MANSFIELD, Conn. –  In his first appearance in over two weeks, sophomore lefty Nicholas Furino (East Haven) got two strikeouts to strand the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth inning and the No. 13 Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team closed out its home season with a 3-2 victory over Western New England University Thursday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
 
In a meeting between the No. 5 (Eastern) and No. 6 (Western New England) ranked teams in the NCAA Region II, Eastern (29-9) moved to within a win of its  34^th season of 30 wins with its 15^th win in 19 home contests. The victory was also the Warriors' first by a run after losses in their previous three one-run games.
 
Eastern never trailed after bolting to a 3-0 lead after two innings but needed the relief pitching of Furino, senior righty Andre José (Windham) and junior righty Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) to hold on and defeat Western New England (24-11-2) for the third time in the last four meetings in the series.
 
First-year righty Dylan Scudder (Simsbury) sailed through the first five innings Thursday, allowing only three hits and one walk with five strikeouts and took a 3-0 lead into the sixth before losing his command. Scudder walked four of the five batters that he faced in the sixth and was lifted in favor of Furino with the bases loaded after he walked in the Golden Bears' first run. Furino, pitching for the first time since a one-inning appearance April 18 at Keene State College, allowed the Golden Bears' second run of the inning on a wild pitch but got the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters on swinging strikeouts, the inning-ending strikeout coming on a 3-2 pitch.
 
A spot starter, Lincoln was summoned with two on and two out in the eighth and went on to earn his first career save, getting home run threat and top RBI producer CJ Willis on a called strike on a 3-2 pitch to complete a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
 
Western New England's loss overshadowed a masterful effort by sophomore righty Matt Lauria (5-3), who became only the second pitcher on the staff to throw a compete game. Lauria allowed a run in the first inning on two hits (one a bad-hop single to left) and cleanup hitter Ryan Parent's (Southington) infield ground ball and two in the second on three hits, among them junior Tiernan Lynch's (Easton) RBI double and leadoff hitter Zach Donahue's (South Windsor) first-pitch RBI single, but stymied the Warriors on two singles and one walk the rest of the way.
 
Lauria faced the minimum 15 batters from the third through seventh innings – retiring 13 in a row at one point – and getting stellar defensive plays from second baseman Paul Villecco in the fourth and third baseman Cody Waterbury in the sixth, as well as a double play started by Villecco in the seventh.
 
In the eighth, Lauria issued a one-out walk and a two-out single by senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme) but got a fly ball to end the inning.
 
Lauria gave up only seven hits and walked only two with one strikeout in the complete-game loss, throwing only 87 pitches (56 for strikes). Scudder (5-1) throw 96 pitches and Furino recorded strikes on 17 of his 25 pitches before giving way to José after Willis singled to center with two out in the seventh. With only 6 2/3 innings to his credit this year, José got cleanup hitter Cody Waterbury on a foul fly to Parent to strand the tying run at first and left in favor of Lincoln with two out and two on in the eighth.
 
Western New England No. 9 hitter John Bova was robbed of hits twice, the first when junior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco's (Southington) made a miraculous catch on his sinking line drive with one out in the third and the second time when Donahue ranged to his right into the 5-6 hole to backhand the ground ball and throw a strike to Parent at first, nabbing Bova on a bang-bang call. Donahue also turned the team's 34th double play of the season that ended the second inning after a single and error put two runners aboard with one out. On the play, Scudder threw low to the second base bag after fielding a bouncer off the bat of Kohtaro Shimada but Donahue was able to handle it and throw on to Parent in one motion that got the runner by a step.
 
Eastern's four pitchers combined on a five-hitter and stranded ten, but walked seven.
 
Lynch's second-inning double gave him six extra-base hits among his eight hits this year. Sophomore centerfielder Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) singled and scored the first run of the second inning – extending his hitting streak to 14. Senior second baseman Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) walked in the second to extend his on-base streak to ten but watched his nine-game hitting streak come to a halt. Junior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) reached safely for the 11^th straight game when he singled in the first inning and came home on Parent's ground ball.
 
Eastern closes out the regular season Friday with a 2 p.m. Little East Conference doubleheader at the University of Massachusetts Boston and opens play in the six-team, double-elimination LEC tournament Wednesday at top seed Rhode Island College.