Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. --Western New England raced out to a 7-0 lead and then had to hang on for an 8-6 non-conference victory over host Eastern Connecticut State in a battle of New England region foes on Wednesday at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

Ranked third in New England, the Golden Bears (25-8 overall) have won 17 of their last 20 and defeated Eastern (22-9-1), ranked fourth, for the sixth straight time after dropping 36 of the first 38 meetings in this series.

"This was a big win for us tonight against a quality regional opponent," said Western New England coach Matt LaBranche. "These are the kinds of wins that go a long way to help prepare us for (the) postseason."

Seniors Mike Rubino, Kyle McKelvey, Tim Clark and junior Steve Ambrosino led the WNE offense with two runs batted in apiece.

Ambrosino and Clark hit back-to-back two-run singles to highlight WNE's five-run frame to begin the game.

Batting consecutively in the order, senior Drew Accomando, junior Gavin Lavallee, junior Tommy McKenna and senior Tyler Caserta all had two hits for Eastern. Lavallee knocked in two runs, doubling in the team's first run in the second and singling in Accomando (walk) with the second run in the fifth. Accomando reached three times, scoring on each occasion.

Eastern freshman Sam Kosterich and junior Pat Barnett held WNE to one run on one hit over the final seven innings and Eastern reached Golden Bear starter Trevor Breton for three runs in the fourth and chased him in a two-run fifth to cut the gap to 7-6.

While Kosterich and Barnett were stellar in relief for Eastern, sophomore Nick Salerno (3-0) and senior Kevin Jefferis combined for 4-2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Breton. The pair fanned five and was touched for only two hits.

Clinging to its one-run lead, WNE added an insurance run in the seventh on McKelvey's second home run of the season with one out in the seventh, and Jefferis struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save.

"Nick was huge in relief, and we were desperate for an insurance run when Kyle went yard," LaBranche said. "That gave us a little confidence back after Eastern had made their run."

Eastern outhit WNE 10 to 7.