Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  

MANSFIELD, Conn. – Senior Preston Cosme-Cruz (Bridgeport) highlighted a five-run fifth inning with a two-out, bases-clearing double as the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team broke open a tight game and went on to a 9-4 Little East Conference victory over Plymouth State University en route to a sweep in its conference and home-openers Saturday at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
 
After Eastern (10-4) won its home-opener for the tenth straight year, senior lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) and graduate righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) combined on an eight-hitter and senior Michael Hernandez (Bridgeport) highlighted a 15-hit attack with three hits and three runs scored in a 10-4 second-game victory.
 
Game 1: Wootton shuts down Panthers in relief
 
A winner of six of its last seven and the LEC pre-season favorite in the coaches' poll, Eastern erased a two-run deficit in the fifth inning of the first game by batting around to score its five runs on four hits, a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a costly Plymouth (3-7, 0-2 LEC) two-out infield error that accounted for four unearned runs. Prior to Cosme-Cruz's three-run double, senior catcher Hank Penders (Wethersfield) drove in sophomore Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA), who had opened the inning with a single.
 
In relief of senior righty starter Alex Mach (Rockfall), senior righty Matthew Wootton (Milford) pitched four innings of stellar relief to gain his first win in his first decision. Wootton allowed only one hit after taking over at the start of the fifth inning with the Warriors trailing by that 3-1 score. Wootton fanned six without a walk, giving up only a leadoff single in the sixth.
 
Senior righty Tyler Rice (Berlin) got the final out with a strikeout to leave the bases loaded in the ninth for his first career save.
 
Game 2: Nine contribute hits to complete sweep
 
Eastern collected ten of its 15 hits in building a 6-2 lead after three innings, with Hernandez, a first-year transfer, collecting three hits  and scoring three runs in the game while batting third in the order.
 
Senior cleanup hitter Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) drove in the first two runs in the first inning with a single and after junior J.T. Clark (Bristol) and Moser doubled to open the second, No. 9 hitter Nick Montagna (Carmel, NY) and leadoff hitter Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) plated them with sacrifice flies that made it 4-0.
 
Leonzi hit his fourth home run of the season – tying him for the team lead – with one out in the fourth to make it 7-2.
 
Penders and  had two hits and scored twice and senior Josh Cofrancesco (Southington) came off the bench to contribute a pair of run-scoring singles.
 
Driscoll (3-0) struck out five and allowed five hits and left with a 7-4 lead after six innings before 20-game winner Furino nailed down his first save of the season – eighth of his career --  with three shutout innings to close it out. Furino  fanned three, allowed three hits and walked one.
 
Three collect five hits each in sweep
 
Soriano, Hernandez and Penders all had five hits on the day, with Hernandez and Penders each doubling twice… Moser had four hits and scored twice… Soriano was 5-of-7 to raise his team-leading average to .464, Penders 5-of-10 with four runs scored and Moser 4-of-8 with two runs scored… Moser is second to Soriano this year at .368 and Penders third at .367… Cosme-Cruz drove in four runs, Soriano three, and Cofrancesco and Zaiter two each… the Warriors raised their season fielding percentage from .948 to .954 by committing only one error – an infield miscue with the team trailing 3-1 in the fourth inning of the first game… Mach left two runners aboard in that inning after a one-out solo home run…
 
 
No. 5 Salve Regina up next Thursday
 
Eastern visits No. 5 nationally-ranked Salve Regina University in a non-conference single game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Brother Michael Reynolds Field before returning to LEC play for a Saturday doubleheader at VTSU Castleton at noon at Spartan Field.
 
Salve (11-3) reached last year's NCAA Division III national tournament semifinals, winning its first seven tournament games before losing twice to eventual champion UW-Whitewater and finishing 40-10. The Seahawks, who face visiting Springfield College Tuesday, won a three-game set against the University of Southern Maine of the Little East this year for the second straight season.
 
Castleton (3-13, 0-2 LEC) dropped its LEC openers Saturday at the University of Massachusetts Boston, 4-3 in ten innings (its third straight ten-inning game) and 23-8 in seven innings. In the first game, Boston tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with an unearned run and won it in the tenth.