WESTFIELD, Mass – Playing their second game of a back-to-back against Westfield State University at Bud and Jim Hagan Field, graduate first baseman Josh Tower's (Auburn, MA) three-RBI game and sophomore outfielder Alejandro Soriano's (Hartford) two-RBI single in the first inning helped power the Warriors (10-1) to an 8-2 victory over the Owls (5-4).
Wasting no time getting on the base path against Westfield State senior right-hander Shane Bogli, junior utilityman Zach Donahue (South Windsor) and senior outfielder Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) reached base on a walk and single to give Eastern first and second with nobody out. A double play ball by graduate outfielder John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) seemingly ended the Eastern threat, but timely two-out hitting would propel the Warriors to three first-inning runs.
Senior third baseman Luke Broadhurst (Stafford) would walk and then Tower delivered his first RBI of the day on a two-out single scoring Donahue from third to make it 1-0. Following another walk to senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme), Soriano dealt the big early blow to the Owls with a two-run single to right, putting Eastern ahead by three.
After getting into a bases loaded jam with one out in the bottom of the first, senior left-hander Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) worked his way out of trouble without allowing a run. Dunn would get senior outfielder Ethan Day to strike out and sophomore designated hitter Nolan Florence to groundout, ending the inning and keeping the score 3-0 in favor of Eastern.
A fifth-inning sacrifice fly by Tower, his second RBI of the game, would add another run to the scoreboard for the Warriors to make it 4-0 before Westfield State looked to chip away at the deficit. With two on and two out, first-year first baseman Nick Marshall singled in a run, making it 4-1, before Dunn came back to get graduate catcher Max Silverman with a groundout to Broadhurst at third.
The Owls biggest threat came in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out. Making the call to the bullpen, Brian Hamm brought in senior right-hander Bryan Albee (Killingly) who had yet to give up a run in 10 innings pitched this season. Albee would retire sophomore infielder Devin Slattery on an infield fly before walking senior outfielder Nick Martin, the run was charged to Dunn who exited after one batter in the inning and cut the Eastern lead to two, 4-2.
Albee would go on to retire graduate utilityman Casey Boudreau on a fielder's choice to escape the inning. After a Tower RBI single in the top of the seventh making it 5-2, the right-hander returned to the mound to pitch a scoreless seventh inning before exiting, extending his scoreless innings streak to 11 2/3 innings this season and 12 2/3 innings dating back to last season.
The Warriors broke the game open in the eighth inning with three more runs, making it 8-2 as a
Donahue RBI single and an error on the play allowed two Eastern runners to score. A groundout by Bagdasarian on the next at-bat would plate the third run of the inning for the Warriors before graduate right-hander Tommy Benincaso (Norwalk) came in to close out the final two innings.
Benincaso would finish the game giving up no runs on one hit with two strikeouts in his two innings of work. The Norwalk native has pitched eight scoreless innings across his five relief appearances so far this season, allowing just four hits, striking out 11 batters, and walking one via intentional walk against Merchant Marine last week.
Aidan Dunn earned his first win as a starter this season going five innings giving up two runs on six hits while striking out two. Dunn has recorded a strikeout on the mound in each of his last 15 appearances dating all the way back to the 2019 season.
After his first-inning double play, John Mesagno reached base safely in his next four at-bats, turning in a 4-for-5 day with four singles and two stolen bases to extend his on-base streak to 11 consecutive games this season and 29 games dating back to last season.
Zach Donahue has now reached base safely in eight consecutive games for Eastern after his seventh inning RBI single to extend the Warrior lead.
Eastern returns home to Eastern Baseball Stadium to open up Little East Conference play against Castleton University on Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader set to begin at Noon. The Warriors swept the season series from the Spartans last spring, scoring 10-plus runs in three of the four games and outscoring Castleton 42-6 across the four matchups.