Box Score  

GREENSBORO, N.C. –  After its first two at-bats, the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team had already set a season game-high with seven runs and tied its season game-high with eight hits, but needed to withstand Guilford College's seven-run eighth inning to post a 14-11 victory Tuesday afternoon at Edgar H. McBane Field.

With the win, Eastern (2-5) splits its two-game series with Guilford (6-11), which had ended a four-game losing streak Monday by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth in a 3-2 victory.

Batting .187 entering play with only one regular hitting over .300, the Warriors erupted for 25 hits – just four shy of the program's all-time game record – and moved out to an 11-1 lead after 6 ½ innings before the Quakers cut deep into the Warriors' bullpen (facing four different pitchers) by scoring three times on four hits in the seventh and added seven more in the eighth on six hits and three errors.

In the ninth, Eastern turned to its seventh pitcher of the game – one shy of the program record – to subdue Guilford. First-year lefty Chris Torres (Springfield, MA) made quick work of the Quakers in the final inning, getting a pair of foul ball outs and a game-ending outfield fly ball following a single, to record his second save. In four scoreless relief appearances this year, Torres has allowed only two hits over 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts.

First-year junior transfer Lucas Malave (Toms River, NJ) broke out of a season-opening 1-for-21 slump by going 4-for-5 with a two-run home run (his first at Eastern and ninth of his career) and two run-scoring singles. Senior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) was also 4-for-5 (four singles), scored two runs and drove in one, with senior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) and  senior DH Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) each contributing three hits in an attack where 12 players had at least one hit, nine scored at least one run, and eight drove in at least one.

Malave hit a two-run home run in the five-run second inning, first-year catcher Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) blasted his first career home run leading off the third in his first career start, and Claiborn belted a two-run home run – his first of the year -- from the No. 9 slot in the order in a three-run eighth that began with two out and none on. In that three-run eighth, when the Warriors pushed across three important pad runs, first-year infielder Teige Kimbler (Albany, NY) collected a pinch two-out double in his first career at-bat following Claiborn's two-run blast, and Kimbler came home on senior Mason Balmer's (North Haven) single.

Claiborn reached four times with his home run, two doubles and a hit-by-pitch and scored three times, while Soriano doubled twice and had a sacrifice fly batting in the No. 3 spot. Senior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington) chipped in two hits and two RBI.

Senior righty Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) evened his record at 1-1 by pitching a hitless fifth inning in place of first-year sophomore left Justin Marks (Beacon Falls), who pitched four innings in his first career start (third appearance) at Eastern and was lifted with a 10-1 lead. Marks gave up four hits without a walk and fanned two.

Beginning Thursday, Eastern plays four games in four days at the Marietta College/BSN SPORTS Invitational. The Warriors open against Johnson & Wales University at 1 p.m. The Wildcats (5-1) are coming off their first loss Tuesday, a 12-8 decision at Tufts University, which split a non-conference doubleheader against Eastern earlier in the week at Medford, MA. In Eastern's 3-1 home win over Johnson & Wales last year, graduate righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) throw four shutout relief innings and Donahue hit a solo home run.