NORTON, Mass. – Junior righty Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) pitched into the seventh inning for his tenth consecutive win over two seasons and three different players drove in runs in a five-run fourth inning that lifted the No. 4 Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to a 7-4 victory over No. 21 Wheaton College Tuesday afternoon at Sidell Stadium.
A winner of ten straight entering play, Wheaton (12-3) scored twice in the second inning to take a quick 2-0 lead off Lincoln (4-0), but Eastern (14-3) answered with five runs in the top of the fourth and expanded the lead to 7-2 with two more in the sixth on first-year DH Jared Clark's (Bristol) first career home run.
Wheaton managed ten hits off Lincoln and first-year junior righty Finn Doherty (Milton, MA), but all were singles, and the Lyons also stranded seven baserunners and hit into two double plays. The Warriors were guilty of just one error, improving their season fielding average to .976.
Four of Eastern's nine hits went for extra bases, and Eastern also turned its 12th and 13th double plays of the season – the first initiated on a comebacker to Lincoln that left a runner aboard in Wheaton's two-run second, and the second ending the game on a ground ball to senior second baseman Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) in the ninth.
In Eastern's five-run fourth inning that eventually handed Wheaton junior righty Liam Goldthwaite (3-1) his first loss of the season, senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme) doubled home junior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) with the first run, and after junior cleanup hitter Ryan Parent (Southington) tied the game with an RBI single, junior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington) doubled and Clark's sacrifice fly put the Warriors ahead for good, 3-2. Senior third baseman Brent Cosculluela's (Miami, FL) first home run of the year – a two-run blast to right – closed out the inning.
Malcom reached four times with two hits and two walks and also stole his tenth and 11th bases of the season in 12 tries. Cofrancesco had two hits and scored two runs and Clark (3) and Cosculluela (2) combined for five RBI.
Lincoln allowed all four (earned) runs on eight hits and one walk and fanned four. Lincoln was lifted with two on and one out in the seventh and Eastern leading 7-2. Doherty gave up consecutive run-scoring singles but got a ground ball to Donahue to end the threat. Doherty did not allow a hit over the final two innings, fanning three.
The game featured two of New England's most consistently successful programs, both teams coming off NCAA appearances last year. The Warriors won their fifth national title a year ago while Wheaton split four games in regional play.
Eastern hosts WPI Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in a non-conference game.