(With contributions from Wheaton College Sports Information)

#18 Southern Maine Wins 17th Straight, Down #11 Wheaton 15-3

            NORTON, Mass. -- Junior Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) went 4-for-5, including two home runs, with five runs scored and four RBI as the #18 University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated the #11 Wheaton College Lyons in a battle of nationally ranked teams Thursday afternoon at Sidell Stadium.

            The Huskies extended their current wining streak to 17 games with the win, and improved their record to 23-3 overall.  The Lyons had their three-game winning streak snapped and slip to 22-8.  The two teams will meet again on Sunday (April 21, 1:00 p.m.) at the USM Baseball Stadium.

            Chadwick hit two-run homers in the seventh and eighth innings, his third and fourth round trippers of the season, to go along with two singles and a walk to pace the Huskies' 15-hit attack against six Lyons' hurlers.  The Huskies also benefitted from five walks and seven hit batsmen.

            Senior John Carey (South Portland, Maine) had four singles and drove in three runs.  Junior Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine) had a double, two singles and three RBI.  Senior Nick Grady (Whitefield, Maine/Erskine Academy) extended his hitting streak to 23 games with an RBI single in the fourth inning.

            Sophomore Andrew Richards (South Portland, Maine), the second of five USM pitchers used, went 4.1 innings to pick up his third win of the season.  Richards, who gave up seven hits and one run, came into the game in the second inning with the bases loaded and two outs.  He got a strikeout to get the Huskies out of the inning with a 4-1 lead.

            Senior Paul O'Neill (Framingham, Mass.) paced the Lyons' offense with three hits and an RBI.  Sophomore Apolinar De la Cruz (Providence, R.I./Classical), senior Eric Jensen (Gorham, N.H.) and rookie Mike Beneduce (North Kingstown, R.I./Moses Brown School) each had a pair of hits.

            Wheaton senior starting pitcher Corey Laliberte (Fall River, Mass./Durfee) went the first four innings and took the loss.

            The Huskies claimed a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Bernard notched an RBI single to right field with the bases loaded.  Carey added a sacrifice fly to center field in the next plate appearance.  The Huskies up two unearned runs in the second inning on an infield error.

            Trailing 4-0 in the second, O'Neill cut into the deficit with a two-out run-producing single to right field scoring De la Cruz before Richards came on to snuff out the rally.

            Southern Maine broke the game open in the fourth plating four runs on five hits.  Grady and Bernard both had RBI singles, and junior Matt Verrier (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) batted in a pair of runs.

            Chadwick highlighted the Huskies' scoring over the last five innings with a two-run homer in the seventh and another two-run shot in the eighth.

            Southern Maine travels to Plymouth State University on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) for a Little East Conference doubleheader.  Wheaton travels to M.I.T. on Friday (3:30 p.m.) for the first of three NEWMAC games this weekend with the Engineers.