Box Score GORHAM, Maine – The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team (25-15-1, 11-5 LEC) saw their season come to an end against the University of Southern Maine (28-10, 13-3 LEC) on Thursday afternoon at Ed Flaherty Field in Gorham, Maine. The Huskies defeated the Warriors by a score of 11-1 in eight innings and will take on the winner of Keene State vs. UMass Dartmouth at 12 p.m. on Friday in the double-elimination Little East Conference Tournament. Having lost earlier in the day to UMass Dartmouth, the Warriors pick up their second loss in quick succession and are eliminated.
 
Hank Penders (Wethersfield) led the Warriors with a 3-3 performance at the plate, including a walk. No other Warrior recorded more than one hit, but Matthew Carrera (Mount Sinai, NY) drove in Kieran Scruggs (Fairfield) to give Eastern a 1-0 advantage in the second inning.
 
For the Huskies, Mike Anquillare went 3-4 with a RBI and a run, assisted by four of his teammates who recorded two or more hits in today's contest. On the mound, Gabe Gifford pitched all seven innings and allowed seven hits and just one run, striking out five and walking four. Gifford moves to 5-2 on the year while Stephen Rickert (Williston, VT) falls to 6-3.
 
The Huskies scored their opening run on a wild pitch by Rickert, who proceeded to force a groundout and allow a walk. With Chris Quigley at the plate and the bases reloaded for Southern Maine, Rickert was able to make Quickley swing and miss on a pitch that would have ended the inning, but the ball escaped the grasp of Penders behind the plate and allowed all of the runners to advance, scoring Caleb Vacchiano from third and allowing Quigley to reach first.
 
On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Evan Baschnagel delivered a well-hit ball into left field that one-hopped the wall and cleared the bases, giving the Huskies a 5-1 advantage in an inning the Warriors thought they would escape level. Similar to the first game of the regular season doubleheader between these two, AJ Rooks (Coventry) came in to replace Rickert, this time in the fifth inning.
 
Rooks, however, did not find the same success he enjoyed in his last outing against the Huskies. Anquillare drove in a run with his double to center field and Kaiden Morin's sacrifice fly to right field scored Vacchiano to make it 7-1 after five innings. The Warrior pitchers did not receive much help from the offense, primarily due to the efficient pitching from Gifford, particularly in the second half of the game.
 
Gifford gave up just one hit in his final three innings as the Huskies got three hits off Rob Moynihan (Ledyard) in the eighth before he was replaced by Noah Fitzgerald (York, ME), who was forced to enter with the game-ending run in scoring position. On his second pitch to Vacchiano, Fitzgerald gave up a double to right center and Kyle Douin gave the Huskies a ten-run advantage in the bottom of the eighth, ending the game on a mercy rule.
 
Having scored a combined 18 runs against Southern Maine in the doubleheader just six days ago, Eastern is only able to bring one across in today's game and for the first time since 2002, completes a season without winning a Little East Conference Tournament game.  Twenty-four years ago they entered as the #1 seed after a 12-2 regular season conference record and went 0-2 in the postseason.