WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Eastern Connecticut State came-from-behind in game two to completed a Little East doubleheader sweep of UMass Dartmouth on Friday afternoon. The Warriors – who posted wins of 15-2 and 11-6 – improve to 27-11 overall and 12-4 in conference play. The Corsairs are now 16-18 on the season with an 8-8 mark in the LEC.
Though the regular season concluded with today's games, both teams will be back in action on Wednesday in the Little East Conference Tournament – hosted at top-seeded Keene State. The Warriors have earned the third-seed in the tournament and will square-off against fourth-seeded Southern Maine at 2pm, while UMass Dartmouth - which opens defense of its 2024 tournament title – are the sixth-seed and will face the top-seeded Owls at 9am on Wednesday.
The Corsairs came out firing in game two of the afternoon, opening a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on as sophomore outfielder
Austin Pagliettini homered over the left field wall. UMD added two more runs in the top of the fourth as a single to right field by graduate student first baseman
Matt Tempone was followed by a homer from sophomore catcher
Ryan Jones for the 3-0 advantage.
Eastern Connecticut State got on the board in the bottom of the frame to cut the deficit, but three runs in the top of the fifth, including a two-run single to right off the bat of Tempone, put UMD up by a 6-1 margin.
In the bottom half of the frame, the Warriors responded as a two-run double to center from Preston Cosme-Cruz narrowed the lead to 6-3 for the Corsairs, while in the bottom of the sixth, Cosme-Cruz played the hero once again, belting another double – this time to left – to bring in two runs for a 6-5 score in UMass Dartmouth's favor.
After a quiet top of the seventh, the Warriors threatened in their half of the frame. With runners on second and third and no outs on the board, junior J.T. Clark doubled to left as two runs scored with Eastern nabbing the 7-6 advantage for their first lead in game two. The home team was able to tack on two more runs to conclude the inning with a 9-6 lead.
Eastern Connecticut State added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, pushing the advantage to 11-6 heading into the final inning. The Corsairs tried to battle back in the ninth, but were shut down by the Warriors pitching.
Junior hurler
AJ Rourke had a solid outing, allowing just one run on three hits over 3.2 innings before giving way to the bullpen. Sophomore
Dillon Harding shouldered the loss, surrendering the go-ahead runs for the Warriors over 1.2 innings. He struck out three batters.
The Corsairs shouldered a tough loss in game one of the doubleheader as the homestanding Warriors capitalized on a six-run effort in the first and eight runs in the fourth enroute to a 15-2 victory.
UMass Dartmouth got on the board in the top of the second as – with runners on second and third – sophomore shortstop
Cooper Wixon singled to left center to drive in Tempone. In the top of the sixth, Tempone belted his fourth home run of the season – giving the Corsairs their second run of the game on the solo shot.
Junior starter
Ray Boutiette shouldered the loss, while three other pitchers combined on the mound in the contest, including two strikeouts over 2.2 innings pitched by first reliever
Seamus Marshall.
For the day, Tempone paced the Corsairs bats, going 1-for-2 in game one with two runs scored and an RBI, while posting a 3-for-4 effort in game two, adding a run scored and two runs batted in. Jones was 1-for-4 in game two with a run scored and two RBI.
