Box Score Southern Maine Downs Bates 8-4
GORHAM, Maine -- Junior Sam Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) drove in three runs with a home run and ground out, and scored two runs as the University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated the visiting Bates College Bobcats, 8-4, in non-conference baseball action Wednesday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.
The win was the sixth in the last seven games for the Huskies who improved to 24-10 on the season. The Bobcats dropped their fourth straight game to slip to 12-17.
Dexter broke up a scoreless game with a two-run shot to left-center field in the third inning to stake the Huskies to a 2-0 lead. The home run was the sixth of the season for Dexter. Dexter also scored a run in the fifth inning, and drove in a run in the seventh inning with a ground ball.
Junior Nick DiBiase (Portland, Maine/Deering) had a triple and single, sophomore Matt Bender (Walpole, Mass.) stroked a double and a single, and senior Dylan Morris (Bangor, Maine) had two singles for the Huskies.
Sophomore right-hander Nick George (Peabody, Mass./Malden Catholic) earned his fourth win of the season without a loss pitching six innings. George gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk while striking out three. Three relievers combined to hurl three scoreless innings.
Sophomore John Dinucci (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) had a double and single to pace the Bobcats' nine-hit attack. Senior Nate Pajka (Douglas, Mass.) and rookie Jake Shapiro (Sandy, Utah/Cottonwood) had two hits apiece.
Junior Chris Ward (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic) started on the hill for Bates and took the loss. Ward went the first four innings allowing five runs on six hits. He also hit two batters and struck out one.
After Dexter's home run in the third, the Huskies added three runs to their lead in the fourth inning. Ward hit the first two batters he faced, and freshman Thomas Zarro (Billerica, Mass.) beat out his sacrifice bunt attempt for a single to load the bases. Rookie Anthony Capuano (Bangor, Maine) brought home the first run with a sacrifice fly. Morris drove in the second run with a single. Zarro scored the third run on a fielder's choice as Morris was thrown out at second on a double steal attempt.
Bates got on the board in the fifth as Dinucci singled and took second on one of USM's six errors. He scored on Pajka's two-out single to right field.
Dexter scored in the home half of the inning on a ground out by sophomore Paul McDonough (Wells, Maine).
The Bobcats made things interesting in the sixth inning scoring three times. Junior Evan Czopek (Portland, Ore./Lincoln) drove in the first marker with a single inside third base. Senior Alex Parker (Lewiston, Maine/St. Dominic) squeezed home the second run, and Shapiro crossed the plate on an error for the third run.
The Huskies padded their lead with a pair of the insurance runs in the seventh as DiBiase tripled home sophomore Jake Welch (Londonderry, N.H.) who had reached on an error. DiBiase came home on Dexter's ground out.
Southern Maine travels to Brunswick, Maine, tomorrow afternoon (4:30 p.m.) to face Bowdoin College for a non-conference game. Bates begins a three-game home series with NESCAC rival Trinity College on Friday (3:00 p.m.) with single game.
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