SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) drove in the 100th run of his career and senior leftfielder Josh Confrancesco (Southington) recorded the 100th hit of his career to help power the No. 23 Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to 16-9 non-conference win over Western New England University Wednesday afternoon at Trelease Park.
With both Eastern (25-11) and Western New England (19-17) facing key doubleheaders in their respective conferences this weekend, neither used a top-line pitcher among the seven that each team employed.
Donahue reached safely in his 30th consecutive game, getting aboard four times with two doubles, a single and walk, driving in four runs and scoring two. Cofrancesco's third hit of the day – a single to center with one out in the ninth -- represented the 100th hit of his career. He also drove in a run with a single in an eight-run fourth and plated two with a single in a four-run seventh. Donahue and Cofrancesco were among five players with three hits.
Second baseman Preston Irby (Bridgeport), junior catcher Hank Penders (Wethersfield), and first-year junior transfer third baseman Lucas Malave (Toms River, NJ) also recorded three hits. Penders drove in three runs and scored two, as did Cofrancesco. Irby scored twice and drove in a run.
Sophomore righty Connor Willett (Rockfall) entered the game while WNE was scoring four runs in the third inning to take a short-lived 4-3 lead (Eastern answered with eight runs in the fourth on seven hits, the big blow Penders' bases-clearing double) and pitched 1 1/3 innings with a strikeout and a hit allowed to gain his first varsity victory in his 17th appearance.
Junior second baseman Ryan Salvador (Waterford) had his first varsity hits, going 2-for-2 as a late-inning replacement for Irby. Sophomore righty Brendan Kelly (Farmington) and first-year righty Josh Mayo (Westfield, MA) each saw their first varsity innings. As the fifth Eastern pitcher, Mayo recorded one out in the eighth inning before Kelly followed by retiring the final two batters in the Golden Bears' five-run inning.
With nine players contributing to the 20-hit attack, it marked the fourth time this year that the team reached that plateau.
Ranked second in New England, Eastern (11-3 LEC) closes out the regular season Friday with a Little East Conference noon doubleheader at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (12-2 LEC). An Eastern sweep would give the Warriors a share of the LEC regular-season title with the University of Massachusetts Boston (13-3), and, unofficially, the No. 2 tournament seed. A split or two losses Friday leaves Eastern in third place and as the No. 3 tournament seed. Unofficially, an Eastern-UMD split leaves UMass Dartmouth and UMass Boston as regular-season co-champions with 13-3 records, with UMass Boston gaining the top seed and tournament host, based upon its regular-season sweep of Eastern. By sweeping Eastern, UMass Dartmouth would, unofficially, be the outright regular-season champion and No. 1 tournament seed and tournament host.
Last year, Eastern finished in a tie for second in the regular season and as the No. 2 tournament seed, swept through the tournament at Rhode Island College to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. Behind starting pitcher Matthew Wootton's (Milford) seven-hitter over six innings, the Warriors opened the tournament with a 10-3 win over fifth-seeded UMass Dartmouth, which was eliminated the next day following a 3-2 loss to VTSU Castleton.