Box Score Southern Maine Downs Rhode Island College 6-2
GORHAM, Maine -- Junior left-hander Tyler Leavitt (North Andover, Mass.) pitched seven strong innings as the top-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated third-seeded Rhode Island College 6-2 Thursday afternoon in Game Five of the six-team, double-elimination Little East Conference Baseball Championship Tournament being played at the USM Baseball Stadium.
The win was the third straight for the Huskies who improve to 29-12 overall and 2-0 in the tournament. With their second loss in the tournament, the Anchormen were eliminated and finished the season 21-13.
Leavitt picked up his fifth win of the season after allowing two runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk. He struck out six. Leavitt has now allowed just three earned runs in his last 31 innings on the hill.
Senior reliever Andrew Richards (South Portland, Maine) pitched two hitless innings to earn his ninth save of the season. The only Anchormen to reach base against Richards came on an infield error.
Junior Sam Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee), senior Dylan Morris (Bangor, Maine), sophomore Matt Bender (Walpole, Mass.) and rookie Devin Warren (Smithfield, Maine/Messalonskee) had two hits apiece for the Huskies. Sophomore Paul McDonough (Wells, Maine) drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and a fielder's choice.
Juniors Matt Foley (Seekonk, Mass.) and Angelo St. Laurent (Cranston, R.I.) had a pair of safeties for Rhode Island College. Junior starting pitcher Dylan Pingitore (Johnston, R.I.) did not make it through the first inning and was tagged with his second loss of the season against three wins.
After Leavitt escape a two-on, one-out situation in the first inning by getting a lineout double play, Southern Maine put three runs up on the board and knocked Pingitore from the game. Dexter and McDonough walked with one out. Bender followed with a single to drive in Dexter. Sophomore Jake Welch (Londonderry, N.H.) brought McDonough home with a sacrifice fly. Bender came around to score on Warren's double to center field.
Leavitt surrendered a run in the second as St. Laurent doubled into short right field. After a walk, junior Gian Abbruzzese (North Providence, R.I.) singled to right field to deliver St. Laurent.
Junior Nick DiBiase (Portland, Maine/Deering) and Dexter had back-to-back triples, and McDonough had a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to produce two runs for a 5-1 USM lead.
The Anchormen nicked Leavitt for an unearned run in the sixth to close the gap top 5-2. Foley singled to left and went all the way around to third when the ball got by the outfielder for a two-base error. Foley scored when senior Patrick Rogers (Waterford, Conn.) grounded out to Dexter.
DiBiase scored an insurance run in the eighth as he walked and moved to third on a Dexter single. The Anchormen tried for an inning-ending double play on McDonough's ground ball, but the sophomore beat the play at first for a fielder's choice as DiBiase scored.
In other games Thursday, Eastern Connecticut State University defeated Western Connecticut State University 8-5, in an elimination game, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth defeated the University of Massachusetts Boston 12-3 in a winner's bracket game.
Friday's schedule will have the two undefeated teams, USM and UMass Dartmouth, playing in Game Seven at 9:30 a.m. In Game Eight, Eastern Connecticut will play UMass Boston at 12:30 p.m. Game Nine will feature the winner of Game Eight playing the loser of Game Seven at 3:30 p.m.
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Game Four
Eastern Conn. 8, Western Conn. 5
GORHAM, Maine – Freshman left-hander Jacob Smith (East Longmeadow, MA) pitched 3 2/3 innings of hitless relief and Eastern Connecticut State University's five second-inning runs held up as the fifth-seeded Warriors eliminated sixth-seeded Western Connecticut State University from the 2015 Little East Conference baseball tournament with an 8-5 win Thursday morning at the USM Baseball Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern Maine.
