MANSFIELD, Conn. -- Senior righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) threw four shutout innings in relief and junior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) and senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme) hit solo home runs when the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team broke a tie with two runs in the seventh inning in a 3-1 non-conference win over Johnson & Wales University Thursday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
In its fifth straight win in the series over Johnson & Wales (9-9), No. 5 nationally-ranked and 2022 national championi Eastern (18-4) managed only one hit over the next four innings off sophomore righty Justin Markell after taking a 1-0 lead in the second on No. 9 hitter Noah Plantamuro's (Bristol) RBI single that plated sophomore DH Mason Balmer (North Haven), who had singled with one out and advanced to second on a balk.
The Wildcats tied the game in the fifth off first-year righty starter Dylan Scudder (Simsbury) on a leadoff single by junior Jack Magane, a double down the left field line by sophomore leadoff hitter Trevor Juan, and a wild pitch.
Having gone hitless in their previous three at-bats against Markell, Donahue belted a go-ahead home run to left with one out on a full count and eight-pitch at-bat, and with two outs, Malcom drove his team-leading seventh home run of the season (31st of his career) to left to make it 3-1. A switch-hitter, Donahue recorded his fourth career home run – first from the right side of the plate – and extended his on-base streak to 14 games.
Furino, who has pitched seven shutout innings and allowed only three hits with eight strikeouts in his last two relief appearances, induced a foul fly to second baseman Plantamuro to strand the bases loaded in the fifth after the Wildcats had tied the game on the wild pitch. Furino allowed only two singles – both with two outs – while fanning four and walking one over four innings before being lifted with Eastern leading 3-1 after walking freshman Jack Obert with two out in the ninth. With two runners aboard, sophomore Mike Furgalack (Southington) was summoned and struck out graduate leftfielder Griffin Snyder on five pitches to end the game and record his first save.
Furino (2-1) threw 41 of his 62 pitches for strikes while Markell, who entered the game with only seven innings to his credit this yera, threw 109 pitches (68 strikes) before being lifted in the seventh.
After Plantamuro's two-out single in the second gave Eastern a 1-0 lead, Markell allowed only four baserunners (one infield hit, two hit-by-pitch and a walk) through the sixth inning before Donahue's go-ahead home run.
Junior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington) extended his hitting streak to eight with a two-out single that chased Markell in the seventh. Malcom is ranked sixth all-time in career home runs. No other catcher has registered as many as 20 in a career.
Two-time defending Little East Conference regular-season champion Eastern hosts the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Saturday at noon in a doubleheader.