GORHAM, Maine -- Freshman Cam Seymour (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) walked with the bases loaded to force in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the University of Southern Maine Huskies a 4-3 victory over the visiting Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors in the nightcap of a non-conference doubleheader Saturday at Ed Flaherty Field.
            Eastern Connecticut won the opening game of the twin bill 7-1 behind the combined five-hit pitching of junior Aidan Dunn (Westfield, Mass.) and sophomore Nathan Furino (East Haven, Conn.).
            The Huskies and Warriors, both ranked in the top 25 nationally, split their home-and-home doubleheaders.  USM now stands at 16-8 overall and 7-4 in Little East Conference play.  Eastern Connecticut is 21-4 overall and leads the LEC at 10-1.
 
Game One
            The Warriors snapped a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when junior Matt Malcom (East Lyme, Conn.) led off the frame with a walk, and senior Drew Alexopoulos (Hanson, Mass./Worcester Academy) followed with a two-run homer.  The Warriors tacked up a third run on rookie Jason Claiborn's (Prospect, Conn./Woodland Regional) RBI single.
            Southern Maine picked up its lone run on the home half of the inning as junior Sam Troiano (South Portland, Maine) led off with a doubled to center field, and senior Andrew Hillier (Bangor, Maine) brought him in with a one-out single.
            Eastern extended its lead to 5-1 in the fifth on a two-run single from junior Noah Plantamuro (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Central).  Eastern added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to account for the final tally.
            Claiborn and senior John Mesagno (Tappan, N.Y./St. Joseph's Regional) each had two hits for the Warriors.  USM sophomore Tom Vesosky (Colchester, Vt.) had two of the Huskies' five hits in the game.
            Dunn went 6.2 innings allowing the lone run on four hits and three walks.  He struck out five.  Furino came on to go the final 2.1 innings surrendering just one hit and striking out four to earn his third save.
            USM junior starting pitcher Joshua Joy (Smithfield, Maine/Messalonskee) took the loss.
 
Game Two
            Southern Maine took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly from senior Andrew Olszak (Danvers, Mass.) and an RBI single from senior Dylan Hapworth (Winslow, Maine).
            The Huskies protected the lead behind the outstanding pitching of junior right-hander James Sinclair (Portland, Maine/Deering).  Sinclair pitched 6.2 innings of shutout baseball allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out five.  He did not figure in the decision.
            Eastern erased the two-run deficit with one swing of the bat as junior Dean Slavin (Tappan, N.Y.) hit a three-run homer to right-center field in the top of the eighth.  The homer was the fourth of the season for Slavin.
            Down to their final three outs, the Huskies loaded the bases when sophomore Jonathan Wilson (East Granby, Conn.) was hit by a pitch, a bunt single from junior Jason Komulainen (Gorham, Maine) and an infield error on Vesosky's sacrifice bunt attempt.  Olszak delivered the tying run with a single up the middle.  After an infield popout, Seymour walked to force in Komulainen with the winning run.
            Seymour and Hapworth led the Huskies' 10-hit attack with a pair of hits.  Olszak had two RBI.  Senior Gage Feeney (Cutler, Maine/Washington Academy) picked up the win in relief to raise his record to 3-2.
            Eastern was limited to just six hits in the game.  Senior Bryan Albee (Killingly, Conn.), who was the winner in Friday's 10-9, extra-inning game at Eastern, was saddled with the loss.
 
Up Next
            Southern Maine will play a single Little East Conference game on Tuesday hosting the University of Massachusetts Boston at Ed Flaherty Field.  Eastern Connecticut will travel to Castleton University next Friday (April 30) for an LEC doubleheader.