The USM baseball team came into Saturday’s doubleheader against Rhode Island College after playing five games in five days last week, and their fatigue showed in the first game as they were downed 8-3 by the Anchormen.
The Huskies capped a tremendous comeback in the nightcap, though, coming from nine down in the first inning to eventually tie the score at ten in the sixth. They took the lead for good, 14-13, in the eighth on an RBI single by junior shortstop Anthony Pisani (Cheshire, Conn.) and a two-run double by speedy junior outfielder Roberto Valenti (Lawrence, Mass.) to claim their 13th win of the season.
USM Assistant Coach and former three-time All-American Bob Prince said last week that for the Huskies to get through the this stretch of games, they would have to focus on the “next pitch and the next play,” and not “get caught up thinking ahead.”
This was exactly what they did, as they chipped away at the Anchormen to win a hard-fought battle that featured timely hitting and great relief pitching.
USM senior outfielder Mike Eaton (Sabbattus) hit his eighth and ninth home runs to go along with two other hits in the second game, which were good for five RBIs to help lead the Huskies to victory. Junior pitcher Dustin Stanton (Cornish) came on to pitch for junior starter Greg Holmes in the top of the first, providing 7.2 innings of solid relief before giving the ball to senior Ben Ives who closed out the final two outs for his first save of 2011.
RIC jumped ahead 9-0 in the top of the first, sparked by junior Kyle Allaire’s three-run double, a pair of two-run doubles by senior Gary Levesque and junior Dan Hopkins, and two USM infield errors.
USM answered with five of their own in the bottom of the inning off a two-run double by Eaton, RBI doubles by senior Josh Mackey (Danvers, Mass.) and junior Lucas Marks (Orland), and an RBI fielder’s choice ground ball off the bat of freshman outfielder Charlie Partridge (Augusta).
The Huskies would storm back again in the second when Eaton hit his first home run of the day, a two-run shot to cut the RIC lead to 10-6, and would tie it at ten in the sixth on Eaton’s solo homer to center and freshman Forrest Chadwick’s RBI single through the right side.
USM got some more run support in the seventh when Valenti hit an RBI single down the left field line to give the Huskies an 11-10 lead, but the Anchormen countered the USM offense with a two-run top of the eighth, courtesy of a two-run home run by Hopkins to reclaim the lead 12-11.
USM sophomore outfielder Tucker White (Deerfield, N.H.) reached on a catcher’s interference call in the bottom of the eighth and advanced to second on a sacrifice ground ball by Chadwick, which set up Pisani’s RBI single. Valenti doubled down the left field line the next at bat, giving the Huskies a 14-12 lead.
The Anchormen made an attempt at a comeback in the ninth on an RBI fielder’s choice ground ball to shortstop by Allaire, but Ives got senior second baseman Andrew Sceeles to ground out to third for the final out.
In game one, Levesque started on the mound and didn’t give a hit up through the first four innings, as he went seven innings giving up seven hits, while striking out five and walking none to get the win.
RIC sophomore Kevin Carey had two hits and two RBIs in the game, and junior J.P. Stone and Hopkins each had three hits. Mackey got the first hit off Levesque, a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth.
Valenti was 3-6 on the day with three RBIs, White was 4-8 with three runs scored, and Mackey finished 4-9 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
The Huskies will play four times this week, beginning with games at home against UMass Boston on Tuesday and St. Joseph’s on Wednesday, before traveling to Plymouth State on Saturday for an LEC doubleheader at noon.