CASTLETON, Vt. — With the game one knotted after nine innings, Mitch Landau's (Northport, N.Y.) home run sealed an 8-6 victory for the Western Connecticut State University baseball team on the road against Vermont State University Castleton on Saturday. The Wolves dropped the second game, 12-7, after a strong second half for the Spartans with six runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. WestConn improved to 10-20 overall and 3-10 in the Little East Conference (LEC), while Castleton moved to 9-22 overall and 3-7 in the LEC.

WestConn went 3-0 with runs in the first and second frames, but a bases-loaded walk narrowed the deficit for the home team. In the fourth inning, Ryan Vallie (East Haven, Conn.) drilled one out of the park with a two-run homer as Landau also scored for a 5-1 edge. Castleton shortened the gap in the fourth with four runs, followed by a solo home run to even the score at 5-5 in the seventh. Billy Untiet (Prospect, Conn.) put the Wolves up by one with an RBI single through the right side as Landau scored again in the top of the ninth, but again Castleton knotted the game in the ninth to force extra innings.

Landau's home run in the 11th inning regained a WestConn lead, while Josef Rosa's (Fort Lee, N.J.) RBI-single to the left side allowed Thomas Keough (Plainville, Conn.) to cross home for the insurance run.

In game two, the Wolves took a 6-0 lead across the first three innings, including a pair of runs by Vallie and Keough. During the scoring stretch, Nick Lobouno (Trumbull, Conn.) and Joe Fasano (Waterbury, Conn.) drilled home runs in back-to-back innings. Castleton scored 12 unanswered runs in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings before Rosa's homer in the ninth.

Brian Mansfield (Lynbrook, N.Y.) collected his second win of the season after throwing for five innings with a trio of strikeouts and only allowed four runs.

WestConn returns home to host non-conference opponent Wesleyan University on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. game.