MANSFIELD, Conn. -- Senior Gavin Lavallee's (New Milford, Conn.) seventh-inning solo home run proved to be the difference as the top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors defeated the second-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies, 6-5, in the championship game of the 2014 Little East Conference Championship Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

            The win was the 10th straight for the Warriors (32-7) who will receive the LEC's automatic berth into the 2014 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Tournament that begins next week with eight regional tournaments.  The Warriors were unbeaten in the tournament winning four straight games to take home their first title since 2009, and their eighth in the 18-year history of the LEC championship.

            The Huskies (31-12), who came through the elimination bracket with two wins on Friday needed to defeat the Warriors twice on Saturday to win their third straight LEC tournament title.  The Huskies will await Monday's NCAA tournament field announcement for a possible at-large berth.  The NCAA regional tournament will begin on Wednesday at Whitehouse Field in Harwich, Mass.

            Lavallee drove a pitch from sophomore left-hander Dan Kinnon (Londonderry, N.H.) over the left-field fence with two outs in the seventh to give the Warriors a 6-4 edge at the time.  The homer was Lavallee's third of the season.

            USM cut the margin to one in the bottom half of the frame as junior Jake Glauser (Goffstown, N.H.) led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Nick DiBiase (Portland, Maine/Deering).  Sophomore Sam Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) delivered Glauser with a sacrifice fly to right field.

            The Huskies dodged a bullet in the eighth inning getting a double play to end the inning and keep the deficit at one.  Senior Matt Verrier (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) led off the ninth inning being hit by a pitch from sophomore closer Adam Merritt (Seymour, Conn.), and advanced into scoring position on a one-out passed ball.  Merritt would prevail striking out the side to earn his sixth save.

            The game opened with both teams scoring multiple times in the first inning. The Warriors plated three runs on RBI singles by senior Nik Ververis (Plainfield, Conn.) and Lavallee, and a sacrifice fly from junior Kyle Hart (Guilford, Conn.).

            USM struck right back putting four runs up on the board.  Senior Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) doubled home two runs and would tie the score on a double by senior Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine).  Senior Troy Thibodeau (Danvers, Mass.) put the Huskies ahead 4-3 with a two-out double to score Bernard.

            Eastern Connecticut took the lead for good scoring twice in the fourth inning.  Senior Brendan Lynch (Wethersfield, Conn.) brought in the tying run with a sacrifice fly, and Ververis brought home junior Corey Keane (Tolland, Conn.) with the go ahead run with a single up the middle.

            Tournament Most Outstanding Player Mike Vaccarelli (Wolcott, Conn.), Keane, Ververis and Lavallee had two hits apiece for the Warriors.  Senior right-hander Pat Barnett (Windsor, Conn.) went eight innings to pick up his seventh win of the season against no losses.  Barnett allowed five runs on eight hits while walking none and striking out two.

            Dexter was the Huskies' lone hitter with two hits.  Five of the Huskies' eight hits were doubles.  Sophomore right-hander Ryan Browner (Georgetown, Mass.), the second of four hurlers used by USM, was tagged with his first loss of the season. 

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