MARIETTA, Ohio --  The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team battered seven Wittenberg University pitchers for 21 hits – belting six home runs in a game and three in one inning for the second time in the tournament – and clinched the Marietta College/BSN SPORTS Invitational title with its fourth victory in four days, 18-7, Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Park.

A winner of five straight and six of its last eight since an 0-3 start, Eastern (6-5) climbed over the .500 mark for the first time this year. Wittenberg is 6-7.

Trailing 3-0, the Warriors sent 13 batters to the plate in the third inning, scoring nine runs on eight hits , with No. 8 hitter Preston Irby (Bridgeport)  and No. 9 hitter Mason Balmer (North Haven) blasting back-to-back home runs. The roundtripper was the second of the inning for Balmer, who began the barrage with a solo home run before closing the scoring with his second blast of the inning.

Also homering in the game were senior leadoff hitter Zach Donahue (South Windsor) and first-year players Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) and Lucas Malave (Toms River, NJ), the latter a junior transfer. The home run was the team-leading fourth of the year for Moser and second for Malave.

Batting at the top of the order, Donahue, senior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington), senior first baseman Ryan Parent (Southington) and cleanup hitter Moser were a combined 12-of-20 in the game with eight runs scored and four RBI. Donahue and Cofrancesco both had four hits, Donahue scoring three runs and Cofrancesco two.

Irby had two hits, drove in four runs and scored two.

Ten players had at least one hit and scored at least one run, and nine drove in at least one runs.

Eastern averaged ten runs and nearly 14 hits and totalled 13 home runs (six different players contributing to the onslaught) in four tournament wins, with the pitching staff fashioning a 2.68 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 37 innings. Parent, Irby, and Moser all batted .500 in the tournament, with Donahue at .412 and Cofrancesco .368. Irby drove in a team-high eight runs and Donahue scored a team-best eight runs.

 The first of five pitchers, sophomore righty Dylan Scudder (Simsbury) pitched the first five innings and left with a 15-5 lead en route to evening his record at 1-1. He gave up four earned runs with two strikeouts and no walks. The staff walked only one batter in the game.

Eastern opens its home season Tuesday, hosting New England College at 3 p.m.