Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. (April 30, 2025) – The Western New England baseball team would be looking to rebound after a tough Conference of New England loss on Tuesday afternoon, taking on the Warriors of Eastern Connecticut State University of Wednesday evening in non-conference action, dropping a 6-0 contest, losing their fourth overall game in their last five attempts.
Records:
- Western New England: 20-16
- Eastern Connecticut State University: 25-11
How It Happened:
Both teams would send three batters to the plate in the first inning, and that would be all.
Jacob Hobart made the start for Western New England and would roll a double play to get out of the inning quickly, keeping the high-powered offense of ECSU off the scoreboard.
Jack Loftus had the first hit for WNE in the top of the second inning, while
Connor Cowern would follow with one of his own, but that would be all WNE could get in the frame, leaving both bases in scoring position, an opportune chance to grab the first run of the game. Eastern made WNE pay in the bottom of the inning after Alejandro Soriano led off the inning with a double while Josh Cofrancesco delivered a single up the middle to score Soriano, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead. Hobart would bear down and not let Cofrancesco move any further, getting three straight fly outs to end the inning. Nothing would come for either side in the third inning as Hobart would give up a lead off walk and a stole base but would get three straight outs to keep the Warriors ahead by just one, keeping Western New England in striking distance.
The fourth inning would see just a lone single come from
Corey Kilroy with two outs. The WNE offense would be stagnant against Eastern's Alex Mach. The Warriors would explode for five runs in the bottom of the inning to take a commanding lead over the blue and gold. Led by a two-run home run from Ray Leonzi, the Warriors would also score on an RBI double, a ground out into a double play, and a passed ball to take their commanding lead. The Golden Bears would need a quick response and would get a small one in the top of the fifth inning, taking advantage of an ECSU error.
Connor Cowern led off the inning with a hit but would reach on an error by the Eastern shortstop.
Trey Young sent Cowern to third base on a single, putting runners on the corners with no outs.
John Bova would deliver his first hit of the afternoon, an RBI double down the left field line to score one, putting WNE on the board, trailing 6-1. The hosts would waste little time getting that run back, scoring in the bottom of the fifth on an error by WNE. Hobart would run the double play again, his third of the evening, however, getting out of a bigger jam, surrendering just one run overall.
The Warriors would blow open the game in the bottom of the seventh to take a double-digit lead following the three outs. Eastern Connecticut would pound out three hits and four runs overall in the inning to take an 11-1 lead. Western New England would not be able to overcome the massive deficit.
Jack Loftus would smack a home run in the eighth, but the Warriors had an answer with a home run in the bottom of the eighth and would win the game by a final score of 17-2.
Inside the Lines:
- Western New England collected eight hits in the game, led by a ¾ effort from Jack Loftus.
- WNE's pitching gave up 15 earned runs. Jacob Hobart went the first five, giving up nine hits and seven earned runs while walking and striking out two each.
- Plenty of Warriors did damage to the WNE pitching, including Ray Leonzi and Josh Cofrancesco, who had three RBIs each.
- This is the fourth straight loss for WNE over Eastern Connecticut. The loss marks the worst loss by run margin of the year.
- Brody Rogers made his WNE debut on Wednesday.
Up Next on the Schedule:
- Western New England returns home for a non-conference game on Thursday, May 1, at 3:30 PM against Springfield College.
