Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College Bantams came back from a 6-1 deficit but fell one run short in a 6-5 setback against the visiting Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors in baseball action this afternoon.  Trinity drops to 14-16 with its third consecutive loss, while the Warriors improve to 17-15 with their fourth victory in a row.  Trinity trailed, 6-1, after three innings but a three-run homer in the fifth frame by first-year OF Brendan Pierce (Hingham, Mass.) and an RBI groundout by senior tri-captain C Carson Kenney (Kensington, Md.) in the sixth cut the Warrior lead to one before three Eastern Connecticut relievers held the Bantams scoreless for the game's final third. 

Bothe teams scored in the opening stanza, as Eastern Connecticut sophomore OF Pat Sirois (Cromwell, Conn.) led off the game with a solo homer before a two-out double by Bantam senior tri-captain Bryan Wolfe (La Habra Heights, Calif.) and an RBI single by Pierce evened the score at 1-1.  Warrior senior 2B Corey Keane (Tolland, Conn.) doubled to start the second frame and advanced home on a Trinity error and a single by senior captain Joe Perez (North Branford, Conn.).  Eastern Connecticut added an unearned run in the second and tacked on three more in the third thanks to a two-run triple that took  a funny bounce in center field and rolled to the fence by freshman D.J. Scavone (Auburn, Mass.) and a run-scoring hit by Keane.

Trinity senior LHP Rob Gau (Westport, Conn.) kept the home team within striking distance with 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, and classmates Evan Abraham (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) and Wolfe singled in the fifth before Pierce blasted a pitch over the center field fence to make the score, 6-4.  In the bottom of the sixth, Bantam rookie Matt Toth (New Cannan, Conn.) led off with a hit-by-pitch, stole second, and eventually scored on Kenney's ground ball to second base.  Trinity had runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings but the Warrior relief trio of Rob Buchetto (Clinton, Conn.), Matt D'Orsi (West Hartford, Conn.), and Patrick O'Neill (Thomaston, Conn.) did not allow a Bantam past second base after the sixth.

Pierce finished 2-for-4 with four RBI, while Wolfe went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored, and Abraham was 2-for-5 for the Trinity offense.  Keane and junior Andrew Scully (Stratford, Conn.) were both 3-for-5 for Eastern Connecticut.  Sophomore RHP Luis Vega (Willimantic, Conn.) earned his first win of the year win for the Warriors, allowing five runs in six innings with three strikeouts and no walks, while O'Neill pitched a perfect ninth to collect his first save of the spring.  Sophomore lefty Chris Speer (Westport, Conn.) took the loss for Trinity, allowing six runs, four earned, in two-plus innings.  Gau, senior LHP Anthony Redamonti (Trumbull, Conn.) and junior righty Dylan Callahan (Greenwich, Conn.) combined to allow just five hits and two walks with five K's in seven innings out of the Trinity bullpen.