GORHAM, Maine – Junior lefty
Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) extended his season-opening scoreless streak to 21 1/3 innings before allowing a fourth-inning run as the No. 23-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team went on to a 7-1 non-conference victory over No. 22-ranked University of Southern Maine en route to a split of Saturday's doubleheader at Ed Flaherty Field.
As Eastern (21-4) had done Friday in order to avoid a sweep against Southern Maine (16-8) at the Eastern Baseball Stadium, the Huskies rallied to avoid a second-game loss by scoring twice in the ninth inning to post a 4-3 victory. A hit-by-pitch, bunt single, sacrifice bunt and bases-loaded walk gave USM a literal walk-off win in the ninth inning.
In the first game, Dunn (4-0) pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this year before departing with two runners on and two out and the Warriors on the long end of a 5-1 lead. Dunn allowed four hits (three singles) and fanned five and walked three. Sophomore righty
Nathan Furino (East Haven) lowered his ERA to 2.25 by stopping Southern Maine on one hit the rest of the way to earn his third save. He fanned four without a walk and has now struck out 26 and walked only five in 16 innings. Dunn's ERA is a staff-best 0.36.
Eastern scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning of the first game before USM became the first team this year to score against Dunn in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff double and a one-out single through the left side by Andrew Hillier. Dunn retired seven straight following Hillier's run-scoring single and did not allow another hit until Tom Vesosky's leadoff single in the seventh.
Eastern broke a scoreless tie with five runs in the middle innings of the opener on senior
Drew Alexopoulos' (Hanson, MA) two-run home run and freshman leadoff hitter
Jason Claiborn's (Prospect) single up the middle in the fourth and No. 9 hitter
Noah Plantamuro's (Bristol) two-out, two-run single that plated two unearned runs after the Huskies botched junior
Matt Malcom's (East Lyme) sacrifice bunt.
Freshman righty
Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) rebounded from a rocky start in his third career start to pitch brilliantly in the second-game loss. Lincoln, who did not figure in the decision, gave up only four hits over his final six innings of work after allowing four hits and two runs in the first inning. He struck out seven and walked two in a season-high seven innings.
As it did in Saturday's second-game win, Eastern struck in the eighth inning to overcome a two-run deficit in the second game, thanks to junior
Dean Slavin's (Tappen, NY) fourth home run of the year – a two-out, three-run shot after Claiborn opened the inning with a bunt single and senior
John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) singled him to second.
On the day, Claiborn reached safely in each game with three hits and two walks, drove in two runs and scored one to extend his on-base streak to 22 and his hitting streak to 12. Mesagno also had three hits on the afternoon and Plantamuro and Alexopoulos had two hits each and drove in two runs. Alexopoulos also scored twice and Plantamuro walked twice. Senior
Luke Broadhurst (Stafford) – the team-leader with a .409 average -- reached three times with two walks and a hit-by-pitch and scored twice.
Eastern plays a four-game, home-and-home series this weekend with Castleton University, visiting the Spartans for Friday's Little East Conference set at 1 p.m. and hosting Castleton Saturday at 1 p.m. in two non-conference games.
