Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. – It was shaping up as a baseball tug-of-war between two of the nation's premier programs, with No. 18-rankd Endicott College holding to a  precarious two-run lead through six innings against five-time national champion Eastern Connecticut State University Monday afternoon at Holowaty Family Field.

By the time the game headed into the bottom of the seventh, however, it had morphed into a laugher after Endicott (27-7) sent 17 players to the plate and raked four Eastern relievers for 11 runs on the strength of eight hits and with the help of three walks and three hit batsmen on the way to an 18-5 decision.

The win is the fifth straight in the series with Eastern (22-12-1) and ninth in a row this year for Endicott, which reached last year's NCAA Division III national tournament by winning the regional and Super Regional titles.

Coming off an important Little East Conference home sweep of the University of Massachusetts Boston 24 hours earlier, Eastern has now lost six of its last eight and has roughly played .500 baseball (11-10-1) since storming to an 11-2 start in late March.

Trailing 7-3, Eastern made it a two-run game when junior first baseman Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) socked a two-run, opposite-field home run to right – his team-leading tenth of the season – in the bottom of the sixth. Moser's home run total ranks second in the LEC, one behind the leader.

In the top of the seventh, however, the Gulls ripped through four Eastern relievers. The first five batters reached safely and came around to score, with a bunt single the only hit in that run which included two hit batsmen (to open the inning), and two walks. A bases-loaded strikeout accounted for the first out before seven straight Gulls reached base (six hits and a walk), with No. 9 hitter Trevor Kamuda and pinch hitter Shea LaFleur driving in two runs apiece.

In the inning, Kyle Grabowski, Cade Bernardo and Brendan Walsh – batting 3-4-5 in the lineup – each reached twice and scored twice.
In all, seven Eastern pitchers in the game gave up 18 hits, walked six and hit five batters.

With two-and-one third career innings behind him, sophomore righty Ayden Kempesta (Norwich) survived the seventh-inning carnage as the final pitcher, emerging to pitch the final two scoreless innings after getting the final two outs of the seventh inning. Kempesta gave up two singles which drove in three runs and hit a batter in closing out the seventh, but struck out three in recording the final six outs of the game.

In support of junior lefty starter Joseph Barlovic (Bergenfield, NJ), Eastern matched Endicott with a first-inning run after there were two out when No. 3 hitter Hank Penders (Wethersfield) stroked an opposite field double and raced home on cleanup hitter Lucas Malave's (Toms River, NJ) single to left. The Warriors then gave Barlovic his only lead (3-1) with two runs in the second on first-year No. 9 hitter Nicolas Martini's (New Fairfield) single down the left field line which sent in senior Dylan Jackson (Manchester) and Moser. Jackson had walked on a full count to open the inning and Moser legged out an infield single and both moved up on a wild pitch.The two-run single gave Martini seven RBI on five career hits.

Brendan Walsh's team-leading eighth home run of the year  with two out in the third – the first allowed by Barlovic this year --  tied the game for Endicott and the Gulls took the lead for good, 7-3, with four runs in chasing Barlovic in the fourth. In that inning, Endicott strung together four straight hits (two of them triples) -- two off Barlovic and two off his replacement.

Moser had three of Eastern's eight hits but was the only one with more than one.   He scored two runs and eclipsed 50 RBI on the season with his 51^st and 52^nd.

The second of three pitchers, junior righty Jake Harmony (3-1) was credited with the win. He allowed four hits and a walk and fanned three over four innings, allowing only two runs on Moser's sixth-inning home run.

Eastern (9-4 LEC) plays three straight Little East games before closing out the regular season Sunday hosting NYU at 1 p.m. The Warriors host Western Connecticut State University Tuesday at 4 p.m. and visit LEC leader University of Southern Maine Friday in a noon doublehader that closes out the conference regular season.

Already assured of an LEC tournament berth, Eastern is currently in fourth place in the LEC, three games behind Southern Maine, a game-and-a-half behind defending champion Keene State College and a game behind the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The top seed will host the six-team, LEC double-elimination tournament May 6-9.