MANSFIELD, Conn. – Four Western Connecticut State University errors in the first inning helped the No. 2 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team score five times and the Warriors went on to their seventh straight win, a 23-2 Little East Conference victory over Western Connecticut State University Tuesday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium. The game was stopped after seven innings.
Fourteen Eastern (19-2, 7-0 LEC) players contributed at least one of the team's 21 hits, 13 drove in at least one run and 16 scored at least one run. Leading 7-0, the Warriors tacked on 16 runs in their final two at-bats on 13 hits.
Second basemen
Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) and
Brent Cosculluela (Miami, FL) combined for five hits, four RBI and two runs scored while sharing the No. 9 slot in the order. Plantamuro had two singles and an RBI double and Coscuella was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and had a three-run home run and single in the ten-run sixth.
Six of Eastern's hits went for extra bases, with senior catcher
Matt Malcom (East Lyme) socking his sixth home run of the season to close out the six-run fifth when he collected three of his five RBI. He also drove in the first two runs of the game with a single.
Two-through-5 hitters
Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury),
Luke Broadhurst (Stafford),
John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) and Malcom all had two hits and scored two runs and combined to drove in seven runs.
While Eastern was unloading on four Western Connecticut (4-10, 0-5 LEC) pitchers, Eastern senior lefty
Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) stifled WestConn on one hit with nine strikeouts during his six-inning stint. Dunn retired the first 11 batters in order before the streak was broken on a fielding error. After allowing his only hit leading off the fifth, Dunn (2-0) retired the final six batters in order.
After there were two out in the seventh, WestConn broke through for two unearned runs on two walks and an error and late-inning replacement Brian Forsberg's (New Fairfield) single to right before sophomore righty pitcher
Kevin McIntyre (Southington) came on to retire the side on and end the game on three pitches in his collegiate debut.
Eastern hosts Anna Maria College Wednesday at 4 p.m.
