Box Score Southern Maine Tops UMass Boston 6-1
GORHAM, Maine -- Junior shortstop Sam Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) went 3 for 4 with three RBI to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 6-1 victory over the visiting University of Massachusetts Boston Beacons in Little East Conference baseball action Tuesday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.
The win was the seventh straight for the 20th-ranked Huskies who were playing their home opener after 21 games on the road. The Huskies improved to 16-6 overall and moved into a tied for first place in the LEC at 5-2. The Beacons dropped their second straight game to fall back to .500 at 10-10. The Beacons are now 3-4 in LEC play.
Dexter had two doubles and a single, a sacrifice fly and made an outstanding defensive play in the sixth inning to cut down the potential tying run at the plate. Dexter drove in the Huskies' first run with a sac fly in the second inning, and had a key two-run double in a four-run uprising in the sixth.
Junior Nick DiBiase (Portland, Maine/Deering), senior Brendon Joyce (Standish, Maine/Gorham) and rookie Brandon Martins (Manorville, N.Y./Eastport South Manor) had two hits apiece for the Huskies. Joyce sparked the Huskies' sixth-inning rally with a leadoff triple.
Sophomore Zack Bean (Westbrook, Maine) and senior Andrew Richards (South Portland, Maine) combined on the hill to limit the Beacons to seven hits and one walk while fanning five. Bean went 5 2/3 innings to earn his first win of the campaign. Richards allowed only one base runner over the final 3 1/3 innings to pick up his third save of the season.
Junior Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass./Massasoit CC) and senior Todd Ezold (Westfield, Mass.) had a pair of hits for the Beacons. Ezold scored the lone UMB run in the fifth inning.
Senior Steve Roche (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter Marian), the first of five UMB hurlers, was tagged with his second loss of the season.
USM grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning as sophomore Jake Welch (Londonderry, N.H.) led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a single by Joyce. Senior Dylan Morris (Bangor, Maine) came on to pinch run for Welch, and would score on Dexter's sacrifice fly to right field.
The Huskies doubled their advantage on the fourth when DiBiase walked, moved to third on Dexter's double to left field, and scored when sophomore Paul McDonough (Wells, Maine) grounded out to first.
Ezold would score the only UMB run in the fifth when he singled, then moved around on two passed balls and a wild pitch to score.
Dexter came up big defensively in the sixth to cut down a potential tying run at the plate. With Nagle aboard on a single, junior Todd Bouvier (Salem, N.H./Northern Essex CC) singled to right with the ball getting by the right fielder for an error. Dexter took the relay throw and gunned Nagle down at the plate to preserve the Huskies' 2-1 lead. Richards came on to get Ezold on a ground ball to Dexter for the final out of the inning.
USM put the game away with four runs in the sixth. Joyce tripled and came home on a Martins single. DiBiase singled to put runners at first and second for Dexter, who greeted rookie reliever Bryan Kaufman (Farmingdale, N.Y.) with a shot off the left-field fence for a two-run double. Dexter would later steal third, and scored the final run when rookie Devin Warren (Smithfield, Maine/Messalonskee) grounded out.
Southern Maine looks to make it eight in a row on Wednesday (3:30 p.m.) when it hosts Endicott College. UMass Boston is in action tomorrow (3:30 p.m.) traveling to Roger Williams University.
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