DANBURY, Conn. – Senior lefty
Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) and senior righty
Tim Pfaffenbichler (Windsor Locks) combined on a five-hitter as the No. 2 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team blanked Western Connecticut State University, 11-0 in seven innings in a Little East Conference game Monday afternoon at Westside Field.
With three LEC games remaining in its regular season, Eastern (28-3, 12-1 LEC) holds a 1 ½ game lead over the University of Massachusetts Boston in the race for a second straight LEC regular-season title and No. 1 tournament seed. The Warriors host UMass Boston (21-8, 9-1 LEC) in a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season May 6.
In addition to visiting Eastern, the Beacons have four other LEC games remaining, including a pair at Rhode Island College (21-7-1, 8-2 LEC) Saturday. RIC handed Eastern its only LEC loss, trimming the Warriors, 2-1, Saturday in the first game of a pair at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Against WestConn (8-14, 4-8 LEC), Dunn (4-0) improved to 9-0 lifetime with a five-hitter, one strikeout and no walks over the first six innings before Pfaffenbichler closed it out with a 1-2-3 seventh. Dunn lowered his earned run average to 1.45 this year and 1.67 lifetime and moved to within eight of his 100
th career strikeout.
Batting in the top third of the order for the first time this year, graduate infielder
Josh Tower (Auburn, MA) had two hits and two RBI in the No. 2 spot, with sophomore first baseman
Ryan Parent (Southington) driving in three runs with two hits and sophomore rightfielder
Jason Claiborn (Prospect) collecting two hits, driving in a run and scoring one as the No. 9 hitter. Parent has driven in 12 runs with ten hits this year.
The first three batters reached safely against WestConn senior righty Michael Kolf (0-1), with Tower's RBI double plating leadoff hitter
Zach Donahue (South Windsor) for the first run. Tower scored on senior centerfielder
Ryan Bagdasarian's (Glastonbury) single and sophomore DH
Alejandro Soriano's (Hartford) sacrifice fly drove in senior leftfielder
John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) with the final run of the inning.
The first three batters of the fifth reached safely on two walks and a hit batter, and Parent's opposite-field bases-clearing double made it 7-0.
Senior All-America
Luke Broadhurst (Stafford) and senior DH
Jack Rich (Meriden), who have on-base streaks of 16 and 13, respectively, did not play.
The Eastern pitching staff shows a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 3-to-1, having walked more batters than it has fanned only once this year (an 8-1 loss to Bethel University five weeks ago). Dunn has fanned 42 and walked only eight in 37 1/3 innings this year.
With its tenth straight win over WestConn, Eastern improved to 86-9 all-time in the series. The Warriors remain perfect (11-0) on their opponent's home field this year and are 17-1 away from the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Eastern hosts Lasell University Wednesday at 6 p.m. in a non-conference game.
