BOSTON – Junior lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) provided solid pitching in his first start in over a month and senior third baseman Tiernan Lynch (Easton) helped the second-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to an early lead with a third-inning three-run home run in an eventual 8-5 victory over fifth-seeded Keene State College on the opening day of the 2024 Little East Conference tournament Wednesday evening at Monan Park.
Because rain delays postponed Wednesday's third game, two-time defending tournament champion Eastern (28-11) does not play its second game in the six-team, double-elimination tournament hosted by top-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston until Friday at noon, when it meets the winner of Thursday's first game – originally scheduled to be the late game Wednesday -- between third-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and fourth-seeded University of Southern Maine.
Keene meets sixth-seeded Rhode Island College in an elimination game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The Anchormen, last year's top seed and host, were dumped by UMass Boston, 11-3, in Wednesday's first game.
The Eastern-Keene game was halted by rain and lightning twice, the second time with Keene batting in the top of the seventh inning and trailing, 5-2. Just prior to the second rain delay, Keene had scored its second run of the game and had the bases loaded and two out, with Eastern senior righty Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH) set to face UMass Boston sophomore shortstop Otis Follet, the Owls' left-handed hitting cleanup hitter and team batting leader.
When the game resumed following a 60-minute delay, Lincoln fanned Follet on a 3-2 pitch, but not before throwing a wild pitch (the staff's only WP of the game) on a 1-2 count that brought home Hamilton Barnes from third and cut Eastern's lead to 5-3.
Looking for its ninth straight LEC tournament win over three seasons, No. 22-nationally-ranked Eastern led 4-0 after three innings – three of the runs coming on a third-inning rally which began with two out and nobody on base and was courtesy of Lynch's second home run of the season off Keene sophomore lefty starter Jake Jachym – a three-run blast over the Green Monster in left. It was only the third homer allowed by Jachym this year in 50-plus innings.
On a hit-by-pitch, single and double steal in the sixth, Keene got one back by also scoring after there were two out and none on off Driscoll, who gave up his first run after 12 2/3 scoreless innings in two starts in LEC tournament play over two years.
Eastern got the run right back on leadoff hitter Zach Donahue's (South Windsor) RBI double in the sixth that plated No. 9 hitter Jason Claiborn (Prospect) and took a 5-1 lead into the seventh.
Driscoll departed with a 5-1 lead after fanning nine and allowing four hits and two walks through six innings, throwing 104 pitches. Making his third start this year against Eastern, Jachym pitched the first six innings before giving way to freshman lefty George Young after the Owls had closed to within 5-3. Jachym was charged with four earned runs on seven hits and three walks while fanning one.
After Young pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, Eastern added three key pad runs in the bottom of the eighth -- all unearned -- that made it 8-3 heading into the ninth. Three throwing errors by Young on a sacrifice bunt, failed pickoff and potential inning-ending ground ball, along with an opening double to right by Lynch and one-hop RBI ground rule double to right-center by senior first baseman Ryan Parent (Southington) sparked the rally.
In the top of the ninth, Keene continued to threaten, pushing across two runs without the aid of a hit and bringing the tying run to the plate twice. Sophomore righty Dylan Scudder (Simsbury) took over after Lincoln put the first two runners aboard on a hit batter and walk. The 6-foot-7 inch Scudder promptly hit two of the first three batters he faced – leaving the staff one HBP shy of the program's game record of seven -- but got a strikeout and an infield ground ball to Donahue for the first two outs and struck out Brendan Eaton – representing the tying run – on four pitches to give Eastern its tenth win in a row over Keene – third this year.
While the six HBPs by four Eastern pitchers kept the Owls within striking distance – especially over the last three innings – the staff gave up only four walks and six hits – all singles – while striking out 14 – five over the last three innings. Five Keene errors were costly and made half of Eastern's runs unearned. The teams combined to strand 19 runners, ten by Keene.
Parent and Lynch each had two hits and combined for five RBI, with Lynch also scoring two runs.
Donahue's sixth-inning double extended his on-base streak to 33 games, while Claiborn chalked up his 200th career hit with a double in the team's three-run third inning.