Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
WINCHESTER, Va. – In two games which featured four ties and four lead changes, the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team came up on the short end of both outcomes in its 2024 season-openers Friday at the Mr. V Memorial Classic at Kevin Anderson Field at Bridgeforth Stadium.
 
In the first game Friday morning, host and No. 4 nationally-ranked Shenandoah University (6-1) scored two unearned tie-breaking runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a tie and post a 7-5 victory. In the second game, Susquehanna University (2-4) twice overcame two-run deficits, scoring the tying run in the bottom of the eighth innings and walking off with a 6-5 victory on River Hawks' leading hitter Tony Rossi's  first home run of the season with one out in the tenth inning.
 
Both losses spoiled standout relief efforts of Eastern first-year lefty Chris Torres (West Springfield, MA) and sophomore righty Connor Willett (Rockfall). In his collegiate debut, Torres limited the Hornets to one seeing-eye opposite field single in three innings while striking out four. Torres was summoned with none out and the bases loaded in a 5-5 tie and got a ground ball double play begun by senior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor), then ended the inning by stranding two runners with a called strikeout.
 
In the loss to Susquehanna, Willett struck out four over 2 1/3 innings as the fourth Eastern pitcher– allowing only one hit -- before No. 3 hitter Rossi ended the game with a mammoth home run  that easily cleared the 370 foot sign in left center. The hit was the second extra-base RBI hit of the game for Rossi, who had tied the game in the River Hawks' two-run third inning after No. 9 hitter Tyler Hmiele had slammed a leadoff homer to get his team on the board.
 
Against Susquehanna, Eastern scored single runs in its first two at-bats to back starting pitcher Matthew Wootton (Milford), and later scored two more in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. After the River Hawks went ahead, 5-4 with three runs in the seventh – the tying runs in the inning plated by Sean McCulloch on a controversial two-run, two-out double over the third base bag – Eastern tied the game in the top of the eighth on a leadoff walk by junior Ray Leonzi (Trumbull), a single by senior Josh Cofrancesco (Southington), and a pinch sacrifice fly by senior Mason Balmer (North Haven).
 
The Warriors twice came from behind against Shenandoah and tied the game in the fifth, 5-5, on a leadoff double by senior Jason Claiborn (Prospect), wild pitch, and sacrifice fly by senior Alejandro Soriano (Hartford), but lost out on a chance to score more when junior transfer Lucas Malave (Toms River, NJ) was caught stealing and an inning-ending ground ball left Donahue and Leonzi stranded after each had singled with two out.
 
Shenandoah, which has won regional tournaments and advanced to Super
Regional play twice in the last five years, pushed across what proved to be the winning (unearned) runs in the sixth when the first four batters reached on a walk, infield error, bunt single and hit-by-pitch which forced in the first run of the inning. The second run scored when Torres induced the bases-loaded double play.
 
Five Eastern players each had two hits, led by junior catcher Hank Penders (Wethersfield), who doubled and drove in three runs against Shenandoah. In addition to his two hits, Leonzi walked five times and scored two runs, while Claiborn, batting leadoff, reached five times with two doubles and three walks and scored twice.
 
On the day, seven Eastern pitchers fanned 18 but allowed 24 hits (six for extra bases), and Eastern managed only 13 hits, and capitalized only minimally on 18 walks, in part because the Warriors' two opponents played perfect defense. Donahue and junior second baseman Emmanuel Zaiter (Miami, FL) combined for seven putouts and ten assists without an error.
 
Eastern faces Shenandoah Saturday at 2:30 p.m.