MANSFIELD, Conn. – Behind eight extra base hits as a team, including two home runs and two triples, Eastern Connecticut State University Baseball earned a statement win over Wheaton College (Mass.) on Wednesday afternoon at Eastern Baseball Stadium, 13-1. Senior third baseman Luke Broadhurst (Stafford) hit his third home run of the season, en route to a three-RBI day while senior designated hitter Jack Rich (Meriden) hit his first long ball of the year as part of a two-RBI day in the win.
Senior outfielder Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) helped get the scoring started early for the Warriors (13-2) with a one-out triple before a Broadhurst single in the next at-bat plated him, making it 1-0. Rich would later deliver the big blow against Lyons' (6-6) starting senior pitcher Zach Begin with a towering home run to right field to put Eastern ahead firmly, 3-0 in the first.
The Warriors would score three more in the third as Broadhurst hit a no-doubt two-run home run off the scoreboard in left field and senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme) narrowly missed his fourth home run of the season with a long double to wall in left-center field, scoring Rich who doubled in the at-bat prior, giving Eastern a 6-0 advantage after three.
Adding an RBI to his 2-for-4 day, Bagdasarian's fourth-inning double in the center field gap helped extend the Warrior lead to seven and Malcom's second double of the game in the fifth gave Eastern an 8-0 lead while graduate right-hander Tommy Benincaso (Norwalk) continued his stellar start on the mound.
Before exiting with one out in the sixth inning, Benincaso retired the first nine Wheaton batters he faced until sophomore outfield AJ Guindon doubled over the head of graduate outfielder John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) to give the Lyons their first hit of the game. The right-hander would escape the inning unharmed and allow just two hits the rest of his outing.
Benincaso finished the game going 5 1/3 innings while giving up one run on three hits, striking out six, and walking two. In 13 1/3 innings this season, the Norwalk native has given up just one run, struck out 17 batters, and walked only three. Opponents are hitting just .146 off of Benincaso, ranking second-best behind senior right-hander Bryan Albee (Killingly) who has held opponents to a .102 batting average on the season.
While charged to Benincaso, the lone run of the game for Wheaton would come on an RBI single from senior catcher Zach DeMattio off of first-year reliever Griffin Pontbriant (Bozrah) before a fielder's choice and pop out to senior second baseman Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) ended the threat for the Lyons.
Eastern would tack on five more runs over the last three innings, including a four-run eighth inning, en route to their 13-1 victory. Two wild pitches and a passed ball scored three of the five Warrior runs while a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Dean Slavin (Tappan, NY) and pinch-hit RBI single by junior catcher Colby Linnell (Prospect) accounted for the other two Eastern runs.
In 3 2/3 innings of combined relief from Griffin Pontbriant, graduate right-hander Jack Wallace (Winthrop, MA), and sophomore right-hander Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH), the Warrior bullpen let up no runs on one hit with three strikeouts and three walks.
Luke Broadhurst finished the afternoon going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, recording his two-run home run and two singles in the game.
Junior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) has now reached base safely in 12 consecutive games and reached base in all 15 games he has appeared in with one of those coming by way of an error.
John Mesagno extended his streak of reaching base safely to 33 straight games with his fifth-inning triple. Mesagno is now three games away from tying Alex Zachary (36) for the second-longest on-base streak. Joe Funaro currently holds the all-time Eastern record at 50 consecutive games from between the 1994 and 1995 seasons.
The Warriors head on the road for their first of six games away from Eastern Baseball Stadium with a Little East Conference doubleheader matchup scheduled against Plymouth State University on Saturday afternoon. The game will be played at Pappas Field in Rindge, New Hampshire with the first pitch of Game 1 scheduled for Noon. Eastern took three of the four matchups last season versus the Panthers, outscoring them 41-14 across all four games, including two seven-inning mercy rules at home.