BALTIMORE -- Junior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) singled in the go-ahead run with one out in in the top of the tenth inning that capped a late rally from two runs down, and sophomores Matthew Wootton (Milford) and Dan Driscoll (Waterford) combined on a three-hitter as the No. 3-ranked Warriors posted a 3-2 win over No. 16 Johns Hopkins University in a battle of early-season unbeatens Sunday afternoon at Stromberg Stadium.
Defending national champion Eastern (5-0) won its 28th straight game over two seasons, winning in a one-run decision for the sixth straight time since a 2-1 Little East Conference home loss to Rhode Island College last April 23. Among Johns Hopkins' (9-1) wins this year were triumphs over No. 14 SUNY Cortland, 6-0, in its season and home-opener opener Feb. 24, and at No. 1-ranked Salisbury University, 23-4 (beaten by Eastern in last year's national championship round) a week ago.
Eastern was unable to solve 6-foot-5 inch right-handed graduate student Gabriel Romano until chasing him in the seventh, rallying from a 2-0 deficit by scoring a run in the seventh, a game-tying run in the ninth and what proved to be the winning run in the tenth.
Senior third baseman Brent Cosculluela (Miami, FL) drove in Eastern's first run with a pinch sacrifice fly in the seventh, the Warriors tied it in the ninth on a walk, a single by senior DH Colby Linnell (Prospect) and two wild pitches, and won it in the tenth on Claiborn's opposite-field RBI single to left.
A transfer from Division I Quinnipiac University, Romano was lifted after walking senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme) and junior first baseman Ryan Parent (Southington) to open the seventh. With one out, Cosculluela drove in Malcom with his fly ball to left off reliever Jaspar Carmichael for Eastern's first run. With the score tied in the tenth, No. 8 hitter Ray Leonzi (Trumbull), a first-year Division I center field transfer, opened with his first hit of the day off new pitcher Jack McRae and was sacrificed to second by senior second baseman Noah Plantamuro (Bristol). Claiborn followed two batters later with his RBI single to left, sending home Leonzi.
Romano, who had stopped Salisbury on five hits through six innings in a previous start, was locked in a duel with Wootton, but took a 2-0 lead into the seventh on the strength of senior DH Sam Frank's second home run of the year – a two-run, two-out shot in the fourth.
Wootton and Driscoll (2-0) combined to limit the Blue Jays to two singles and Frank's home run. Wootton struck out the side in the first after an opening walk, leaving on the short end of a 2-0 score despite allowing only two hits through the first six innings. He fanned eight and walked three. Driscoll walked two and fanned three, allowing only an infield single leading off the eighth over the final four innings.. Driscoll stranded two runners in the eighth by getting the final two outs on ground balls. He retired the final eight batters in order.
Johns Hopkins entered the game having hit 18 home runs – five coming in the rout of Salisbury.
Series notes:
It was the first meeting between the programs in 12 years – since Eastern posted a 4-3 win at Chandler, AZ – the third year in a row that the teams had met in Arizona. In the first meeting between the program in 1988 at Baltimore, Eastern won in eight innings in its season-opener, 12-11. In 2009, current pitching coach and former two-time national Player-of-the-Year Shawn Gilblair pitched six innings in a 9-3 Eastern win that helped the Warriors open the season with 13 straight wins on the way to a final record of 39-8.
Upcoming:
Eastern visits the University of Mary Washington Monday at 3 p.m. at V. Earl Dickinson Stadium in Frederickson, VA in the first meeting between the programs. The Eagles have played 11 of their 17 games thus far at home and are 12-5 under fourth-year head coach Kelly Swiney, bringing a six-game winning streak into action. UMW won three and lost two earlier this month at Myrtle Beach, SC, where Eastern will compete beginning Thursday afternoon. The Warriors open with a doubleheader against first-time opponent Mount Aloysius College , face Worcester State University in single games Friday night and Saturday afternoon and Salem State University Saturday morning at 9 a.m. before turning to open their home season Tuesday, March 21 at 4 p.m. to host New England College. New England was one of only two teams to beat Eastern at the Eastern Baseball Stadium last year, taking a 7-3 decision in a makeup game. The Pilgrims scored three times in the fifth on four singles, a walk and two stolen bases to go ahead for good. Two of Eastern's five hits were home runs but four NEC relievers shut out the Warriors on one hit over the final four innings.