MANSFIELD, Conn. – The University of Southern Maine was fully aware that it would need a sweep to put a serious dent in Eastern Connecticut State University's hopes for the 2021 Little East Conference regular-season baseball title.
It nearly did that.
After shutting down No. 23
rd-ranked Eastern (20-3, 10-1 LEC) after the first inning of the opener in a 7-2 victory, No. 22-ranked Southern Maine (15-7, 7-4 LEC) looked to repeat that first-game pattern before the Warriors tied the game twice by scoring two runs in the eighth, then forced extra innings with another run in the ninth before winning the game by scoring an unearned run in the tenth on senior
Holden White's (Wallingford) game-ending, two-out single.
Southern Maine silenced Eastern's bats after the first inning of the first game, scoring multiple runs in the fourth, eighth and ninth to hand Eastern senior righty
Josh Vincent (New London) his first loss in five decisions. Despite being hit by a batted ball in the arm the early innings, Southern Maine senior righty Ben Lambert went on to pitch the first complete game against Eastern this year. Lambert (4-1) allowed five hits while fanning five, limiting Eastern to three singles after the Warriors struck for two runs in the bottom of the first on a two-out double by senior
Jack Rich (Meriden) and White's two-run triple to right.
Eastern started quickly again in the second game, driving USM senior righty Gage Feeney from the mound after the first six batters reached safely. The Warriors batted around and got a grand slam from senior third baseman
Luke Broadhurst (Stafford) and a two-run single by No. 9 batter
Noah Plantamuro (Bristol).
As it did in the first game, Eastern's bats went quiet in the nightcap and the Warriors were in danger of being swept on their home field by USM for the fourth straight time after the Huskies surged to an 8-6 lead on the strength of three runs in the sixth and three in the eighth.
Trailing 8-6, Eastern tied the game in the eighth with a pair of unearned runs in the eighth, and after the Huskies took a 9-8 lead with an unearned run in the top of the ninth, forced extra innings by tying the game with a run in the ninth on a leadoff double by Broadhurst, a wild pitch, and White's sacrifice fly.
Eastern senior righty
Bryan Albee (Killingly) stranded the go-ahead run on third in the top of the tenth by getting an inning-ending ground ball to junior
Owen Marica (Haddam) at short and Eastern recorded the walk-off win in the bottom of the inning. An infield error put the winning run on first in the form of freshman
Jason Claiborn (Prospect). Claiborn was sacrificed to second by senior
John Mesagno (Tappan, NY). Broadhurst was intentionally walked and White drove the second pitch he saw into center for score Claiborn.
Albee (2-0) did not allow an earned run in 2 2/3 innings in his staff-leading 11
th appearance of the year and lowered his earned run average to 1.65. Leading 6-2, sophomore righty
Billy Oldham (Brookfield) retired the first two batters in the sixth but was lifted after allowing three straight hits, including a two-run home that cut Eastern's lead to one.
White and Broadhurst both drove in four runs. Broadhurst reached seven times with two doubles, a home run and four walks and scored three runs. Marica had three singles.Claiborn reached in his 20th straight game and extended his hitting streak to ten. Mesagno had an 11-game hitting streak ended in the first game but had a hit in the second game. Marica has hit in eight straight. With three hits and four RBI in Game 2, Broadhurst leads the team with 13 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI contests.
Southern Maine brought a team .283 batting average into the day but pounded six Eastern pitchers for 17 hits, three of them home runs. Junior leadoff hitter Sam Troiano reached six times, scored four runs and drove in four runs with two home runs. Freshman Cam Seymouralso reached six times with two hits (one home run) and four walks and drove in four runs. Senior cleanup hitter Andrew Hillier was held hitless on the day but reached four times on walks.
In two games, the teams combined for 11 errors and 11 pitchers walked 30 batters. Eastern pitchers threw seven wild pitches and hit a batter.
Eastern visits Southern Maine Saturday at noon for a non-conference doubleheader.