SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine -- The Salem State University Vikings took advantage of seven hits, a hit batsman and two errors to score eight times in the third inning en route to an 8-2 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in non-conference baseball action Thursday afternoon at Wainwright Field.

            The win was the fifth in the last six game for the Vikings and got them back to the .500 mark at 9-9 overall.  The Huskies had a two-game winning streak stopped and fell to 11-7 overall.

            Freshman Matt Burgess (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake) led the Vikings' third-inning outburst with a leadoff double and later drove in three runs with a bases-loaded triple as the Vikings sent 12 batters to the plate.  Senior Evan Valcourt (Salisbury, Mass.) had a pair of RBI doubles in the inning.  Senior Ryan Kane (Nahant, Mass./St. Mary's), who had three hits in the game, also had an RBI single.  Five of the eight Vikings runs were unearned.

            Sophomore pitcher Cory Collins (Winthrop, Mass.) stifled the Huskies' bats giving up only six hits to go the distance.  Collins walked two and struck out five to earn his first win of the season.

            For USM, sophomore Tucker White (Deerfield, N.H./Coe-Brown Northwood) and senior Jordan Berthiaume (Berlin, Conn.) each had a pair of hits.  Freshman southpaw Logan Carman (Newfields, N.H./Laurel Springs) started on the hill for USM and took the loss.

            The Huskies got a strong long relief outing from sophomore Ryan Yates (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills).  Yates came on to get the final out in the third, then went five more innings allowing only three hits and one walk while fanning six.

            Southern Maine is back in action on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) when it travels to Eastern Connecticut State University for a Little East Conference doubleheader.  Salem State will play a MASCAC doubleheader at Worcester State University on Saturday (2:00 p.m.).

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