DARTMOUTH, Mass. – In actuality, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth baseball team had more to lose than Eastern Connecticut State University had to gain when the teams met Friday on the final weekend of the Little East Conference season.
At stake for UMass with a sweep of the Warriors at its home park was a first LEC regular-season title and with it, a first No. 1 tournament seed and first-time hosting privileges for the Corsairs for the six-team, double-elimination tournament set to begin Wednesday.
For No. 23 Eastern, the reward for two victories would be substantial but hardly seismic: a share of the LEC regular-season championship, something which the Warriors have either shared or attained outright more often (14 times) than not (12 times) in the 26-year history of conference regular-season play. A share of the LEC regular-season title, however, would not be enough to provide Eastern with the No. 1 tournament seed. It had earlier been determined – regardless of Friday's outcomes -- that would go to the University of Massachusetts Boston, which swept Eastern on Senor Day at the Eastern Baseball Stadium six days ago.
Eastern's (27-11, 13-3 LEC) first-game, 8-3 win behind the combined pitching of junior righty Matthew Wootton (Milford) and junior lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) and junior catcher Hank Penders' (Wethersfield) continued torrid hitting (HR, double, 3 RBI, 2 runs) moved the Warriors to within a win of a share of their 15th regular-season title, and by outslugging UMass Dartmouth (20-18-1, 12-4 LEC) and surviving six errors that accounted for five unearned runs, won Game 2 by a score of 15-10 to earn the No. 2 tournament seed and drop the Corsairs to the No. 3 seed.
Defending champion Eastern faces fifth-seeded Keene State College (20-20, 8-8 LEC) at 3:30 p.m. at Monan Park in the second of three games Wednesday on the first day of the tournament, while UMass Dartmouth faces No. 4 University of Southern Maine (17-19, 9-7 LEC) at 7 p.m. Top-seeded and host UMass Boston (24-13, 13-3 LEC) opens the tournament against No. 6 seed Rhode Island College (16-17, 6-10 LEC).
UMass Boston is hosting for the third time, first since winning the title over Eastern in 2018. In 2016 at Monan Park, fifth-seeded Eastern defeated fourth-seeded Western Connecticut in the championship game.
This year, the Warriors won both games of the regular-season series with Keene State, 11-1 at home and 5-4 on the road. Eastern has won four straight heading into the tournament. Keene has won five of seven since losing by a run to Eastern April 23, sweeping Plymouth State University Friday. UMass Dartmouth has dropped seven of nine heading into the tournament.
On Friday, Eastern swept the Corsairs for the fifth straight time and has now won 11 straight over UMass Dartmouth. Wootton defeated UMass for the third time in two years – including a victory in the opening round of last year's tournament.
UMass employed eight pitchers in the second game, which featured 29 hits – 11 good for extra bases – and ten errors. The game featured four lead changes until the Warriors took the lead for good, 11-7, in a six-run sixth inning which included five hits, two hit-by-pitch, a walk and wild pitch, back-to-back triples by Penders and senior leftfielder Josh Cofrancesco (Southington), an RBI double by senior second baseman Preston Irby (Bridgeport) and a two-run single by senior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect).
Graduate righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) earned the second-game win – his sixth without a loss this year and 18th in 22 career decisions (to go along with seven saves). In four innings, Furino fanned three without a walk, giving up four hits and no earned runs to lower his staff-leading ERA to 1.22. This year, he has 45 strikeouts and six walks in 44 1/3 innings.
The combined 25 runs were the most in the series since the Warriors pounded out a 28-6 road win over the Corsairs in 2008.
In the opening win, Eastern led 5-0 after two innings and later tacked on three insurance runs in its final two at-bats. Wootton and Driscoll combined for ten strikeouts and only one walk. Wootton (4-1) allowed eight hits and two runs over the first five innings. Driscoll earned his first career save by giving up one run on four hits over the final four innings.
On the day, Cofrancesco and Penders both hit for the cycle and each drove in five runs. Cofrancesco had three singles, a double, triple and home run and scored four runs; Penders had a single, double, triple and home run and scored three runs. In his last seven games, Penders – recently moved into the cleanup spot -- is 16-for-30 with 16 RBI, ten runs, three home runs, three doubles and a triple.
Junior centerfielder Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) reached six times with four hits and two hit-by-pitch, scored three runs and drove in three; senior shortstop and leadoff hitter Zach Donahue (South Windsor) reached in his 31st and 32nd straight games, climbing aboard six times with three hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch; senior first baseman Ryan Parent (Southington) was on base five times with four walks and a hit and scored three runs.