GORHAM, Maine -- Senior John Carey (South Portland, Maine) went 4 for 4 with a run scored and two RBI as the #5/#6 University of Southern Maine Huskies built an early 6-0 lead and held off the visiting University of Massachusetts Beacons for a 7-4 victory in Little East Conference baseball action Tuesday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.

            The win improved the Huskies overall mark to 24-7.  The Huskies remain atop the LEC standings with a 9-1 record.  The Beacons lost their third straight to slip to 13-16 overall and 4-6 in LEC play.

            Led by Carey, the Huskies knocked out 13 hits against four Beacon hurlers.  Junior Jake Glauser (Goffstown, N.H.) and sophomore Nick DiBiase (Portland, Maine/Deering) had a pair hits.

            Rookie right-hander Zack Bean (Westbrook, Maine) improved his record to 3-0 on the season with help from four relievers.  Bean worked 5.1 innings allowing two unearned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out one.

            Rookie Daniel Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass./Hopedale Jr.-Sr.) and senior Jose Pena (Boston, Mass./O'Bryant) had two hits apiece for the Beacons.  Pena drove in three runs with two doubles and Mantoni had the other RBI.

            Senior Daniel Heefner (Tracy, Calif.) started on the mound for the Beacons and took the loss.  Heefner pitched the first three innings allowing three runs, only one earned, on six hits and one walk while fanning two.

            USM built their early lead scoring single runs in each of the first three innings against Heefner before tacking up three runs on the fourth inning off senior reliever Tom Cole (Mattapoisett, Mass.).  Senior Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) drove in rookie Paul McDonough (Wells, Maine) in the first with a sacrifice fly.  Carey drove in the run in the second inning with a single, and senior Matt Verrrier's (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) double brought home Chadwick in the third.

            In the fourth, the Huskies loaded the bases with two outs before senior Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine) singled to plate one run.  Verrier was hit by a pitch to force home the second marker, and Glauser singled home Chadwick with the third run.

            The Beacons struck for a pair of unearned runs against Bean in the fifth inning.  Mantoni drove in senior Jamil Moquete (Boston, Mass./Madison Park Tech Voke), who had reached on an infield error, with a single, and scored when Pena doubled to left field.  Bean got out of the inning getting the next batter to fly out.

            Carey singled home DiBiase in the Huskies' half of the fifth to push the lead up to 7-2.

            Neither team scored over the next three innings.  The Beacons made things interesting in the ninth scoring a pair of runs on Pena's second double.  USM junior reliever Andrew Richards (South Portland, Maine) prevented any further damage getting a couple of groundouts to end the game.

            Southern Maine is back in action Wednesday afternoon (3:30 p.m.) hosting Babson College for a non-conference game.  UMass Boston will host Lesley College at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Mass., tomorrow (3:30 pm.).

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