BOSTON – It's difficult to beat a team three times in one season. Just ask the second-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team, which, unable to do that against third-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Friday in the second round of the 2024 Little East Conference baseball tournament, dropped into an elimination game.
It's even more difficult to beat a team four times in a season, which the Warriors were able to do several hours later against fifth-seeded Keene State College at Monan Park. And because of that, the Warriors remained alive heading into the fourth day of the tournament in their quest to become only the second team (following UMass Boston from 2017-19) to capture three consecutive championships.
After sitting idle Thursday (due to rain) following an opening 8-5 win over Keene State Wednesday, Eastern (29-12) absorbed its first tournament shutout in 44 games – dating back to the final game in 2012 – when sophomore righty Anthony Keefe spun a dominant three-hit 4-0 shutout on Friday as UMass Dartmouth (23-18-1) avenged to a degree two home losses to Eastern on the final weekend of the regular-season which cost the Corsairs not only their first LEC regular-season title, but more importantly, a chance to host the tournament for the first time.
On Friday night, graduate righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) matched the pitching domination of Keefe earlier in the day when he recorded his 19th career win with a masterful five-hitter – one of the most efficient post-season complete games in program history – that kept the team alive in the losers' bracket. For Eastern to record its 12th LEC tournament championship – the most by any institution – the win over Keene State would need to be the first of four in a span of three days.
The team's fourth win this year and second in the tournament over Keene guarantees the Warriors a date with top-seeded host University of Massachusetts Boston (26-14) Saturday at noon. That winner needs to beat UMass Dartmouth (3-0 in the tournament) – the only remaining unbeaten twice to prevent the Corsairs from winning their first title. The first game of the championship round is set for Saturday at 3:30. If needed, one game for the title will be played Sunday at noon, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, which gets underway Friday, May 17.
Following a layoff of nearly three weeks between starts, Furino (7-0) was brilliant Friday in his first start since throwing a nine-inning no-hitter April 16 against Western Connecticut State University at the Eastern Baseball Stadium – his fourth career win in the LEC tournament against just one loss. In his 118-pitch effort, Furino fanned nine without walking a batter, facing only seven batters over the minimum and shutting out Keene over the final eight innings. After retiring Evan Cali for the final out of the second inning, Furino faced 24 consecutive batters without allowing a ball out of the infield until No. 3 hitter Jonathan Chatfield singled up the middle with two out in the eighth.
In view of the long layoff between starts, Furino struggled (only) in the first inning, when the Owls scored their only runs by collecting three of their five hits, with Brendan Eaton's two-out opposite field double down the right field line giving his team a short-lived 2-1 lead.
Despite facing a stacked lineup of five left-handed hitters, the right-handed Furino was in total control, limiting the lefties to 3-for-19 at the plate, preventing lefties cleanup hitter Otis Follet, No. 6 hitter George Young and No. 8 hitter Ethan Rainha from getting the ball out of the infield in a combined 0-for-11 evening.
Trailing 2-1, the Warriors batted around in the third inning against starting junior righty Shea Zina (3-4), scoring six runs on four hits, a hit batter, with two wild pitches scoring runs. Senior leadoff hitter Zach Donahue (South Windsor), who had a 33-game on-base streak snapped earlier in the day, opened the inning with a ground rule double that hopped the right field fence on one hop. Senior Josh Cofrancesco (Southington), making his first start of the year in center field due to the absence of junior Ray Leonzi (Trumbull), followed Donahue with a single, and No. 3 hitter, senior first baseman Ryan Parent (Southington) tied the game, 2-2, with a ground single up the middle that sent in Donahue. With one out, junior catcher Hank Penders (Wethersfield) walked and senior left fielder Mason Balmer's (North Haven) single to left with the bases loaded gave the Warriors the lead for good, 3-2. Another run was forced in when senior second baseman Preston Irby (Bridgeport) was hit by a pitch, and senior third baseman Tiernan Lynch's (Easton) infield ground ball and a wild pitch closed out the scoring.
Batting cleanup in his first start against Keene, first-year DH Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) had two hits, as did Balmer, who drove in a second run in the fifth when his fly ball was lost in the lights for a triple that plated Moser. Penders reached three times with a first-inning single and two walks.
Thirteen of Furino's 27 outs came on ground balls, with Tiernan collecting six assists and Parent chalking up 13 putouts.
While UMass Dartmouth was able to exact vengeance on the Warriors, who denied it the regular-season title, Eastern will hope to do the same to UMass Boston, which won two over Eastern on April 27 at the Eastern Baseball Stadium, that, in essence, cost the Warriors the No. 1 tournament seed. Eastern and UMass Boston shared the regular-season title with 13-3 records, but the regular-season sweep of Eastern gave UMB the No. 1 seed. Eastern finished one game ahead of UMass Dartmouth in the final standings.