Box Score
HARWICH, Mass. – Top-seed and nationally No. 8/14 Southern Maine took advantage of costly Western New England errors to storm back from 5-0 down to take a 6-5 victory in Game 7 of the 2013 NCAA Division III New England Regional Baseball Championship on Thursday at Whitehouse Field. The loss snapped the Golden Bears' five-game winning streak at this site, dating back to 2011.
The Huskies (39-7) continue through the winners' bracket and will play No. 3 Endicott, while the Golden Bears (32-12) drop to the losers' bracket and will face No. 6 St. Joseph's (Maine) at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Southern Maine tied a school record for wins in a season, set by the 1997 team that won the national title.
Senior
Kyle McKelvey led a 13-hit Western New England attack with a solo home run and a RBI-single. Seniors
Taylor Perun and
Mike Rubino, junior
Jeff Schult, sophomore
Steve Buckley and freshman
Tim Budd also rapped two hits apiece.
Southern Maine tied the game at 5-all in the top of the seventh inning on a run-scoring double to center field by Chris Bernard. Two batters later, the Huskies took their first lead with two outs when Matt Verrier lifted a pop-up but second baseman
Tim Clark couldn't squeeze it for the final out, allowing Bernard to score from second.
Things started well enough for Western New England who took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when McKelvey lined a single down the left field line to score Rubino, and then Buckley notched a run-producing double two frames later to put the Golden Bears up 2-0.
In the fourth, Budd hit a triple to the right-center gap to score Buckley and then Budd scampered home on a solo base-knock by Schult. The Golden Bears capped off the rally with a solo homer in the fifth by McElvey for his third blast of the season.
Southern Maine took advantage of a WNE fielding error to get back in the game with four runs in the sixth inning. Tucker White was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. Nick Grady then hit what appeared to be a tailor-made double play ball to McKelvey at shortstop, who was unable to corral the grounder. The Huskies capitalized immediately as Bernard laced a single to left field to plate White for USM's first run of the afternoon.
With USM runners on second and third base, Western New England thought they had an out when the next batter hit a grounder to third baseman
Mike Rubino who apparently tagged out Grady straying off the bag, but the umpire ruled he was safe.
Verrier then hit a two-run single to left field to make it 5-3, and Pisani knocked in another run with a fielder's choice.
The Golden Bears threatened in the bottom of the eighth when Budd and Schult reached on consecutive singles with two men down, but sophomore Andrew Richards induced a fly-out to get out of the jam.
In the top of the ninth, Southern Maine put runners on second and third with no one out, but once senior Mike Lospinuso got the first man on a pop-up, senior Kevin Jefferis came into the game and ended the threat with two straight punch-outs.
Richards (7-1) then set Western New England down in order in the bottom of the frame to help preserve the hard-fought victory for the Huskies. Richards, who entered the contest in the sixth, spun four innings of three-hit baseball in the winning decision.
Lospinuso (8-3) was tagged with the setback in relief of sophomore Trevor Breton. Breton went the first 5-1/3 innings giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits to go with four walks and one strikeout.
Western New England scored four of its runs with two outs.
(Editor's note: Host Eastern College Athletic Conference contributed to this game report.)
