MANSFIELD, Conn. – Junior second baseman Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) had five hits and drove in three runs and six pitchers combined on a four-hitter with 16 strikeouts as the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team swept its third doubleheader in seven days with 5-2, 4-0 seven-inning non-conference wins over Johnson & Wales University Tuesday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
 
Ranked third in the first New England Division III coaches poll released today, Eastern (12-1) got a combined one-hitter from three pitchers in the opener, then scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning in the nightcap to extend its winning streak to six this season. The Warriors have played all of their games to date this year at home.
 

Batting ninth in the order in the first game, Plantamuro had two hits and drove in two runs with a single that gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Batting leadoff for the first time this year in the second game, Plantamuro had three more hits and drove in the second run of the three-run second inning and reached on a fielder's choice and scored an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
After his RBI single in the second inning of the second game, Plantamuro was sent to third on senior John Mesagno's (Tappan, NY) double, but his steal of home on the fourth pitch from Johnson & Wales (3-6) reliever Peter Gianquinto was negated when senior rightfielder Jack Rich (Meriden) was called out on a 1-2 pitch to end the inning.
 
Junior lefty Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) kept a perfect ERA in 8 1/3 innings this year and won his first game of the season by pitching four scoreless innings in the second game, allowing only a one-out bunt single by Justin Perez in the third inning while fanning three without a walk. Dunn has given up only two hits and two walks with 13 strikeouts in three appearances.
 
Dunn was backed by several standout plays by senior third baseman Luke Broadhurst (Stafford), who made a diving stop to his left on Raimiel Rodriguez's hot smash to open the game, and had his throw across the diamond swept up on an in-between hop by senior first baseman Holden White (Wallingford). One inning later, Broadhurst made a backhanded stab of a drove along the third base line to retire Colby Greenhalgh for the second out.
 
Dunn and relievers Matthew Wooton (Milford) and John Parker (Brunswick, ME) each fanned three without a walk and surrendered just one hit.
 
In the first game, Plantamuro's two-run single staked sophomore righty Tim Pfaffenbichler (Windsor Locks) to a two-run lead but the Wildcats tied it with their only hit of the game on cleanup hitter Kevin Duffy's two-run home run that followed a leadoff hit-by-pitch to Armani Henderson.
 
The Warriors pushed across single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth, however, to make a winner of junior righty Andre José (Windham), with senior righty Bryan Albee (Killingly) gaining his first career save to close out the win. José and Albee each tossed two hitless innings, combining on five strikeouts without a walk.
 
Starting in center field for the first time, freshman leadoff hitter Jason Claiborn (Prospect) broke the 2-2 first-game tie with a fourth inning bases-loaded sacrifice fly that followed a leadoff walk to senior catcher Kevin Murphy (Springfield, MA) and singles by junior shortstop Owen Marica (Haddam) and Plantamuro. Mesagno's leadoff double and Rich's RBI single made it 4-2 in the fifth. With one out in the sixth, Claiborn was hit-by-pitch, stole second, and Mesagno plated him
with a single to make it a 5-2 lead.
 
Mesagno had three hits on the day to leave him two short of 100 in his four-year career, with White (two runs), Rich, Broadhurst and junior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme) all contributing two hits to the 18-hit attack. Junior DH Dean Slavin (Tappan, NY) reached four times with a single, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
 
As a team, Eastern committed only one error, with middle infielders Plantamuro and Marica each handling seven balls without an error.
 
Eastern brings a 6-0 Little East Conference record into Friday's home LEC noon twinbill against Rhode Island College. The Anchormen are 5-5 (1-1 LEC) and coming off a four-game split with the University of Southern Maine this past weekend. In two LEC games Friday at Southern Maine, RIC lost 14-0 in the opener but bounced to take the nightcap, 10-0. The teams also split a non-conference pair Saturday in Providence, RI.