PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The defending conference champion and second-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team scored nine consecutive runs on their way to defeating fifth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (19-18) on the first day of the six-team, double-elimination Little East Conference tournament, 10-3, Wednesday at Pontarelli Field on the campus of top seed Rhode Island College.
Ranked 14th nationallly, Eastern (31-10) faces third-seeded University of Southern Maine (18-19) Thursday at 2 p.m. in a winners' bracket game. USM routed fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston (22-17), 14-4, in Wednesday's third and final game. The game was halted after seven innings due to the ten-run rule.
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, junior Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) knotted the score by driving in junior Jason Claiborn (Prospect) and senior Matt Malcom (East Lyme) with his bases-loaded single to right. Junior Zach Donahue (South Windsor) put Eastern out in front for good with his two-run blast in the bottom of the second, before the Warriors broke the game open with five-run fifth.
UMass Dartmouth got on the board quickly in the top of the first, with Andrew Bryant driving in DJ Perron before later heading home on a wild pitch charged to Eastern sophomore starter Matthew Wootton. The Corsairs were held off the board until the top of the seventh when Perron's single to left drove in TJ Keefe from second. UMD had runners on second and third with two away later that frame before Andrew Possi grounded out to short to end the threat.
Sophomore Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and one RBI for the Warriors, while Soriano finished the day 2-for-5 with a double, three RBI and a run. Wootton improved to 6-1 after allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out eight over his six innings of work.
Adam Maher, who had thrown a complete-game five-hitter in UMD's 3-1 regular-season win and a split of a doubleheader with Eastern a month ago in Mansfield, dropped to 4-3 for the Corsairs after giving up six runs on six hits and five free passes over 4.1 innings. Perron finished the day 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Sophomore lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) is expected to start against Southern Maine Thursday. Driscoll (7-3, 1.93 ERA) pitched a complete-game three hit shutout against the Huskies in the second game of Eastern's doubleheader sweep April 15 at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
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