KEENE, N.H. – Senior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) drove in a pair of runs with his fourth game of at least three hits this year and graduate righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) left the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth inning with a game-ending fly ball as the No. 16 Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team held off Keene State College, 5-4, in Little East Conference action Tuesday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.
Eastern's (23-8, 10-1 LEC) ninth straight win over Keene (15-17, 5-5 LEC), coupled with UMass Dartmouth's loss to homestanding UMass Boston Tuesday, pulls the Warriors even with UMD (18-14-1, 10-1 LEC) atop the conference standings.
The one-run victory this year is Eastern's fifth straight this year after two one-run losses. The Warriors, ranked second in New England, have won 22 of their last 25 after beginning the season at 1-5.
Eastern erased an early 1-0 deficit by scoring five runs in the middle innings before the Owls rallied for a single run in the seventh and two more in the eighth on a walk, two hit-by-pitches and leadoff bater Evan Cali's two-out, two-run single
that cut the Warriors' four-run lead to one.
The team's sixth pitchers in the game, Furino took over after senior righty Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) struck out the first batter of the ninth. Furino gave up a single to the first batter he faced but left the go-ahead run at the plate with a swinging struck and game-ending fall ball to senior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington) in left.
Furino needed nine pitches to record his first save of the season – seventh of his career – and extend his streak to 30 innings without allowing an earned run. Sophomore righty Dylan Scudder (Simsbury) allowed one run on four hits over the first four innings and left with a 2-1 lead that was later extended to 5-1 before the Owls rallied.
Batting ninth in the order, Claiborn drove in a run when the Warriors scored two unearned runs in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead and had another run-scoring single in the sixth that made it 4-1. Claiborn's three hits move him to within five of 200 in his career.
Senior first baseman Ryan Parent's (Southington) first home run of the year with one out in the seventh improved Eastern's lead to 5-1. Senior leadoff hitter Zach Donahue (South Windsor) singled in his final at-bat leading off the ninth to extend his on-base streak to 26.
Eastern visits Roger Williams University (ranked fifth in New England) Thursday for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference game before hosting UMass Boston (21-10, 10-3 LEC) Saturday at noon in an LEC doubleheader. Behind Scudder, Eastern had outslugged Roger Williams, 10-7, a month ago at Bristol, RI.