MEDFORD, Mass. – Junior righty Matthew Wootton (Milford) pitched six shutout innings and first-year lefty Chris Torres (West Springfield, MA) contributed his second dominant showing in relief as the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team won its first game of the year with a 5-2 victory over Tufts University in the first game of a non-conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at  Sol Gittleman Park.

In the second game, four Tufts (2-1) pitchers limited Eastern (1-4) to four hits and the Warriors left the bases loaded in the fifth inning in the Jumbos' 5-1 victory.

Eastern plays the first of six games on spring break Monday against Guilford College at 2 p.m. at Edgar H. McBane Field in Greensboro, NC.

Game 1

In a battle of last year's 30-game winners and teams which finished No. 4 (Tufts) and No. 5 (Eastern) in last year's New England poll, Wootton (1-0) scattered four hits and two walks in the opener, and fanned three and Torres allowed only one baserunner (walk) in 2 1/3 shutout innings, fanning three.

Junior centerfielder Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) drove in four of Eastern's runs with a pair of two-run home runs in the third and fifth innings – his first of the season. With Eastern leading 5-0,Tufts got two back in the seventh before junior transfer righty Tiernan Powers (Haddam Neck) and Torres came on to close out the win. Powers got the first two outs of the seventh and Torres came on to get the final seven outs for his first save of the year.

Sophomore DH Jared Clark (Bristol) gave Eastern a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the second before Leonzi lashed his two home runs. Clark matched Leonzi with two hits, with Leonzi also reaching on a walk. Senior rightfielder and leadoff hitter Jason Claiborn (Prospect) walked and scored twice, while first-year junior transfer third baseman Lucas Malave (Toms River, NJ) recorded his first hit at Eastern with an opposite-field single to right in Eastern's two-run third inning.

 Torres has given up only one single while fanning seven over 5 1/3 innings this year.

Game 2

Junior lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) struck out nine in six innings but gave up five hits and four walks and was lifted on the short end of a 4-1 score in losing in his first decision of the year.

Graduate lefty Gavin Brown and junior righty Jacob Lapp combined on a four-hitter over the first seven innings for Tufts, which got an RBI double in the second by junior centerfielder Henry Fleckner and a solo home run by senior catcher Connor Brala in the fourth.

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