MANSFIELD, Conn. – The momentum gained when the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team earned a sweep in its Little East Conference openers Sunday came to a screeching halt when Rhode Island College collected 13 hits off five pitchers in a 10-0 conference win over the Warriors Tuesday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium. The game was stopped after seven innings due to the ten-run rule.
Junior righty Mike Webb (2-0) and junior lefty Jake Rockefeller combined on a five-hitter for Rhode Island (10-4), which was opening its conference season. Eastern (6-6, 2-1 LEC) had won four straight, including Sunday's 5-0, 12-6 LEC home sweep of UMass Dartmouth.
The top four hitters in the RIC lineup combined for nine hits and three RBI and scored seven runs. No. 2 hitter Nate Vigeant, a junior second baseman, reached five times with four hits and a hit-by-pitch and scored four runs. He singled and second RIC's second run in the first, cracked an RBI single in the third, singled through the right side and scored in the fourth, singled, advanced on a wild pitch and passed ball, and scored the first of his team's two runs in the sixth, and was hit by a pitch, advanced again on a wild pitch and came home on two passed balls and a wild pitch.
Junior leftfielder John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) had two hits, including a double, for Eastern. Senior centerfielder Alexander White (West Hartford) reached base for the 12th straight game with a single and two walks, and senior infielder Dale Keller (Oxford) reached safely for the 11th straight game with a seventh-inning walk. Senior first baseman Alex Parkos (Meriden) and senior second baseman William Coleman (Northford) – batting 4-5 in the order – failed to reach base for the first time this year. Parkos was 0-for-2 and Coleman 0-for-3.
Eastern was guilty of six passed balls, four wild pitches and four hit batsmen.
Webb allowed all five Eastern hits over six innings and Rockefeller fanned two in wrapping up the win. Webb lowered his ERA to 0.71. He has fanned 41 in 25 2/3 innings.
Eastern visits Wesleyan University Wednesday at 4 p.m. in a non-conference game.