Hartford, Conn. – Senior 1B Joe Balowski (Berlin, Conn.) went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double and scored two runs to lead the visiting Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors to a 6-2 victory over the Trinity College Bantams in baseball action this afternoon. Trinity, playing its fourth game in three days, falls to 14-13 with its fifth consecutive loss, while Eastern Connecticut, ranked No. 8 in New England, improves to 18-8-1 with its fifth straight win.
Trinity senior OF Alex Almeida (Bridgeport, Conn.) opened the bottom of the first inning with one of his four singles in five at-bats, and went around to score on a two-out hit to right field by classmate Marc Crowley (Andover, Mass.). Eastern Connecticut took the lead with three runs in the third inning and did not relinquish it, as sophomore Chuck Vogt (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and senior Matt Purnell (Stafford Springs, Conn.) allowed just two hits and did not walk a batter over 3.1 innings in relief of winning senior starter Andrew Merritt (Norwalk, Conn.) who scattered 11 hits in 5.2 innings of work with six strikeouts and no free passes. Balowski drove in the first run of the third with a double, and later scored on a two-run error in the Bantam outfield.
Each team scored in the sixth frame, as Warrior junior Greg Lavallee (New Milford, Conn.) drove home Balowski, who had singled to lead off the inning, and Bantam senior C Evan Sternberg (Glen Ridge, N.J.) singled with one out and scored on a two-out, pinch-hit single by sophomore Robert Ferrara (Fairfield, Conn.). In the top of the seventh inning, the Warriors added two unearned insurance runs. Trinity had runners thrown out at home plate in the third and sixth innings. Crowley joined Almeida is a multiple hitter for the Bantams, while junior RHP Paul Carbone (North Wales, Pa.) was the most effective of five Bantam hurlers with 2.1 innings of hitless relief with 3 K's to finish the game. Senior captain righty Ben Goldberg (Plainview, N.Y.) started and allowed two hits one earned run while fanning four in a losing effort for the Bantams.