Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
MANSFIELD, Conn. – An already hot race in the Little East Conference just got hotter after the University of Massachusetts Boston dealt a severe blow to Eastern Connecticut State University's regular-season title aspirations Saturday by burning the Warriors twice, 10-7, 5-4, on Senior Day at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
 
With an opportunity to eliminate UMass Boston (23-12, 12-3 LEC) from title contention, Eastern (23-11, 10-3 LEC) stumbled, losing its third and fourth straight home games after rolling up wins in its first 11 games at The Stadium.  Eastern has lost its last two one-run decisions after capturing five of its first seven.
 
Heading into the final week of the regular season, Massachusetts Dartmouth (19-15-1, 11-2) can, unofficially, secure the regular-season title and top tournament seed by winning at Rhode Island College (14-15, 4-8) Tuesday and sweeping the visiting Warriors Friday. If Eastern wins its final three games (which means sweeping UMD) and UMass Boston defeats visiting Plymouth State University (9-14, 4-8 LEC) in its regular-season finale Tuesday, the Warriors and Beacons would, unofficially, share the regular-season title, with UMass Boston earning the No. 1 seed on the strength of Saturday's sweep.
 
In the opener Saturday, the bullpen failed junior righty Matthew Wootton (Milford), who pitched seven strong innings (allowing three hits and two walks) without a decision in a duel with UMB senior righty Dillon Ryan. Wootton tired in the eighth when the Beacons knocked him out by scoring four runs – all coming on junior Mariano Jimenez' two-out grand slam, then wiped out Eastern's 6-5 lead with five runs in the top of the ninth.
 
Down 5-1 in second game, Eastern rallied for two runs in the fifth on junior catcher Hank Penders' (Wethersfield) two-run home run and another in the seventh on No. 9 hitter Preston Irby's (Bridgeport) sixth home run of the season – second on the day -- before Tim Cianciolo, who won the first game in relief, came on for his first save of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth.
 
Following Irby's leadoff home run in the seventh, the Warriors stranded four runners the rest of the way, including the tying run on third with one out in the seventh.
 
With two out and pinch runner Dylan Jackson (Manchester) aboard in the ninth, junior Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) came within inches of a walk-off, two-run home run but he pulled his long drive to right on a 2-0 delivery from Cianciolo inches wide of the right field foul pole.
 
In that second game, sophomore righty Dylan Scudder (Simsbury) had given Eastern a chance to rally by shutting down the Beacons on one hit over the final three innings. Scudder stranded two in the seventh with inning-ending strikeouts, left a runner aboard in the eighth and ended the ninth by inducing a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of cleanup hitter Brandon Gaer.
 
Penders (three RBI) and senior Zach Donahue (South Windsor) both had four hits on the day, with Irby and senior Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) adding three each. Irby scored three runs and drove in three.
 
Donahue singled and homered in the first game and singled twice and walked in the nightcap to extend his on-base streak to 28 games.
 
Eastern out-homered (5-1) and outhit (22-20) UMass but committed four errors and stranded 16 runners.
 
Eastern visits Western Connecticut State University Tuesday at 3:30 before wrapping up the LEC regular season by visiting UMass Dartmouth for Friday's noon doubleheader.