Box Score
TOWSON, Md. – In one of the most dominant career pitching debuts in Eastern Connecticut State University baseball history, first-year senior righty Rob Moynihan (Ledyard) struck out ten batters and allowed only five hits over his six-inning as the Warriors defeated Westfield State University for the second time in 24 hours, 9-1, Saturday afternoon at Carlo Crispino Stadium on the campus of Calvert Hall College High School.

In his first stab at the Division III level after stops at Division I (Siena College) and Division II (Stonehill), Moynihan (1-0), baffled Westfield (0-2) by throwing 61 of his 77 pitches for strikes and departing on the long end of a 5-1 lead.  Six of his strikeout victims went down looking at a called strike three.

 Moynihan did not walk a batter after issuing his only free pass to leadoff hitter Connor Benvenuto in the bottom of the first inning. Moynihan struck out at least one better in each of the first five innings, fanning the side in the fifth. His shutout effort was spoiled with one out in the sixth on No. 3 hitter Sam Palmer's first-pitch solo home run over the left field screen. A double followed Palmer's drive but Moynihan wrapped up his stint with a fly to centerfielder Danny DiNorcia (Naples, FL) and a comebacker.

Eastern collected 11 hits off five Westfield pitchers – five of them for extra bases – while Moynihan and relievers Justin Hernandez (Corona, NY) and Jake Shaughnessy (Franklin, MA) combined on a seven-hitter with 13 strikeouts and four walks.

Defensively, Eastern committed only one error, improving its season fielding average to .981.

Eastern closes out its four-game season-opening Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Patriot Park North against Keystone College. First-year junior righty transfer E.J. Nevills (Westwood, MA) is expected to be the fourth Eastern pitcher in four games this weekend to make their starting debut at Eastern.

GOING AROUND THE HORN WITH THE STARTING LINEUP AGAINST WESTFIELD:

3B, Eric Mathewson (Eastford), sophomore: Batting ninth, he homered in only his fifth varsity at-bat – a solo shot on the first pitch he saw leading off the fifth inning that made it 4-1. In all, he reached base three times with the HR, an infield RBI single in the second and a walk in the sixth. He also had two putouts and an assist.

SS, Matthew Carrera (Mount Sinai, NY), first-year junior: Reached twice as the leadoff batter with a walk and single and stole one of the team's seven bases. Had two assists.

2B, Teige Kimbler (Albany, NY), junior: Continued to produce in a big way on the opening weekend. Batting fifth, he reached three times, scored three runs, stole three bases, drove in a run and handled four chances in the field without an error and was the pivot on a 6-4-3 DP in the ninth. Gave Eastern a 3-0 lead when he tripled with one out in the fourth and came home on a two-out single. In three games, he leads Eastern with a .571 average and an .800 on-base percentage.

1B:, J.T. Clark (Bristol), senior: Batting cleanup, the four-year regular had two singles and recorded six putouts. His hit up the middle with two out in the fifth chased starter Craig Barnes in favor of Dave Chaisson.

LF: Devin Kulas (Southington), first-year junior: Was hitless in four at-bats but recorded a putout by tracking down cleanup hitter Chase Racine's long drove with one out in the fourth inning.

CF: Danny DiNorcia (Naples, FL), first-year senior: Taking over for graduated All-America and Gold Glove fielder Ray Leonzi, he reached safely in his first four plate appearances and also delivered a ninth-inning sacrifice fly to raise his average to .500 and on-base percentage to .667.  He walked and scored in a two-run Eastern second inning, had a first-pitch RBI single to make it 3-0 in the fourth, walked and stole second in the sixth, and doubled and scored leading off the eighth. He also caught four balls in the outfield.

RF: Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA), junior: Returning All-LEC DH gave Eastern the early momentum with an RBI double in the second inning.

DH: Lucas Malave (Toms River, NJ), senior: Returning after missing all of last year with injury, Malave batted third in the order and drove in a run with a ground ball, walked, stole second and scored in a three-run ninth and was robbed by centerfield Alex Martin of extra bases leading off the seventh.

C: Hank Penders (Wethersfield), senior: Team captain and pre-season All-America tripled and scored in the fifth inning for his 99^th career hit that gave Eastern a 5-0 lead. He also collected  13 putouts behind the plate from four pitchers.