MANSFIELD, Conn. – Junior first baseman
Dean Slavin (Tappan, NY) drove in five runs with two home runs and the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team batted around twice in posting a 15-0, seven-inning non-conference victory over Keene State College Wednesday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Slavin hit a two-run home run as part of a six-run first inning when the Warriors (17-2) – ranked first in New England -- sent ten batters to the plate, then belted a three-run shot in a seven-run fifth inning when the Warriors batted around again. Keene is 2-9.
Slavin and senior DH
Luke Broadhurst (Stafford) each had three hits in the 17-hit attack and scored two runs. Broadhurst drove in three runs with a two-run triple in the first and an RBI single in the second. Seven of the team's hits went for extra bases.
Batting 1-2 in the order, freshman rightfielder
Jason Claiborn (Prospect) and senior centerfielder
Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) reached base five times and combined for five runs, recording two hits each and driving in one run each. Claiborn singled and scored in both the first inning and in the fifth inning to extend his on-base streak to 16.
Junior shortstop
Owen Marica (Haddam) and sophomore third baseman
Thomas Acevedo (Miami, FL) each added two hits, Marica doubling twice for his first extra-base hits of the year. In the seven-run fifth, Acevedo singled leading off the inning and score and drove in the final two runs with a single to cap the inning. As a late-inning replacement, junior
Benjamin Ryan (Springfield, MA) contributed his first career extra-base hit and scored a run in the fifth.
Junior lefty
Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) extended his scoreless streak to open the season to 16 1/3 innings by scattering four hits over the first five innings for his second win in two decisions. He fanned four without a walk and has now struck out 19 batters and walked only four. Freshman lefty
Robert Synodi (Hebron) pitched a 1-2-3 seventh with a strikeout in his first collegiate appearance.
Eastern played without an error for the ninth time this year, improving its fielding percentage to .972 and the pitching staff combined on its fifth shutout to lower its earned run average to 2.81.
Eastern visits Johnson & Wales University in a non-conference game Thursday at 4 p.m.
