The Husson Eagles baseball team needed yet another sweep over the University of Maine-Presque Isle Owls Monday afternoon to clinch the regular season North Atlantic Conference title. And the Eagles did just that, with their head coach Jason Harvey also coaching in his 500th career game for Husson at Alfond Diamond at Winkin Sports Complex in Bangor.
In game one, Husson broke open a three run game with six runs in the fourth inning en route to a 15-7 win. Both teams scored one run each in the first, and two in the second as the score was tied 3-3. The Eagles went up 6-3 in the third on a Luke Covey RBI triple, Mike Schneider RBI single, and a Nick Guerrette RBI double. Playing again as the visitors, Husson really broke it open in the top of the fourth with six runs. The two biggest hits being a Nolan Brown inside the park two run homer, and a Guerrette solo bomb to make it 12-3. The Eagles extended to a 14-3 advantage, before the Owls scored four of the final five runs of the contest in the last three innings.
Guerrette had three hits, while Ethan Stoddard, Alex Chapman, and Schneider all had two hits a piece to lead the winners. Alex Brooks (4-1) got the pitching win allowing one run, four hits, with no walks in 4.0 innings. William Stinson had two hits for UMPI, as six different Owls had RBI hits. Stinson (1-5) suffered the loss on the bump allowing six runs and 11 hits in 3.2 innings. The teams combined for 11 errors, as Husson committed six and UMPI five.
In the second game four Husson pitchers combined for a three hit shutout, while Connor McGuire and Kobe Rogerson drove in a pair of runs each in a 10-0 win to finish off the sweep. The Eagles got all the offense they needed in the top of the first when Rogerson hit an RBI single, and Covey doubled in a run to make it 2-0. They doubled a 3-0 lead in the third inning when Nolan Brown singled that ended up scoring a run on an Owls error, a Guerrette RBI single, and an RBI fielders choice by Maguire to make it 6-0, and the Eagles went on to win their 23nd game of the season finishing the regular season on a seven game win streak.
Pitching was the story though in this game. Brandon Brunell (3-0) didn’t allow any runs or hits, no walks, with six strikeouts in 4.0 innings to pick up the win. Dustin Smith, Jacob Gauvin, and Nolan Dousa finished it up allowing no runs and three hits combined over the final three innings with each throwing an inning. Brown, Austin Baron, and Guerrette alll had two hits a piece. Jacob Moreno, Braydon Kennedy, and Austin Coulston had the UMPI hits. Jordan Young (0-2) suffered the pitching loss allowing seven runs on eight hits over 4.2 innings. Husson finishes the regular season at 23-14, 12-4 in the NAC good enough for first place for the first time in nine seasons and the ability to host the NAC tournament this coming weekend in Bangor, beginning with the opening game on Friday against UMaine-Farmington. Game times and matchups for the entire tournament will be posted as soon as possible. UMPI finished with a final record of 1-32, 0-16 in NAC play.
