Box Score Martins Goes 4-for-5 as Huskies Get 19 Hits
GORHAM, Maine -- Sophomore Brandon Martins (Manorville, N.Y./Eastport South Manor) went 4-for-5 with three RBI to lead the University of Southern Maine's 19-hit attack as the 18th-ranked Huskies defeated the visiting Wheaton College Lyons 13-7 in a non-conference game Sunday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.
The win was the second straight, and 11th in the last 12 games, for the Huskies who are now 18-6 overall. The Lyons had their 10-game winning streak snapped by the loss to fall to 21-7 overall. The two teams will meet again next Sunday at Sidell Stadium in Norton, Mass.
The teams combined for 37 hits in the game. Southern Maine had 18 singles among its 19 hits. Wheaton had five extra-base hits sprinkled among its 18 hits, but could not get the timely base hit as the Lyons left 15 runners on base.
Joining Martins on the hit parade for Southern Maine were senior Sam Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) and junior Paul McDonough (Wells, Maine) with three singles apiece. McDonough also scored four runs in the game. Freshman Kip Richard (Kennebunk, Maine) had a pair of hits and four RBI.
Junior Joshua LaJoie (Somers, Conn./Avon Old Farms) and senior Matt Lavanchy (Walpole, Mass.) had big afternoons at the plate for the Lyons. LaJoie was 5-for-6 with two runs scored and one RBI while Lavanchy was 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
USM senior reliever Dan Kinnon (Londonderry, N.H.) picked up his second win of the season against two losses. Kinnon hurled two innings allowing two runs on three hits and no walks while fanning one.
Wheaton sophomore starter Jimmy Gowen (Brielle, N.J./St. Rose), one of six pitchers used, was tagged with the loss.
The Lyons took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when sophomore Ryan McKeon (Johnston, R.I.) delivered a run with a foul ball sacrifice fly. USM starter Henry Curran (South Portland, Maine) had loaded the bases on walks to juniors Zach Goodwin-Boyd (Florence, Mass./Northampton) and Joey Santigate (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) and a single by rookie Jared Sharkey (West Bridgewater, Mass.) before McKeon's sac fly. Curran got out of the inning on another fly ball out.
Southern Maine came back to score twice in the second and third innings to take a 4-1 lead. In the second, Richard tied the game with a sacrifice fly and sophomore Thomas Zarro (Billerica, Mass.) drove in the go ahead run with a single up the middle. McDonough and Martins had RBI singles to bring home the two runs in the third.
Wheaton got one run back in the fourth as Sharkey led off the inning with a triple and scored on McKeon's second sacrifice fly.
Southern Maine sent 10 men to the plate in its half of the fourth scoring five times, highlighted by Martins two-run single and an RBI single by Richard.
LaJoie sparked a two-run uprising in the sixth for the Lyons with an RBI double, and later scored on a single by Goodwin-Boyd. The Huskies responded by scoring four times on a two-run single from Richard, an RBI double from Zarro and an RBI single from sophomore Nick Bowie (South Paris, Maine/Oxford Hills) to make it 13-4.
Wheaton added twice in the eighth on a double from freshman Tyler Walsh (Cumberland, R.I.), and once in the ninth on Lavanchy's RBI single to account for the final tally.
Southern Maine travels to Boston on Tuesday (3:00 p.m.) to play a Little East Conference game at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Wheaton will host the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for a NEWMAC game on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.).
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