The Husson Eagles dropped a hard fought battle on Friday afternoon 4-2 to host Kean University in the opening game of the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament at Jim Hynes ’63 Stadium in Union, New Jersey.
After one inning was played, the contest was delayed three and a half hours due to lightning and rain in the area. Each team scored a run in their first at bat, with Cam Rendell hitting a solo homerun for the Eagles. Matt Holmes (Bangor) put his team back on top 2-1 with a solo homer to rightfield in the fourth, his 11th of the season. An RBI sacrifice flyout by Brett Hilsheimer knotted it back up in the bottom half of the frame for the Cougars. Kean (36-8) took over the lead for good in the sixth inning as CJ Tomalavage doubled to lead off, and Dan Reistle followed with a single to put runners on the corners. A fielders choice by Hilsheimer scored Tomalavage that turned into the eventual game winner. Tyler Stone added an RBI sacrifice fly for the hosts in the seventh that ended the scoring.
Jackson Curtis (Ellsworth) had two hits for Husson in the defeat. Alex Smith took over on the mound after the rain delay for Connor Abood and suffered the pitching loss. Smith (4-3) allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks and one strikeout in 7.0 innings. Abood had given up one run on two hits in his lone inning of work. Lucas White (3-0) earned the win on the hill for Kean with a 7.0 inning performance allowing two runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Jason Basilicata picked up his eighth save by firing the final 2.0 scoreless frames with three strikeouts. The Eagles (24-15) will now face SUNY Cortland (29-12) in an elimination game on Saturday at 11 a.m.
