Southern Maine Defeats Bowdoin 5-4
GORHAM, Maine   –  Junior Evan Baschnagel (Garden City, NY/Chaminade) drove in the game-deciding run in the top of the eighth, and freshman Hayden Strout (Charleston, Maine/Foxcroft Academy) threw seven strong innings to earn his second win of the season as the University of Southern Maine Huskies rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Bowdoin College Polar Bears 5-4 in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday evening at Pickard Field.
 
 
Records:
Southern Maine (9-3)             002 200 010    5-6-0                          
Bowdoin College (6-7)            200 000 002    4-7-1
 
Today's game marked the 68^th meeting between the Huskies and Polar Bears.  Southern Maine leads the overall series 50-18. Southern Maine and Bowdoin split the 2025 series with each team winning at home. Southern Maine earned a 10-7 win in the last game on April 15, 2025.
 
Pitching Records:
WP: SM, Hayden Strout (2-1), 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks
LP:  BC, Rudy Gately, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 HPB,
SV: SM, Charlie Hudson (Sv, 2), 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks
 
 
How It Happened:

• Bowdoin led 2-0 early scoring a pair of runs in its first turn at the plate.  The Polar Bears used a pair of singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch to generate their runs.  After a lead off walk and a steal put Conor Moriarty at second, Liam Foley single to right to push Moriarity to third.  Lukas Tsai grounded out to second for an RBI putting Bowdoin ahead 1-0.  Following an outfield fly out, Bowdoin had runners on first and second with two away before Finn Cahill singled to left driving in the next run.
• Facing off in a bullpen day, the Husky hitters saw 10 Bowdoin pitchers throughout the contest. In the second, USM had a leadoff runner on as senior Chris Quigley (Halifax, Mass./Silver Lake Regional) drew the walk, but a double-play ball and a caught stealing play halted any runs.
• Strout settled in in the second working around a single and a double to keep the game at 2-0. Strout helped his own cause picking off Cal Thompson at first following his one-out single.
• Southern Maine tied the game up in the top of the third.  USM had two base runners quickly as junior Carter Higgins (Truro, Nova Scotia) and Baschnagel reached on a walk and a hit-by-pitch respectively.  Senior Kyle Douin (Augusta, Maine/Cony) drove in the Huskies' first run. With a single to left scoring Higgins and moving Baschnagel to third.  Junior Peter Keblinksy (Ellsworth, Maine) made to a 2-2 game one batter later with a sacrifice fly RBI to center field before Bowdoin's Liam Childs got the next two outs. In the bottom of the inning, Strout worked another strong inning in the third, getting a double-play ground ball and another ground out to keep the game at 2-2.
• Southern Maine took the lead 4-2 in the top of the fourth.  Quigley reached safely after being hit by a pitch for the Huskies and then stole second to put himself in scoring position.  After a walk to freshman Kaiden Morin (Brewer, Maine) gave the Huskies runners on first and second with two outs, Baschnagel hit a long fly ball to right and reached safely on a dropped fly ball as both Quigley and Morin scored a pair of unearned runs for the lead.
• Up 4-2, Strout retired the next nine Bowdoin hitters in order to bring the game to the top of the eighth.  USM pushed one more run across in the eighth as Morin singled to the gap in right to lead off, and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt from Higgins.  With an RBI waiting, Baschnagel made it 5-2 with an RBI to center field.
• Freshman Charlie Hudson (South Berwick, Maine/Marshwood) entered in relief of Strout to start the bottom of the eighth.  Hudson got a pair of fly balls to right field to start the inning before yielding a double to Foley, but came right back with a strikeout to keep his team ahead 5-2.
• After a quiet top of the ninth from the Huskies, Hudson allowed the first two hitters on with an infield single and a hit-by-pitch, allowing Cahill to drive in a run with a single to right for a 5-3 game.  Hudson got his first out with a ground out to third before giving up another run on a sacrifice fly to center field from Will Cooke for a 5-4 game with two outs. With a runner on third, Hudson came up big closing the game with a strikeout for the 5-4 win and the save.

 
Up Next:
Southern Maine remains on the road and travels to RV Endicott on Wednesday (3:30 pm). Southern Maine is slated for its home opener on Saturday, March 28 (12:00 pm) hosting Rhode Island College, and then a Sunday doubleheader with No. 6 Salve Regina (1:00 pm).
 
 
 
-cac-