MANSFIELD, Conn. – First-year righty pitcher Dylan Scudder (Simsbury) pitched a no-hitter for 5 1/3 innings and junior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) had four hits as the No. 8 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team posted a 7-1 non-conference win over Anna Maria College Wednesday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
In the longest of his six starts, Eastern's (21-5) Scudder did not allow a hit until Christian Villa's single through the left side on an 0-1 pitch with one out in the sixth, and Anna Maria (13-12) pushed across its only run of the game later in the inning when cleanup hitter Jarrod Marifiote plated Villa with a solid single to center on a two-strike pitch.
Scudder (3-1), who lowered his ERA by 0.42 to 3.21, fanned three and walked three in addition to allowing those three sixth-inning hits over the first 5 2/3 innings, while sophomore righty Mike Furgalack (Southington), and senior righties Nathan Furino (East Haven) and Andrew José (Windham) closed out the win by combining on a one-hittter over the final 3 1/3 innings.
Claiborn, who had both of Eastern's extra-base hits, reached all five times up to improve his batting average to .358 – third best among players with at least 60 at-bats. The lefty hitter batting second in the order scored the first run in the first inning after reaching on a one-out infield error, doubled leading off the third, legged out an infield hit on a routine ground ball to second and scored leading off the fifth, and triple in a run in the sixth. Needing a home run for the cycle, Claiborn singled hard to center on a 2-0 pitch with one out in the eighth.
Junior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington) and junior DH Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) each also had two hits in Eastern's 12-hit attack. Cofrancesco was hit by a pitch and scored leading off the second, singled through the left side and scored in the fourth, and drove in two runs with a single in the fifth. Soriano, batting .361 in 36 at-bats, singled leading off the fourth, and had an RBI single and scored in the fifth.
Eastern (6-1 LEC) hosts the University of Southern Maine (8-12, 4-2 LEC) Saturday in a Little East Conference noon doubleheader.