KEENE, N.H. – The No. 2 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team scored four late-inning runs to expand a one-run lead and the Warriors survived four errors that led to three unearned runs and moved to within a win of their 14
th Little East Conference regular-season championship with an 8-6 victory over Keene State College Tuesday at the Owl Athletic Complex.
A winner of 30 regular-season games for the 15
th time since joining the NCAA in 1976, Eastern (33-3, 13-1 LEC) needs one win when its hosts the University of Massachusetts Boston (23-12, 11-3) Friday in a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season to clinch a second straight LEC regular-season title and No. 1 tournament seed. Two wins Friday give Eastern a record 35 victories in the regular season and a second straight conference regular-season title and record of 15-1. Eastern has won seven straight and 21 of its last 22.
However, sweeps by UMass Boston and Rhode Island College (over Plymouth State University) Friday would forge a three-way tie for the regular-season title between Eastern, UMass Boston and Rhode Island College, with UMass earning the No. 1 seed (on the strength of tie-breakers) and Eastern dropping to the No. 3 seed behind Rhode Island College.
Against Keene (6-26, 2-12 LEC), sophomore righty
Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) carried a 4-1 lead into the sixth before the Owls cut the lead to one run and chased Lincoln (4-0) in the process.
After the Warriors moved out to an 8-3 lead by scoring twice in the seventh and twice in the eighth on five hits and an error, Keene rallied for three runs on three hits and an error before senior righty
Bryan Albee (Killingly) got the final four outs to record his third save. Albee, who leads the staff in wins (9-0 record) and saves, left the bases loaded in the eighth with a ground out to senior shortstop
Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) and after walking the leadoff batter in the ninth, got a fly ball, ground ball and game-ending strikeout to preserve the win.
Eastern collected 15 hits off of four Keene pitchers -- five of them for extra bases – and tied its season high with eight stolen bases (three behind the game record of 11).
Senior centerfielder
Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) hit his second and third home runs of the year – a two-run shot that gave the Warriors the early lead in the second, and a solo shot in the seventh. Batting 4-5 in the order, senior catcher
Matt Malcom (East Lyme) and Bagdasarian each had three hits and three RBI. Sophomore first baseman
Ryan Parent (Southington) came off the bench for two hits, doubling and scoring in the two-run seventh. Senior first baseman
Dean Slavin (Tappin, NY) had a pinch RBI single after Bagdasarian homered and Parent doubled in the seventh, making it 6-3.
Sophomore outfielder
Jason Claiborn (Prospect) stole three bases and is now 13-for-14 on the season.
In his fourth start, Lincoln fanned four and walked one, pitching four hitless innings. Keene broke through for a hit in the fifth but the runner was erased when caught between third and home on a bunt. Trailing 4-1, Keene ended Lincoln's day when the first three hitters singled but senior lefty
Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) stemmed the tide by coming on to pitch 2 1/3 scoreless innings of one-hit baseball, strikeout out four without a walk. Dunn improved his strikeout-to-walk totals to 49-8.
