The USM baseball team was back in action this weekend as they took on St. Joseph’s University-Long Island, beating them 8-3 in both games of a doubleheader in their home opener at the USM Baseball Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies were scheduled to travel to New York this weekend to play in the SUNY-Farmingdale Tournament after playing Old Westbury and Albertus Magnus in Long Island last weekend, but due to bad weather conditions the tournament was cancelled, and SJU-LI traveled to Gorham for what is considered to be one of the earliest home openers since the USM Baseball Stadium was built.
In cold and extremely windy conditions, the Huskies excelled as they benefitted from veteran leadership and pitching, and timely hitting at the plate to upend the Golden Eagles of SJU-LI.
In the first game, junior right-hander Ben Ives (Portland) started on the mound for USM and turned in another solid performance. Ives pitched 6 2/3 innings while giving up seven hits, three runs and striking out six, and only walking two as he picked up his second win of the season. Ives handed the ball over to classmate and right-handed relief pitcher Nick Hahn (Guilford, Conn.) in the top half of the seventh. Hahn pitched the remaining 2 1/3 innings to help the Huskies earn their third victory of the season.
“Ben really pounded the strike zone early in the game with his fastball, and his change-up allowed him to go deep in the game,” senior pitcher Andrew DeBethune said. “It’s nice to know that he can go six or seven innings every outing for us.”
USM got the scoring started quickly as freshman outfielder Tucker White (Deerfield, N.H.) was hit by a pitch on SJU pitcher Joe Benkert’s first pitch of the game. Junior OF Mike Eaton (Sebbattus) then drove in White on an RBI double over the leftfielder’s head to give the Huskies an early 1-0 lead. After sophomore catcher Lucas Marks (Orland) singled to left and sophomore infielder Anthony Pisani (Cheshire, Conn.) and White walked to load the bases in the second inning, the Huskies increased their lead to 3-0 as Eaton came through again with a two RBI double.
SJU-LI got a run back in the third inning when second baseman Mike Gerdes singled and centerfielder Ryan Carroll doubled him in to make the score 3-1. The Golden Eagles came back in the sixth inning when a single by Carroll, a walk, and a single by Prateek Thaman to right field resulted in an error by Pisani at shortstop, allowing Carroll to come around and score to make it 3-2. Designated Hitter Charles Zilnicki then hit a sac fly to right field to score Thaman to tie the game at 3-3.
That is all the Golden Eagles would get though, as the Huskies would score one run in the sixth off an RBI single from Eaton and four more in the eighth off RBI singles from White and freshman first baseman Brett Barrett (Keene, N.H.), a sacrifice fly from senior 1b/pitcher Collin Henry (Penobscot), and an error that allowed Eaton to score.
Eaton led USM at the plate as he went 3-4 with four RBI. Hahn pitched solid as he gave up three hits, while striking out two in his 2.1 innings of work.
Benkert recorded the loss as his record in the 2010 season drops to 0-2.
In the nightcap, Henry recorded the win as his season record improves to 2-0. Henry pitched 6.0 solid innings as he gave up four hits, two runs and struck out seven, while only walking one. Four relievers followed Henry on the mound while only allowing one run in three innings of work.
“I felt really good health wise. My arm and shoulder felt strong the entire game,” Henry said. “Early on I worked to establish the fastball, and in the fourth and fifth inning that’s when I started working the curveball and change-up more. I was able to keep them off balance for most of the game.”
USM got on the scoreboard first once again as they scored three runs in the third off a two RBI double from sophomore outfielder David Ricker (Winthrop) and senior infielder Josh Mackey (Danvers, Mass.) scored on an error by the shortstop after singling to start the inning. The Huskies added two more runs in the third when Ricker hit an RBI single to score Barrett who singled earlier in the inning, and freshman infielder John Carey (South Portland) scored on an error by the SJU-LI catcher, also after singling earlier in the inning.
SJU-LI got a run back in the fourth when first baseman Chris Wright hit an RBI single to right-center field to drive in Carroll to make the score 5-1. This attempt at a comeback was short-lived though as the Huskies scored two more runs in the bottom of the inning to increase their lead to six runs. The Golden Eagles scored one run in both the fifth and ninth innings, but it wasn’t enough as the Huskies went onto grab the 8-3 victory.
DeBethune (St. Albans) pitched the seventh inning, sophomore Jim Nicknair (Glenburn) pitched the eighth, and freshman Christian Hamilton (Westbrook) got two outs in the ninth before handing the ball over to sophomore utility player Zach Fernandes (Eliot) who got an SJU-LI player to ground out to end the game.
USM’s offense was powered by Ricker who went 2-2 with three RBI’s, Pisani who went 2-3 with one RBI, Mackey who went 2-4 with an RBI, and Henry who went 2-5 with one RBI.
Since it was a frigid day at the USM Baseball Stadium, the Huskies were doing everything they could to keep warm.
“We run every couple innings down the right field line to the fence and back, and just light tossing keeps you warm. I knew that I was going to be called on out of the bullpen so I was just trying to keep moving to stay loose,” DeBethune said.
This year’s USM baseball team is a lot different last year’s team that featured the likes of bashers Anthony D’Alfonso, Chris Burleson, Ryan Gaffney, and Ryan Pike. The 2010 team is more of a younger, scrappy bunch, which are traits that they’ll use to their advantage in this year’s campaign.
“Our lineup in the first game was really young and I think the young guys really stepped it up today and played extremely well,” Henry said. “Brett has been hitting fifth for us all year and is playing great. I don’t think Tucker has made an error in centerfield yet and he’s now hitting leadoff for us, and Carey is giving us a good bat in the middle of the lineup and is solid defensively. The younger guys are a huge part of our team and are going to have to step up every game for us.”
The Huskies, who are currently ranked 13th in the country in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, will be traveling to Chandler, Ariz. on Wednesday for their annual spring trip. They play their first game in Arizona on Thursday against Western New England College at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.