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Box Score 2 GORHAM, Maine – The University of Southern Maine battered Eastern Connecticut State University's top two pitchers for 14 earned runs in less than eight innings in a 14-7, 11-4 Little East Conference baseball sweep Friday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.
A loser of five straight, Eastern (19-16, 7-6 LEC) drops from a half-game out of first place to 2 ½ games back with Saturday's 1 p.m. home makeup conference doubleheader with Western Connecticut State University remaining. Southern Maine's (29-11, 10-4 LEC) first-game win over the Warriors made the University of Massachusetts Boston the No. 1 seed and host for the six-team LEC tournament, which gets underway Wednesday at Monan Park. The Beacons finish with a share of the LEC regular-season title for the first time, along with Southern Maine.
A win over Western (18-18, 6-7 LEC) Saturday gives Eastern a share of third place in the final standings with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, but the Corsairs would earn the No. 3 tournament seed based upon its regular-season sweep of the Warriors.
Ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III New England Regional poll, Southern Maine raked six Eastern pitchers for 33 hits and the Huskies also benefited from nine walks and two hit batsmen. Paul McDonough drove in five runs with four hits, including a double and home run, with Jake Glauser plating four with four hits.
Six USM pitchers allowed 18 hits, six of them for extra bases and struck out 18. Freshman Alex Parkos (Meriden) had four hits – including his third home run – and drove in three runs and scored two. Junior Pat Sirois (Cromwell) and junior Alex Zachary (Enfield) each had three hits, Zachary doubling twice.Junior Christian Budzik (Cromwell) plated three runs with two hits. Zachary extended his hitting streak to 13 with two hits in the opener and a fifth-inning infield single in the nightcap.
Sophomore lefty
Jacob Smith (East Longmeadow, MA), who had pitched into the seventh inning in his last five starts, was knocked out in the fourth inning of the first game after surrendering ten hits and eight earned runs. The Warriors reached USM senior Shyler Scates – the team's No. 1 starter – for nine hits and five runs through six innings but the righty left on the long end of a 9-5 lead.
Eastern freshman righty
Jordan Muchin (West Hartford) had pitched into the seventh inning of his first four starts – including a complete-game shutout two weeks ago – but was lifted after being touched for seven hits and six earned runs through four innings. Muchin departed with the Warriors trailing, 6-2. Muchin opened the game with two scoreless innings – striking out four – before the hosts batted around in the third to score five runs on four hits and two hit batsmen. Nick Dibiase drove in the first two runs with a double and McDonald the last two with his third home run of the year.
Eastern sophomore
D.J. Scavone (Auburn, MA) extended his hitting streak to 18 games in the first game with a ninth-inning single, but did not get the ball out of the infield in the second game, grounding out twice, striking out and walking in four plate appearances.
With two singles in the opening game, senior captain
Tim Budd (Cheshire) moved to within three hits of 100 in his three-year Eastern career.
