Batting

DANBURY, CT – Senior shortstop EJ Lavoie (East Granby, CT) and sophomore outfielder Kyle MacLean (Southington, CT) each went 2-for-3 from the plate as the Western Connecticut State University baseball team fell to visiting Little East Conference rival Eastern Connecticut, 9-0, on Tuesday afternoon at Westside Field. With the loss, the Colonials dropped to 11-14 overall and 1-6 in league play, while the Warriors improved to 13-10 and 3-4.

After stranding a runner on third base to end the opening inning, the Colonials had a chance to pierce the scoring column in the second. However, with runners on first and second base, the hosts had a runner picked off and then hit into a groundball double play to end the threat. WestConn had a chance to draw first blood in the fourth, however, with runners on the corners the Warriors were able to escape the frame by converting yet another excellent fielding double play.

"It was not a great day at the ball park for us. We failed to execute on our early opportunities and sort of gave the game away," said WestConn head coach John Susi after the loss.

The visitors got on the scoreboard with four runs in the top of the fifth capped off by a sacrifice fly to right from rookie designated hitter John Mesagno (Tappan, NY). Eastern added a pair of unearned runs in the seventh before tacking on a trio of runs in the eighth, to round the scoring out at 9-0.

The Colonials tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on first and second, junior third baseman Joe Daigle (Southington, CT) roped a single to left but the lead runner was thrown out at the plate to end the contest.

Sophomore shortstop Corey Baldwin (Cromwell, CT) paced the Warriors with a 4-for-6 performance, while senior outfielder Alex Zachary (Enfield, CT) finished with three hits and a pair of RBI's. Despite a nice start on the mound, junior lefty Kyle Cole (Southington, CT) took the loss for the Colonials and fell to 1-3, while sophomore John Parker (Brunswick, ME) improved to 1-0, tossing seven scoreless innings and scattering six hits.

WestConn returns to action against visiting non-conference opponent John Jay on Thursday at 5 p.m.