Little East Conference recently issued the following announcement.
The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team emerged from the longest game in the program's 190-game NCAA post-season playoff history by scoring the tie-breaking run on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the 13th inning and went on to a 7-6 victory over Rowan University in the second game of the Division III Mansfield, CT Super Regional Sunday afternoon that propelled the Warriors to a spot in this coming week's national tournament.
Ranked No. 1 in Division III, Eastern (44-3) had won Friday's best-of-three opener, 6-1 behind seven solid innings from junior righty Billy Oldham (Brookfield), and turned to Oldham again to protect its one-run lead in the bottom of the 13th on Sunday. After Rowan (33-10) put the leadoff man on for the fourth straight inning to open the 13th, Oldham came out of the bullpen for the first time this year and needed only seven pitches to earn his first career save
In relief of sophomore righty and winning pitcher Nolan Lincoln (Londonderry, NH), Oldham got a 1-3 double play on the first pitch he threw to No. 9 hitter Trip McCaffrey, who popped the ball right back to the pitcher while attempting to move the tying run into scoring position. Oldham, who threw 114 pitches in Friday's first-game win, ended the game by inducing leadoff batter Tyler Cannon to ground out to senior second baseman Noah Plantamuro (Bristol) on a 3-2 pitch.
Rowan, the Annville, PA Regional champion, had needed to beat Eastern twice Sunday if it was to return to the national tournament for the second straight year.
The lead changed hands five times through the first seven innings but remained tied for five straight innings before the Warriors pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning. With one out in the top of the 13th, Plantamuro and No. 9 hitter Jason Claiborn (Prospect) singled and a walk to junior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) on a 3-2 pitch loaded the bases. Down 1-2 in the count, senior centerfielder Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) was hit by a pitch from senior closer Christian Bascunan (10 saves) that forced in Plantamuro. Bascunan kept the damage at a minimum by striking out the final two batters, but the Profs could not rally in the bottom of the inning.
As home plate umpire Mike Griffin will attest, Luke Broadhurst touches home plate after giving
the Warriors a 1-0 lead with the first of his two home runs in the game.
Rowan came right back to tie the game, 6-6, in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by junior rigthfielder Ryan Murphy, but senior righty Bryan Albee (Killingly) escaped further trouble when he stranded two with an 0-2 strikeout of cleanup hitter Ryan Mostrangeli.
Bagdasarian was named the Most Outstanding Player and Oldham the Most Outstanding Pitcher of the two-game set. Bagdasarian reached five times with three hits, a walk and had the winning hit-by-pitch, drove in four runs and scored two. He also had four putouts in the outfield (keeping his fielding percentage perfect this year) – one a grab above his head on a deep drive while backpedaling in the eighth inning.
In winning the first game and saving the second, Oldham pitched eight scoreless innings. He gave up eight hits (seven singles) with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Rowan senior catcher Hunter Wroniuk drove in Rowan's first five runs with his first two home runs of the season. Hunter hit a two-run shot to wipe out Eastern's one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth and followed with a three-run home run an inning later that boosted the Profs into a 5-3 lead.Wroniuk reached base five times, complementing his two roundtrippers with a walk and two singles.
Graduate righty Tommy Benincaso (Norwalk) pitched into the seventh inning, with three of the six runs charged to being unearned in part due to two Eastern infield throwing errors. Benincaso allowed only five hits and a walk and struck out five. None of Eastern's four subsequent relievers were charged with a run after Albee took over for Benincaso with a runner on and one out in the seventh.
With five chances to win the game in the final five innings, Rowan stranded six runners. A 6-4-3 double play started by Donahue ended the tenth and kept the game tied. In the 11th, Broadhurst got a force out at third on a ground ball, with Donahue coming from shortstop to cover the bag to receive the throw just ahead of the runner, and in the 12th, senior All-America John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) tracked down a deep drive in left off the bat of junior shortstop Chris Curcio with two runners aboard.
In his first appearance in over two weeks, Lincoln kept the game scoreless by getting five outs before Oldham was called. Lincoln (6-0) was summoned with two on and one out in the 11th and got a fly ball to right on the first pitch that he threw that moved the winning run to third, and extinguishing the threat with an infield popup to Plantamuro on a 1-2 pitch.
Broadhurst finished 3-for-6 with four RBI and two runs and Bagdasarian drove in two runs with a hit and walk and scored a run. Senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme) also had two hits. Mesagno recorded the 200th hit of his career with a leadoff single in the eighth inning of a tie game.
The game was only the fifth decided by a run this year for Eastern, which has won four of them.
Until Sunday, the longest NCAA post-season game in program history came in an elimination game of the 1982 national tournament at Marietta, OH, Eastern beating CSU-Stanislaus in 12 innings, 9-8, on the way to its first national title.
The Warriors will open in their 13th NCAA national tournament – first in 15 years -- Friday against an opponent not yet named at the eight-team, double-elimination tournament at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. Eastern will be gunning for a fifth national championship at a fifth different site.
The victory breaks the program record for wins in a season, ties the record of 22 home wins and its 18th straight victory equals the third-longest streak in program history.
Original source can be found here.
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