MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team used a late rally in the first game as a springboard to a doubleheader sweep of VTSU Castleton in the Little East Conference openers for both teams Friday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
In the first game, senior Ryan Parent (Southington) tied the game with a hard two-out RBI single over second baseman Tyler McLain's leap in the bottom of the eighth, and late-inning senior replacement Tiernan Lynch (Easton) belted a game-ending sacrifice fly to center in his only at-bat in the tenth for a 4-3 victory.
Limited to six hits over nine innings in a masterful performance by Castleton (1-14, 0-2 LEC) senior righty Sam Crawford (five strikeouts, no walks) in the first game, Eastern (9-5, 2-0 LEC) exploded against four Spartan pitchers for 14 hits (eight for extra bases) en route to a 12-3 rout in the nightcap in extending its winning streak to eight.
First-year lefty Chris Torres (West Springfield) won his second game in two decisions in the opener with three scoreless innings in relief of junior righty Matthew Wootton (Milford). Wootton fanned ten and walked only one before Torres was summoned after the leadoff batter reached (and later scored the go-ahead run) in the eighth. Torres fanned two without a walk and allowed two hits in the top of the tenth but the Spartans were caught stealing twice in the inning in leaving the score tied at 3-all.
In the tenth inning of the first game, senior Zach Donahue (South Windsor) scored the winning run. He led off with an infield single, moved up on a walk to senior Josh Cofrancesco (Southington), was sacrificed to third by Parent, and after an intentional walk loaded the bases, Lynch flew out on a 3-2 pitch that allowed Donahue to score easily.
In the nightcap, senior Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) drove in four runs with a three-run homer in the first and solo shot in the third (his fourth and fifth HRs of the year) and also tripled and scored leading off the fifth and walked and scored in the seventh. Donahue also smashed a two-run home run in the second (his fourth of the year) and first-year catcher Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) slammed a solo shot leading off the third for his fifth homer of the year.
In the second game, Leonzi reached four times with his three extra-base hits and walk, scored four times and drove in four runs. Donahue plated three runs and scored two.
Junior All-America lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) gave up only four hits and two runs with eight strikeouts and two walks and left after five innings with a 7-2 lead to earn his first win of the year against one loss.
In the doubleheader, Leonzi reached six times with five hits. He scored four runs and drove in four. Sophomore Jared Clark (Bristol) was 3-for-5.
Batting No. 8 in the lineup, senior Preston Irby (Bridgeport) had a double and home run. His two-run blast – the fourth of the year – gave Wootton a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning of the opener, but the Spartans tied the game with an unearned run in the seventh with the help of two errors, and moved ahead with a run in the eighth before Lynch's sacrifice fly gave the Warriors the victory.
Eastern visits Roger Williams University Sunday at 3 p.m. in a recently-added non-conference game.