By River Plouffe Vogel, Sports Editor
Headlining a successful month for USM Athletics is the baseball team. They are 8-0 so far in the month of April, and doing so in a dominating fashion. They capped off this week by taking down the Western Connecticut State University Colonials in a double header this Friday , April 13. In the first game junior Dalton Rice (Waterford, Maine/Oxford Hills) pitched eight innings allowing only two runs over four hits and two walks, while striking out ten in total. The game was tied 2-2 through the fifth inning until junior Devin Warren (Smithfield, Maine/Messalonskee) hit his second home run of the season. The Huskies didn’t look back after that and downed the Colonials 9-2.
In the second game of the double header, the Huskies continued their strong pitching. Sophomore Gage Feeney (Cutler, Maine/Washington Academy) kept the first seven innings scoreless, only giving up five singles and walking two. After Feeney’s impressive seven innings sophomore Ben Lambert (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) came in to close out the game. Lambert pitched the last two innings scorching the lineup for the Colonials, striking out five of six batters he faced in the two innings. It was the second shutout for the Huskies’ pitching staff in the last four games.
The previous shutout came against Colby College on Wednesday, April 11. Freshman right-hander James Sinclair (Portland, Maine/Deering) combined with junior Ryan Gaydou (Dartmouth, Mass.) helped beat Colby 8-0 in the first shutout of the season for the Huskies.
Junior Jake Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee), who is the Free Press athlete of the week, continued his strong play, driving in the final two runs in the first game of the double header and crushed a triple that scored another two runs to close out the second game. Dexter finished the second game going 4 for 5 at bat, including three runs batted in (RBI).
Also bringing a strong offensive game was junior Zach Quintal (Eliot, Maine/Marshwood), who had a double in the first game and a triple in the second. The triple came when the bases were loaded, bringing home three runs for the Huskies before scoring a fourth run himself.
The Huskies are currently 16-6 overall and 5-1 in conference play. The season still has a lot of games left to go, and the team is getting hot at the right time. In fact they haven’t lost since March 17, when they were visiting Florida for a week of play. Their next game is Tuesday away, against University of Massachusetts Boston, at 3 p.m.