BANGOR- Liam Kelley had himself quite the day for Husson baseball at the North Atlantic Conference Tournament on Friday. Kelley drove in six runs, including a game winning three-run homerun in the seventh inning as the Eagles advanced to the championship series once again with an 11-4 win over SUNY Cobleskill at the Winkin Complex.
The teams went back and forth over the first six and a half innings. Kelley hit a two out, two-run double in the bottom of the first inning for a 2-0 Eagles lead. The Fighting Tigers tied it with two runs in the fourth, and would come back to even the score on two other occasions in the sixth and seventh innings. With things knotted 4-4, the Husson bats took over to put up a crooked number in the last of the seventh. Cam Rendell led off and got hit by a pitch, and Matt Holmes (Bangor) singled to right field. Cobleskill made a pitching change at that point, and Kelley greeted reliever Evan Balbera by taking a 1-0 pitch well over the left field fence for a no doubt and game winning three-run homer. Hunter Curtis (Ellsworth) did the same also on a 1-0 pitch, as the solo shot made it back to back and extended the advantage. Yates Emerson (Bangor) capped off the frame with a sacrifice flyout for a RBI, while Kelley and Lausier finished the scoring by hitting RBI doubles in the eighth inning.
Kelley had a total of three hits for his six RBI, and also scored two runs in the Husson victory. Holmes had four hits, while Henry Lausier (Thornton) had two. Holmes and Lausier also both scored twice. Colin Marshall contributed two RBI. Noah Hurd (Mt. View) pitched well again out of the bullpen, and improved to 4-1 in picking up the win allowing one run on four hits in three innings. Ryan Lansing had three hits for #2 seed SUNY Cobleskill, while Jeffrey Gutierrez and Logan Firment had two each. The Fighting Tigers would have their season come to an end by falling to Thomas College in the second game on Friday afternoon, finishing with a final record of 20-21. The top seeded Eagles (23-16) will take on the #3 Terriers (20-20) in the NAC Championship Series beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Thomas needs to win twice in order to snap the Husson streak that is currently at six straight NAC Titles. The Eagles also enter Saturday on a 12-game win streak.
