No. 12 Warriors triumph over Seahawks, 6-2

MANSFIELD, Conn. - Senior Chris Wojick (Uncasville, Conn.) pitched the first five innings for his fourth win in as many decisions and senior first baseman Tyler Turgeon (Norwich, Conn.) extended his hitting streak to 17 with two hits and two RBI to power the No. 7 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to a 6-2 non-conference victory over Salve Regina University Thursday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

Eastern (16-3) pulled away from a one-run lead by scoring twice in the seventh inning on a leadoff home run by senior leftfielder Rob Perry (Manchester, Conn.) and RBI single by Turgeon, and added an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI single by senior centerfielder Shane Kingsley (Beacon Falls, Conn.).

Wojick (4-0), who ranks third all-time at Eastern with 68 pitching appearances, allowed seven hits and two runs over the first five innings. He fanned four without a walk and hit two batters.

With four this, Kingsley recorded his fourth game this year of at least three hits to raise his batting average to .356. Kingsley led off the Eastern first with a single and scored the first run of the game  on senior DH Jim Schult's (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) sacrifice fly, doubled with two out in the second and in the fourth and stroked his RBI single in the eighth.  Kingsley had his four hits against three different pitchers.

The first of Turgeon's two RBI singles   in the first extended his hitting streak to 17. Perry and senior catcher Chris Cannata (Southington, Conn.)  also had two hits each in Eastern's 12-hit attack. In addition to his first-inning sacrifice fly, Schult reached safely three times, scored twice and stole three bases to make him 11-for-11 this season. Schult doubled to lead off the third and scored, walked leading off the fifth, and walked and scored in the seventh. His double was the 199th hit of his four-year career.

Trailing 3-0, Salve Regina scored both of its runs after there were two out and none on in the fifth to trim the Eastern lead to one on consecutive hits by the top three hitters in the order: senior shortstop Alexander Melcher (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), sophomore rightfielder Devin Flynn (Auburn, Maine), and senior third baseman Tom Glynn  (Woodbridge, Conn.) before Wojick got a ground ball to freshman shortstop Danny O'Connell (Braintree, Mass.) to strand the tying run at second.

Eastern fielded without an error for the seventh time this season and upped its season total to 20 double plays with four.  In the first, sophomore third baseman Joe Balowski (Berlin, Conn.) fielded a ground ball to begin an around-the-horn double play, and Kingsley caught a fly ball and doubled off a runner at second in the fourth before pitchers Andrew Merritt (Norwalk, Conn.) and Evan Chamberlain (Amston, Conn.) induced comebackers to initiate 1-6-3 twin killings in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively.

Salve Regina utilized seven pitchers, none of whom worked more than two innings. Senior righty Brandon Bursie (Smithfield, R.I.) sustained his third loss in four decisions by giving up Eastern's first two runs on five hits over the first two innings.

The meeting was the first regular-season one ever between the programs. In the only other contest, Eastern downed Salve Regina (9-12) in the opening round of the 2001 NCAA New England Regional Tournament at Harwich, Mass.

Courtesy of Eastern Connecticut State sports information