GORHAM, Maine  –  Senior Belle Snyder (Epping, N.H.) connected on an inside-the-park walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 5-4 win over the UMass Boston Beacons in the second game of a Little East Conference doubleheader.  Southern Maine split with the Beacons dropping game one 15-0 before bouncing back in game two.
 
Sophomore Lexus McIntosh (Lancaster, N.H./White Mountains Regional) earned her 13^th win of the season going seven full and allowing two earned runs on seven hits. She had six strikeouts and did not yield a walk. 
 
Series Record:
Today's doubleheader marked the 58^th and 59^th meeting between the University of Southern Maine Huskies and the UMass Boston Beacons.  Southern Maine leads the overall series 43-16.  The Huskies also split with the Beacons in the regular season, and earned a narrow 2-0 win over UMB in the Little East Conference tournament.  The Huskies have won eight of the last 11 games over UMass Boston, and are 3-2 in the last five.
 
Records:
GM 1 – UMass Boston 15, Southern Maine 0  (5 inn)
UMass Boston (26-9, 9-4 LEC)              122 37   15-16-2
Southern Maine (23-10, 7-6 LEC)           000 00     0-2-1
 
Game 1 - Pitching Record:
WP:  Brianna Melchionda (12-2), 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 Ks
LP:  Belle Snyder (7-4), 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
 
 
GM 2 – Southern Maine 5, UMass Boston 4
UMass Boston (26-10, 9-5 LEC)             000 400 0   4-7-1
Southern Maine (24-10, 8-6 LEC)           200 200 1   5-7-1
 
Game 2 - Pitching Record:
WP:  Lexus McIntosh (13-4), 7.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
LP:  Jacqueline Cherry (10-4), 6.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
 
 
How It Happened: Game One – UMass Boston 15, USM 0 (5 Inn)

• UMB starter Brianna Melchionda fired the shutout in game one for the Beacons giving up just two hits (in the seventh inning) and striking out seven batters to earn the win.
• The Beacons combined for 16 hits off of five different Husky pitchers in the opener. Melchionda led UMB with four RBI in game one, including a two-run home run.  Six of the Beacons' 16 hits were for extra bases.
• Up 8-0 headed to the top of the fifth, UMB scored seven runs in the top of the fifth to seal the game. UMB collected six of their 16 hits in the fifth, including a two-run single from Melchionda and a two-run double from Lauryn Bethea.
• Senior Meaghan Dufresne (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester Regional) and sophomore Olivia Levasseur (Amesbury, Mass.) each had a single for Southern Maine.

 
 
How It Happened: Game Two – Southern Maine 5 UMass Boston 4

• Behind another strong effort in the circle from McIntosh, Southern Maine jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. McIntosh retired the Beacons in order to start the game, and the Huskies used a two-run double down the left field line from senior Rona Scott (Beverly, Mass.) to jump ahead 2-0. 
• McIntosh continued to control the game benefitting from outstanding double play effort from senior shortstop Madi Day (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) in the second inning, and getting three consecutive groundouts to Levasseur at third base in the third.
• The Beacons took the lead from the Huskies in the top of the fourth, using five hits and a costly two-run error.  After getting the first out, the Beacons got seeing-eye singles from Haley Tilberry and Melchionda to put runners on before Hayley Krockta drilled a two-run double to the fence in center field to tie the game up at 2-2.  After another single to put runners on the corners, McIntosh got the second out of the inning on a grounder, but a Huskies' fielding error on the next play scored two more for a 4-2 UMB lead.  McIntosh ended the inning with a strikeout but Southern Maine trailed by two runs.
• The Huskies bounced right back in the bottom of the fourth, however. Scott led off the inning with a single, and a fielding error for the Beacons gave USM two runners on base with no outs.  Senior Makena Mulcahy (Auburn, Mass.) evened the score with a double to the gap in right.  With no outs, and a runner in scoring position, UMB starter Jacqueline Cherry was able to retire the next three batters consecutively to end the threat.
• After a quiet fifth, UMB threatened for a run in the sixth as Lauren Miner had a single and oved up to third with a stolen base and a ground out, but McIntosh stranded her picking up her seventh strikeout of the game.  In the home half of the sixth, USM also stranded a runner, sending the game to the seventh with the score tied at 4-4.
• McIntosh worked quickly getting three straight ground outs all to Day at shortstop and giving the Huskies a chance in the bottom of the inning.  With the Beacons' defense shifted in to combat Snyder's slap-hitting, the Huskies' senior connected on the first pitch slapping it to right field and then used her speed on the base path to earn the win. 

 
Inside the Stats:

• Snyder's home run is the first of her career, and just the sixth extra base hit of her career.  A career .311 hitter, Snyder is 96 for 309 – and has 90 career singles. 

 
Up Next:
Southern Maine closes out its regular season on the road at Western Connecticut State University on Friday (2:00 pm) in a Little East Conference doubleheader.      
 
 
-cac-