MANSFIELD, Conn. – Junior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) and senior DH Jack Rich (Meriden) each had five hits in a 19-hit attack that powered the No. 2 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to a 14-7 victory over the University of Massachusetts Boston that sealed a second straight Little East Conference regular-season championship Friday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
In the nightcap, Eastern (35-3, 15-1 LEC) completed its second straight 15-1 conference regular-season when graduate student Tommy Benincaso (Norwalk) pitched six no-hit innings and the Warriors scored three times in the third inning on four hits to end its regular season with 23 wins in their last 24 games and on a nine-game winning streak.
As the No. 1 tournament seed, Eastern will host the six-team, four-day LEC double-elimination tournament beginning Wednesday and will play the first game on the first day against No. 6 seed Plymouth State University at noon. Also on the first day, No. 2 Rhode Island College meets No. 5 Massachusetts Dartmouth at 3:30 and No. 3 UMass Boston (24-15) faces No. 4 University of Southern Maine, the defending tournament champion, at 7 p.m.
Needing one win to clinch the No. 1 seed Friday, Eastern turned to junior righty Billy Oldham (Brookfield), who pitched into the sixth inning and limited the Beacons to three runs on three hits while fanning ten and walking two to gain his eighth win in ten decisions. It marked the fifth time in ten starts that Oldham has struck out at least ten.
Senior righty Bryan Albee (Killingly) closed out the win with two innings of one-hit baseball, fanning two without a walk and lowering his ERA to 1.47 in 53 innings.
Batting leadoff, the lefty-swinging Donahue had two doubles and three infield singles and a sacrifice fly. He drove in three runs and scored two. Also a lefty hitter, Rich came up a home run short of the cycle. He singled twice, drove in three of his five runs with a triple that highlight a six-run fifth, and scored twice.
The program record for hits in a game is six and has been done four times, most recently by former national Player-of-the-Year Jim Schult in 2009.
Making his sixth start, Benincaso didn't allow a hit through six innings, with four runners reaching safely on two walks a hit-by-pitch and infield error. Sophomore rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) kept the no-hitter intact by robbing UMass Boston cleanup hitter Aidan Blake with a diving catch in right and Eastern turned a double play started by senior shortstop Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) in the sixth.
With Eastern leading 4-0, Drew Metzdorf broke up the no-hitter with a double to right-center on the first pitch of the seventh and came around to score the only run off Benincaso on a ground ball and wild pitch. It was the only hit allowed in seven innings by Benincaso (5-0), who struck out five and walked two.
Eastern broke up a scoreless second game with three runs in the third on Donahue's RBI double, and run-scoring singles by junior second baseman Brent Cosculluela (Miami,FL) and senior All-America third baseman Luke Broadhurst (Stafford).
On the day, Donahue had six hits, four RBI and three runs, Rich five hits, five RBI and two runs, Broadhurst four hits – including his team-leading tenth home run of the year and 26th in three full season -- four RBI and three runs. Plantamuro and senior centerfielder Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) each also had four hits, with Bagdasarian moving to within three of 100 in his career of only two full seasons. Claiborn had three hits and scored three runs and stole two bases.
This year, the Warriors won at least 30 games for the 15th time in the regular season since joining the NCAA in 1976, but the sweep gives Eastern a record 35 wins in the regular season, breaking the old mark of 34 set three times in a span of nine years between 1977 and 1985.