With the offensive struggling as of late, the USM baseball team put that theme to rest as plate production was in surplus on Thursday at Towers Field in Gorham.
The Huskies banged out 15 hits to beat the Colby College Mules 11-10 in a back and forth game.
Seniors Josh Mackey (Danvers, Mass.) and Mike Eaton (Sabattus), and junior David Ricker (Winthrop) paced USM with three hits apiece, and freshmen lefthander Logan Carman (Newfields, N.H.) went five innings on the mound to earn his second win of the season.
After falling behind 4-2 in the first 4 1/2 innings, the Huskies scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth off an RBI single by junior shortstop Anthony Pisani (Cheshire, Conn.), a walk to freshman Matt Powers (Portland) with the bases loaded, and a hit by pitch to sophomore Tucker White (Deerfield, N.H.) to take a 5-4 lead.
USM exploded again in the sixth, this time with six runs on five hits and one Colby error. Mackey got the ball rolling when he singled through the right side to drive in Ricker and Powers, who walked and singled, and Eaton, who was intentionally walked earlier in the inning, advanced to second on the play and scored when White tripled down the right field line, also scoring Mackey to increase the Huskies’ lead to 9-4. Freshman infielder Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner) then singled in White, and Ricker singled to the left side to drive in Chadwick for USM’s 11th run.
But as the offense picked up for USM, their defense lacked as they committed six errors and almost let an 11-4 lead in the sixth inning slip away.
The Mules scored four in the top of the seventh and two in the top of the ninth to cut the USM lead to one, 11-10, and give the Huskies a scare as darkness threatened a bottom of the ninth rebuttal if Colby were to tie it.
But USM freshman pitcher/infielder Matt Powers (Portland) proved the be the catalyst for USM as he played a solid second base, scored two runs, and shut the door on Colby in the 8th and 9th innings on the mound to end any hopes the Mules had for a comeback.
Carman gave up four runs on three hits and two walks while striking out three. 6-5 junior reliever Dustin Stanton (Cornish) came in for Carman in the 6th and pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up three unearned runs and three hits, and freshmen Nick Douglass came in to pitch the final two outs of the seventh to halt Colby’s attempt of a big inning. Although Douglass gave up two runs, he struck out Colby second baseman Taro Gold swinging to end the inning.
The Huskies, who are now 12-10 overall after breaking a four game losing streak with the Colby win, will be back in action today when they host Endicott in a make up game at Towers Field at 3:30.