MANSFIELD, Conn. – Waiting a month between starts, senior catcher Matthew Bradbury (Newtown) made the most of his opportunity, going 4-for-4 with two home runs and a double and driving in eight runs as the No. 20 Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team won its 19th straight game, 25-2 in seven innings against Anna Maria College, Wednesday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Bradbury, who had driven in ten career runs in his first 45 career games, finished just two RBI shy of the 39-year-old game record in helping Eastern (20-5) to its tenth home win in as many games.
Against six Anna Maria (10-15) pitchers, Eastern collected 17 hits, seven walks and five hit-by-pitch. Remarkably, Eastern amassed its run total by scoring in only three innings. After batting around and scoring seven times in both the second and third innings, the Warriors sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth and exploded for 11 more runs on seven hits, two walks and two hit-by-pitch, with Bradbury, senior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect), and sophomore first baseman Jared Clark (Bristol) all scoring twice in the inning.
In both the third and fifth innings, Bradbury contributed two hits. He drove in his first run with a sacrifice fly in the second, plated two more in the third with a leadoff home run and a double, and amassed five RBI in the fifth with a single that proceeded his grand slam that sailed to the deepest part of the park, which capped the inning.
Senior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington), who has eight RBI in the last three games, plated four against Anna Maria with a pair of two-run singles. He also scored twice and walked once, while Claiborn scored four runs and moved to within eight of 200 career hits with a two-run double in the 11-run fifth.
In his third career start, first-year transfer infielder Teige Kimbler (Albany, NY) reached three times with two singles and a hit-by-pitch, scored three runs and drove in two runs. In his second career start, junior transfer infielder Nick Montagna (Carmel, NY) had three hits and scored twice, while senior DH Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) added two RBI singles off the bench and scored twice.
The second of five pitchers, junior lefty transfer Tyler Rice (Berlin) recorded his third win in as many decisions, striking out three of the eight batters he faced without allowing a hit in two innings.
Eastern (7-0 LEC) visits the University of Southern Maine (7-14, 3-4 LEC) Saturday in a Little East Conference noon doubleheader at Ed Flaherty Field.