 |
| Ben Grant-Roy
'10 |
 |
Chris Dion '11 |
 |
|
Dustin Spiller '08 |
GORHAM, ME - St. Joe's scored four runs in the final
two innings to overcome an early 5-1 deficit and defeat Southern Maine,
7-6 on Thursday afternoon. SR Luke Enman
(Milan, NH) provided the clutch hit in the 8th inning with a two-RBI
single to tie the game and SR Dustin Spiller
(Gorham, ME) scored the game-winning run on a USM miscue. FY Chris
Dion (Lawrence, MA) threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings
in relief to earn the win and SO Andrew Keirstead
(Westbrook, ME) came on in the ninth to close out the game for his
first save of the season. Spiller, SO Ben-Grant-Roy
(Biddeford, ME) and FY Ian Lee (Hampden,
ME) all recorded three hits in the victory.
SO Collin Henry (Penobscot, ME) recorded an RBI single and SO Josh
Mackey (Danvers, MA) hit a three-run home run as the Huskies scored
four runs off of four hits in the first inning to stake an early 4-0
lead.
Ben Grant-Roy led off the top of
the second inning with a booming solo home run to left-center to reduce
the USM lead to 4-1. The big fly was his team-leading fifth of the
season.
Southern Maine responded in the bottom of the second with 2 runs as
Henry singled home FY Grey Goodrich (Amesbury, MA) and FY Mike Eaton
(Sabattus, ME) scored on an SJC misplayed ball.
The Monks chipped away at the USM lead with two runs in the top of
the fourth inning. SO Ian Lee (Hampden,
ME) sent Grant-Roy across the plate with a single
and later scored on a FY Eric LaBatte
(Rochester, NH) double to the left-center gap to make the score 6-3,
Southern Maine.
An error by the Huskies opened the door for the Monks to score three
run and tie the game, 6-6, in the top of the eighth inning. The error,
a dropped pop-up by the Southern Maine shortstop, scored LaBatte
and with two outs and bases loaded, Luke Enman
laced a single off of relief pitcher JR Andrew Stacy (Denmark, ME)
just beyond the diving attempt of USM leftfielder JR Anthony D’Alphonso
(Westbrook, ME) to plate JR Wade Oliver
(Owls Head, ME) and FY John Swasey
(South Berwick, ME) to tie the game.
Dustin Spiller led off the top of
the ninth with an excellent at-bat that resulted in a two-strike single
to left field. Next up for the Monks was SO Pat Moran
(Winterport, ME), who placed a sacrifice bunt down the first base
line to move Spiller to second. The Huskies intentionally
walk Ian Lee in an attempt to provide
the force out at second base for the double play. The strategy nearly
worked as USM reliever JR Tim Therrian (New Portland, ME) was able
to get Eric LaBatte to hit a groundball
to third, but after a good feed to get the force at second, the Southern
Maine second baseman made a throwing error to first base that allowed
Spiller to score, giving the Monks a 7-6 lead.
SO Billy Creed (Boston, MA) and
Chris Dion both pitched in relief
of starter SR David Doucette (Ipswich,
MA) and combined to hold the Huskies scoreless for 6.2 innings, Andrew
Keirstead came on in the ninth to close out the game.
The crafty southpaw did just that, as he struck out one batter and
induced two weakly hit groundballs to end the game with the Monks
on top, 7-6.
The Monks infield chipped in with four double plays in the game.
Therrian takes the loss for Southern Maine after allowing one unearned
run in 1.1 innings of work. Colin Henry paced the Huskies with three
hits and also recorded two RBI’s in the loss.
St. Joe’s will host Norwich University (VT) in a conference
doubleheader on Friday, April 18th with the first game scheduled to
start at 3:00 PM.
