GORHAM, Maine – Junior lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) allowed only two hits in six shutout innings of relief and senior shortstop Zach Donahue's (South Windsor) seventh-inning solo home run proved to be the game-winner as the No. 20 Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team claimed its 20th straight win, 5-4, over the University of Southern Maine in the first game of a Little East Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at Ed Flaherty Field.
In the second game, graduate lefty Owen Sullivan pitched a complete-game five-hitter and Southern Maine (5-16, 4-5 LEC) scored at least once in each of its at-bats in the Huskies' 11-1, seven-inning victory.
With the first-game win, Eastern (21-6, 8-1 LEC) completed the fourth-longest winning streak in program history, exceeded only by the 2003 team and by the 2022 national championship team (23) and the 1982 national championship team (21).
Trailing 4-3 in the first game Sunday, Eastern tied the game on senior Alejandro Soriano's (Hartford) two-out single that plated senior Jason Claiborn (Prospect) from second, and won it on Donahue's sixth home run of the season – a one-out solo blast. Batting ninth in the order, Claiborn was hit to open the inning and stole second to help set up Soriano's tying single.
Making his first relief appearance of the season after six starts, Donahue allowed only leadoff singles in the sixth and seventh while striking out eight, walking one and hitting four batters. With two runners in scoring position in the sixth inning of a tie game, Driscoll got a swinging strikeout and infield ground ball to quell the threat, and got a ground ball and swinging strikeout to leave the bases loaded in the seventh after Donahue's homer had lifted Eastern into its one-run lead. In the seventh, senior third baseman Tiernan Lynch (Easton) had cut down the potential tying run at home on Lucas Francis' ground ball.
Lynch's first home run of the season – fourth of his Eastern career – had given junior starter Matthew Wootton (Milford) a three-run cushion before the righty took the mound, but Southern Maine promptly answered with the tying runs in the bottom of the inning on four hits (including a home run and double) and a walk. The hosts went ahead in the second on two hits and Wootton was lifted in favor of Driscoll after stranding a runner at third with a strikeout to end the third inning.
Prior to his game-winning blast, Donahue had failed to get the ball out of the infield off USM starter Clay Robbins (1-3), striking out twice and grounding out once. Robbins, a junior lefty, fanned 11 without a walk.
On the day, the ten pitchers in the game combined to strike out 39 batters and walk only six.
In the second game, USM lefty Owen Sullivan – a graduate transfer from Nichols College -- handcuffed the Warriors on five hits while walking only one and striking out eight. The Huskies got two home runs (his sixth and seventh of the year), and six RBI from No. 2 hitter Kyle Douin breaking the game open and taking a 7-0 lead on Douin's grand slam in the fourth.
First-year lefty Chris Torres (West Springfield, MA) entered the game with a staff-leading 0.79 ERA and allowing only 11 hits in 22 2/3 innings, but was reached for nine hits and seven runs before departing after four innings on the short end of a 7-0 deficit en route to his first loss after two wins.
Donahue, Claiborn and junior centerfielder Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) all extended their long games streaks for having reached base. Donahue upped his streak to 22 (28 behind the program record) with his home run in the first game and a two-out single in the third inning of the nightcap; Claiborn is at 16 straight after being hit and scoring the tying run in the fifth inning of the first game and walking with two out in the third inning of the second game; Leonzi was the only Eastern player with as many as two hits in each game and also extended his streak to 16. In the seventh inning of the second game, Leonzi doubled (and scored the only Eastern run) for his 100th hit in 73 games at Eastern since transferring from Fairfield University.
Eastern hosts Western Connecticut State University in a conference game Tuesday at 4 p.m. before playing non-conference home games against Wheaton College Thursday at 6 p.m. and Endicott College Saturday in a noon doubleheader. Wheaton is ranked fifth in New England, Endicott first. Eastern is ranked third.