Box Score Richards Sets Career Record with 25th Win
NORTHBORO, Mass. -- Senior right-hander Andrew Richards (South Portland, Maine) pitched four innings in relief to earn his seven win of the season, and in the process set the school record for career wins, as the University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated the Framingham State University Rams, 12-8, Sunday afternoon at the Northeast Baseball Complex.
The win was the sixth straight for the Huskies who improved to 15-6 overall. The Rams drop to 14-9 overall. The teams are scheduled to play again in two weeks at USM.
Richards came on in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. He induced a fielder's choice for the first out that allowed senior Billy Derosier (Shrewsbury, Mass./Holy Name) to score. After a failed pickoff attempt allowed senior Ivan Colon (Waltham, Mass.) to score the tying run, Richards struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning with the score tied at 6-6.
The Huskies came right back in their half of the inning scoring four times to regain the lead. Sophomore Damon Wallace (Gorham, Maine) drove home the first two runs with a one-out double. Freshman Devin Warren (Smithfield, Maine/Messalonskee) followed with a double to score Wallace, and senior Brendon Joyce (Standish, Maine/Gorham) singled in Warren with the fourth run.
Southern Maine tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning on a bases loaded walk to sophomore Paul McDonough (Wells, Maine), and Wallace forced home another run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases full.
Richards surrendered a pair of runs in the eighth inning on an RBI double by senior John Gill (Hudson, Mass.) and a ground out by senior Matt Gerard (Milford, Mass.) before retiring the side in order in the ninth. Richards struck out the final two batters to finish with seven strikeouts. The win was the 25th of his USM career, surpassing Robert Aceto (1988-91) and Denny Webber (1997-2000) who had 24 victories.
The Huskies built a 5-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run by junior Sam Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee), a sacrifice fly from Warren and a three-run homer by sophomore Jake Welch (Londonderry, N.H.). Four of the five runs were unearned as the Huskies benefitted from two Ram errors.
The Rams came back in the fourth inning as Colon hit a three-run home run off USM junior starter Dan Kinnon (Londonderry, N.H.). The Huskies got one run back in the inning on rookie Thomas Zarro's (Billerica, Mass.) solo homer.
Dexter, McDonough, Warren and Joyce had two hits apiece for the Huskies. Wallace, Warren and Welch each had three RBI.
Rookie Jordan Pallazola (Rockport, Mass./Gloucester) was the lone repeat hitter for the Rams. Colon scored a pair of runs and had three RBI. Junior starter Dillon Corliss (Winterport, Maine/Hampden Academy) was tagged with his fourth loss against two wins after giving up seven runs (three earned) in 5 1/3 innings.
Southern Maine returns home to host the University of Massachusetts Boston in a Little East Conference game. Framingham State has a rescheduled game tomorrow night (7:00 p.m.) at Fisher College.
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