PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Senior third baseman
Luke Broadhurst (Stafford) hit his fourth home run in six games and sophomore righty starter
Billy Oldham (Brookfield) struck out seven in his four-inning stint to lift the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to its 12
th win in its last 13 games, 11-2, over Johnson & Wales University Thursday afternoon at Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex.
Ranked first in New England, the Warriors (18-2) opened and closed the game with four-run innings, batting around each time and totaling those runs on eight hits and three errors. Senior first baseman
Holden White's (Wallingford) two-run single was a key blow in the first inning and Broadhurst hit his fourth home run leading off the ninth.
Five of Eastern's 13 hits went for extra bases, with junior catcher
Matt Malcom (East Lyme) hitting his fourth home run of the year leading off a three-run sixth that helped propel Eastern to a 7-1 lead.
In his fifth start of the year, Oldham allowed one (earned) run on five hits and walked only one to complement his seven strikeouts. Oldham has now fanned a staff-high 40 batters with only six walks in a staff-leading 30 1/3 innings.
With a double, single and walk, freshman leadoff hitter
Jason Claiborn (Prospect) reached safely in his 17
th straight game and senior leftfielder
John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) contributed an RBI double in the sixth and extended his hitting streak to ten. He also singled and walked.
Broadhurst was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs to up his team-leading batting average to .446, while White, Mesagno and Claiborn all maintained .400+ season batting averages. Malcom reached three times with two hits and a walk, drove in two runs and scored two, while senior centerfield
Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) was the fifth Eastern batter with at least two hits.
Right-handed relievers
Matt Wootton (Milford),
Zach Player (East Hampton) and
Nathan Furino (East Haven) combined on 3 1/3 hitless innings with five strikeouts and no walks to close out the game. Furino shares the staff lead with nine appearances and has yet to allow an earned run over 12 innings. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth against the Wildcats (3-9), ending the game on a swinging strikeout.
Eastern visits Western Connecticut Tuesday in a non-conference doubleheader at 2 p.m.
