Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
GORHAM, Maine – Needing a second-game win to secure its first No. 1 seed in the Little East Conference baseball tournament since 2019, the University of Southern Maine ended a three-game losing streak at the hands of Eastern Connecticut State University by scoring multiple runs in five innings in a 19-8 , eight-inning victory on the final day of the conference regular season Friday afternoon at Ed Flaherty Field.
 
In the first game, sophomore righty Stephen Rickert (Williston, VT) and senior lefty AJ Rooks (Coventry) combined on a six-hitter with 14 strikeouts and junior shortstop leadoff hitter Matthew Carrera (Mount Sinai, NY) reached base six times with four hits and two walks to propel the Warriors to a 10-3 victory over the No. 29th-ranked Huskies.
 
By winning the second game, Southern Maine (26-10, 13-3 LEC) finishes with a share of first place with defending regular-season and LEC tournament champion Keene State College  and earns the No. 1 seed, based upon tie-breakers, and will host the six-team, four-day LEC tournament beginning Wednesday at Flaherty Field.
 
The pre-season No. 1, Eastern (24-13-1, 11-5 LEC) shares third place in the final conference standings with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (19-20, 11-5 LEC), which won the second game of Saturday's LEC doubleheader at VTSU Castleton to forge the tie with Eastern. As the No. 4 seed, Eastern opens the LEC tournament  against No. 3 UMass Dartmouth in the third of three first-round games on the opening day of the tournament. The Corsairs earned the No. 3 seed based upon their 7-3, 7-1 home sweep of Eastern April 4.

Eastern closes out the regular season Sunday with a 1 p.m. non-conference game against first-time opponent New York University (13-20) at Holowaty Familly Field.
 
Game 1: Eastern Conn. 10, U. of Southern Maine 3
 
Eastern collected 12 hits off four USM pitchers, knocking out junior Colin McDonald four batters into the third inning when senior centerfielder Danny DiNorcia (Naples, FL) and junior first baseman Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) homered in a four-run inning that gave Eastern a 5-0 lead. The loss was McDonald's first this year after eight wins.
 
The loss was USM's third straight but only its second in 13 games this year at Flaherty Field. The team's previous three losses prior to Friday  had each come by one run. Since losing two one-run decisions to Southern Maine at home in the NCAA regional tournament in 2021, Eastern, after Friday's first win, was 9-2 in the last 11 meetings with USM.
 
Rickert (6-2) allowed six hits and three runs (two earned) with seven strikeouts over five innings to gain his first win since April 11 and Rooks lowered his ERA from 3.43 to 2.88 with four hitless innings (seven strikeouts, a HBP, and a walk) to earn his first save, second of his career. Rick had earned his first career win last Sunday with 3 2/3 innings of one-hit relief when Eastern scored twice in the ninth for a 3-2 first-game home win over the University of Massachusetts Boston.
 
The Warriors took a 7-3 lead into the ninth and tacked on three insurance runs off new pitcher Jackson Emery  on two hits and a key infield error that allowed two unearned runs. After a walk, sacrifice bunt and Carrera's s double, an infield error on junior third baseman Teige Kimbler's (Albany, NY) ground ball made it 9-3, and senior catcher Hank Penders (Wethersfield) made it 10-3 with an infield single that plated Kimbler.
 
Carrera drove in two runs and scored two and Moser had three hits, drove in two runs and scored twice. Both Carrera and Moser also doubled. First-year rightfielder Kieran Scruggs (Fairfield), making his second start as the No. 8 batter, reached three times with a single, walk and HBP. Scruggs was hit-by-pitch, stole second, and scored in the four-run third, drove in Moser (double) with a one-out single for Eastern's only run in the fifth,  reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and scored the team's run in the seventh,  and walked and scored in the three-run ninth.
 
Game 2: U. of Southern Maine 19, Eastern Conn. 8 (8 inn.)
 
Combining the LEC's top offense with the No. 1 pitching squad and second-best fielding team, Southern Maine collected 16 hits off six Eastern pitchers, chasing sophomore lefty starter Tommy Martorano (Wrentham, MA) after a four-run fourth inning that pushed the Huskies into an 8-1 lead.
 
Moser followed up his three-hit, two RBI first game with two hits and two more RBI and Penders matched his first game with two hits and followed up with four RBI with a two-out, two-run single in the fifth inning and a two-out, two-run double in the eighth.
 
Batting nine, first-year second baseman Nicolas Martini (New Fairfield) reached three times with two hits (including a triple) and a walk and scored three runs.
 
Junior Gabe Gifford (4-2) gave up only six hits and one earned run (three runs in total). Batting third in the order, junior Peter Keblinsky, in addition to pitching the eighth innings, was 5-for-5 with a triple and one of his team's three home runs, scored four times and drove in two runs. Junior cleanup hitter Carter Higgins doubled and homered, drove in three runs and scored two.