MANSFIELD, Conn. – The first nine batters of the game reached safely and scored in a ten-run, 25-minute top of the first inning as the No. 4 Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team posted a 14-1, seven inning first-game win and went on to a Little East Conference sweep of Castleton University Sunday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
In the second game, first-year sophomore lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) won his fifth game in as many decisions by pitching a two-hitter over seven innings in a 13-5 victory.
Two-time defending Little East champion Eastern (17-3, 4-0 LEC) has won six straight in improving to 11-0 all-time against Castleton (7-11, 0-4 LEC). The Spartans have dropped five of their last six.
Serving as the visiting team on its home field due to Castleton's unplayable home field, Eastern sent 14 batters to the plate in the first inning of the first game, scoring ten runs on five hits, three walks, a hit batsman and three errors. Sophomore righty Matthew Wootton (Milford) allowed only two hits and two walks and one (earned) run while fanning eight over the first five innings en route to his third win of the season and fifth in his career without a loss.
In the second game, Driscoll also fanned eight and walked two. In seven appearances (three starts) this year, Driscoll has fanned 42 and walked only ten with a 1.10 ERA over 32.2 innings. In five appearances – all starts --- this year, Wootton has struck out 41 and walked nine with a 1.80 ERA in 25 inni
In the sweep, junior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) reached safely seven times and scored five runs. He was 5-for-9 with two stolen bases. Five players had three hits each: senior second baseman Noah Plantamuro (Bristol), junior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) junior outfielders Josh Cofrancesco (Southington) and Mason Balmer (North Haven), and junior first baseman Ryan Parent (Southington). Plantamuro and Donahue each scored three times and Plantamuro, Cofrancesco, Balmer, and junior outfielder Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) all had two RBI. Soriano was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI as a late-inning replacement in the nightcap, launching his first career home run -- a two-run shot in a four-run ninth inning.
Castleton No. 3 batter Tyler McClain reached safely five times in the doubleheader with four hits and a walk, drove in four runs and scored once. He drove in his team's lone run with an RBI single in the first inning of the first game after Reece deCastro doubled with one out. In the second game, he had an RBI double in a three-run eighth and a two-run, two-out single in a two-run ninth.
The Spartans hurt their cause by committing 11 errors on the day, with seven pitchers allowing 29 hits and walking 14. Nine of Eastern's runs on the day were unearned.
Eastern hosts Trinity College in a non-conference game Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.