4.
 
With Eastern leading 6-4, Mesagno doubled to open the ninth and later scored on an infield ground ball for the final run.
 
Four Eastern pitchers – two of them freshmen – combined on a seven-hitter in the Game 2 win. Freshman righty Matthew Wooton (Milford) was credited with his first career win as the third of four pitchers in the nightcap, allowing one hit in 1 1/3 innings, and sophomore righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) gained his second save of the year by getting the final seven outs. Freshman righty Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH)  pitched a season-high five innings in his second start, limiting the Anchormen to three hits and one run while fanning five without a walk and leavingon the long end of a 4-1 score.
 
In his third start of the year in the opener, junior lefty Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) did not allow a hit in three more scoreless innings that extended his  streak to 11 1/3 this year and left in a scoreless tie. He did not figure in the decision when the Anchormen broke open a tight game on Grossguth's fifth-inning grand slam that gave RIC a 6-2 lead.
 
Second to Mesagno (.426) with a .396 average this year, Claiborn had three singles, scored a run and drove in a run in the first game. He came home on Mesagno's three-run home run in the ninth which cut the RIC lead to the final 9-6 score. Claiborn kept his on-base streak alive in the nightcap when he legged out a bunt single in the fifth inning when Eastern scored a pair to take a 4-1 lead on RBI singles by Broadhurst and junior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme).
 
Mesagno, who recorded the 100^th hit of his career in Friday's Little East Conference home sweep of RIC, has hit safely in seven straight while Malcom's fifth-inning single in the second game extended his on-base streak to eight.
 
On the day, Broadhurst, Mesagno and Claiborn all had four hits, with Mesagno doubling twice and homering, walking twice, scoring four times and  driving in three runs to give him a team-leading 18 RBI. He has ten doubles, a triple and two homers this year. Broadhurst plated five runs and Bagdasarian scored twice after walking four times.
 
Eastern plays back-to-back Little East games against Keene State College next week, visiting the Owls Tuesday at 3:30 and hosting them Wednesday at 6 p.m.