BROCKTON, Mass. -- Junior right-hander Andrew Richards (South Portland, Maine) pitched 7.2 innings in relief and the University of Southern Maine pounded out 20 hits to defeat the University of Massachusetts Boston, 13-6, in a Little East Conference game Monday afternoon at Campanelli Stadium.

            With the win, the Huskies have won six straight games and improved to 20-6 overall.  The Huskies, ranked eighth in the D3baseball.com poll and ninth in the ABCA Coaches Poll last week (new polls will be release tomorrow), remain unbeaten in Little East play at 7-0.  The Beacons dropped their second straight game to slide to 10-12 overall and 3-4 in conference play.

            Richards came on in relief of freshman starter Zack Bean (Westbrook, Maine) in the second inning.  The junior righty got out of the inning, but not before allowing an inherited runner to score and surrendering a pair of runs that gave the Beacons a six-run inning and a 6-5 lead.  From that point, Richards shut down the Beacons attack allowing only four hits and no runs.  Richards, 2-0 on the season, got 18 of his 23 outs via ground balls and threw 100 pitches, 69 for strikes.  He struck out three.

            Seniors John Carey (South Portland, Maine), Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine) and Troy Thibodeau (Danvers, Mass./New Hampton) and rookie Matt Bender (Walpole, Mass.) had three hits apiece to pace the Huskies attack.  Bender hit his first career home run, had two singles and drove in a season-high four runs.  Bernard had his third homer, a double and a single to knock in three.  Carey had two doubles and a single with three RBI.  Every batter in the Huskies' lineup had a hit.

            Rookie Daniel Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass./Hopedale), senior Jamill Moquete (Boston, Mass./Madison Park Tech) and junior Todd Ezold (Westfield, Mass.) had two hits apiece for the Beacons.  Senior Will Barrack (Lancaster, Va.), the second of five UMB hurlers, was saddled with the loss after allowing two runs in 2.2 innings.

            Southern Maine jumped out to a 5-0 lead in its half of the second inning.  Junior Jake Glauser (Goffstown, N.H.) ignited the outburst with an RBI single.  Thibodeau followed with another RBI single.  After UMB junior starter Josh Cummiskey (Lowell, Mass.) got two outs, Carey lashed a two-run double and scored later on sophomore Sam Dexter's (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) single.  Dexter's hit extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

            UMB came right back against Bean and Richards to score six times.  The Beacons reached Bean for three runs on three hits, a sacrifice fly and a walk before Richards got the call.  Richards struck out the first batter he faced then gave up three straight base hits that resulted in three more UMB runs.  Moquete and Ezold had RBI hits off Richards to finish the Beacon rally.

            The Beacon lead did not last long as Bender smacked a two-run homer off Barrack in the third inning.  USM added a single run against Barrack in the fourth on a Carey leadoff double and a Bernard single with two outs.

            Thibodeau had an RBI single, and Bender followed with a two-run single, in the Huskies' three-run sixth inning.  USM's final two runs came on Bernard's two-run homer in the seventh.

            Southern Maine will host Endicott College for a non-conference game on Wednesday (3:30 p.m.).  UMass Boston will entertain Roger Williams University on Wednesday (3:30 p.m.) at Campanelli Stadium. 

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