GORHAM, Maine -- The University of Southern Maine Huskies and Plymouth State University Panthers split their Little East Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.  The Huskies took the first game 6-2 behind a strong pitching performance by sophomore left-hander Tyler Leavitt (North Andover, Mass.).  The Panthers took the nightcap 7-1 as junior right-hander Cody Gilchrist (Tyngsboro, Mass./Bishop Guertin) limited the Huskies to five hits over eight innings.

            The split stopped the #6/#7 Huskies' nine-game winning streak and leaves them at 23-7 overall and 8-1 in conference play.  The Panthers earned their second LEC win in the last two days after beating in-state rival Keene State College on Friday, and they are now 15-13 overall and 3-6 in the conference. 

Game One

            Leavitt hurled seven shutout innings allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out four.  Leavitt got out of his only real jam in the second inning getting back-to-back ground balls for fielder's choice outs.  The sophomore southpaw improved his record to 6-1.

            Senior John Carey (South Portland, Maine) led the Huskies' 12-hit attack with a triple and two singles.  Senior Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine), junior Jake Glauser (Goffstown, N.H.) and rookie Jake Welch (Londonderry, N.H.) had two hits apiece.  Chadwick also had two RBI.

            Junior Justin Walsh (Goffstown, N.H.) had two of the Panthers four hits in the game.  Junior Josh Young (Somersworth, N.H.) went the first five innings on the hill and was tagged with the loss.  Young gave up all six runs (three earned) on eight hits and two walks while fanning three.  Rookie Kyle Sanford (Torrington, Conn.) hurled three innings of scoreless relief.

            The Huskies grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Carey tripled and scored on a double by sophomore Sam Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee).  Dexter would later score on a groundout by senior Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine).

            USM picked up three unearned runs in the fourth highlighted by Chadwick's two-run double.  The first run scored when Dexter's ground ball was misplayed for an error.

            Freshman Jake Welch (Londonderry, N.H.) brought in the Huskies final fun in the fifth inning with an RBI single that scored Glauser to make it 6-0.

            After Leavitt departed, the Panthers scored twice against a trio of Husky relievers in the eighth inning.  Sophomore Jake Broom (North Hampton, N.H./Kearsarge), who reached on an error, scored on a wild pitch.  Senior Rob Madonna (Cranston, R.I./Cranston West) would score the Panthers' second run on a double play. 

            USM junior right-hander Andrew Richards (South Portland, Maine), who came into a bases-loaded, no-out situation, got the Huskies out of the jam with the double play and a strikeout, and retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his fifth save. 

Game Two

            Gilchrist silenced the USM offense in the second game.  After giving up a run in the second inning on a double steal attempt that resulted in the final out of the frame, Gilchrist did not give up a hit until the seventh inning.

            Sophomore Patrick Cannon (Concord, N.H.), moved to the top of the PSU lineup in the nightcap, had a double and two singles and scored twice, and junior Dan Armstrong (Danville, N.H./Timberlane) had three singles, scored once and knocked in one.  Sophomore David Hall (Groton, Conn./Fitch) had two hits and two RBI.  A big blow for the Panthers was a bases-loaded triple by senior Jeff Runnals (Wolfeboro, N.H./Kingswood) in the sixth inning that resulted in three unearned runs and a 6-1 lead at the time.

            Glauser and senior Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine) had two hits apiece for the Huskies.  Sophomore right-hander Shyler Scates (Jefferson, Maine/Erskine Academy) started in the hill going 4.1 innings allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits and no walks.  Scates struck out four.

            USM took a 1-0 lead in the second inning as senior Matt Verrier (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) scored on a double steal attempt.

            Plymouth State responded in the third as Hall drove in Cannon with a two-out single.  The Panthers grabbed the lead in the fifth inning with two unearned runs against Scates.  The first run scored on a throwing error, and the second on a Hall single.

            Runnals blew the game open in the sixth with a three-run triple off Richards.  The Panthers tacked on an insurance run in the seventh on Armstrong's RBI single. 

Next Up:

            Southern Maine is off until Tuesday (3:30 p.m.) when the University of Massachusetts Boston comes to the USM Baseball Stadium for a Little East Conference game.  Plymouth State will host Keene State University on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.) for an LEC game. 

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