MANSFIELD, Conn. – Senior righty Bryan Albee (Killingly) became the first pitcher in 50 years to win his first ten decisions by pitching a career-high eight innings and graduate first baseman Josh Tower (Auburn, MA) drove in two runs with a pair of singles as the top-seeded and nationally top-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team opened the Little East Conference tournament with a 6-0 win over sixth-seeded Plymouth State University Wednesday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
A winner of ten straight and 24 of its last 25, Eastern (36-3) will play Thursday at 3:30 p.m. on the second day of the double-elimination tournament against the loser of Wednesday's late game between third-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston and fourth-seeded and defending champion University of Southern Maine. Plymouth (14-25) plays an elimination game Thursday at noon against the loser of Wednesday's second game between second-seeded Rhode Island College and fifth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Albee (10-0) improved his staff-leading ERA to 1.29 by combining on the team's fifth shutout of the year and on a six-hitter with graduate right-hander Jack Wallace (Winthrop, MA). Albee allowed five hits with seven strikeouts and no walks over the first eighth innings and Wallace closed it out with a scoreless ninth. Albee has struck out 53 and walked 18 in a staff-high 63 innings and improved his career record to 16-1 with his 12th straight win over two seasons.
Fielding .969 as a team, Eastern committed only one error and turned three double plays.
Batting in the lower third of the order, Tower and senior shortstop Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) drove in the first two runs of the game in the second with a single and suicide squeeze bunt, respectively. Leading 3-0, the Warriors tacked on two more in the fifth on two hits, an infield error and walk, with Tower plating his second run of the game with a two-out single.
Batting .344 as a team, Eastern was limited to six hits by junior righty Bobby Cliche (Stratham, NH) and senior lefty Noah Wachter (Concord, NH), but the pair walked eight (two of them scoring) and hit a batter. The Warriors also stranded nine runners.
Sophomore leadoff centerfielder Luke Sokolski (Waterford) had two of Plymouth's hits. He led off the game with a single to center, but No. 2 batter Alex Rives (Gilford, NH) bounced into a double play on a comeback to Albee. Sokolski also doubled leading off the ninth, but after a walk to Rives, junior first baseman Griffin Crane (Lancaster, NH) hit into a double play begun by Tower.
Senior centerfielder Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) reached base for the tenth straight game with a single and two walks and moved to within two hits of 98 in just his second full season at Eastern.
After spending the last several weeks ranked second nationally, Eastern moved up to the top spot in both of the most recent national polls, released Tuesday. It is its first No. 1 ranking since late March of 2009.
Albee's ten wins to start a season are second only to four-time All-America and major leaguer John Caneira, who won his first 12 decisions as a sophomore in 1972 before losing, 5-3, to Frostburg State in the final game of the year at the NAIA Area 8 Tournament at Indiana, PA.