Baseball: USM knocks off Bowdoin

Freshman 3B Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) finished a double shy of hitting for the cycle while driving in three runs and scoring two as the University of Southern Maine Huskies pounded out 20 hits to earn a 15-12 win over the Bowdoin College Polar Bears in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday afternoon in Gorham, Maine.

Southern Maine used big innings in the bottom of the first and fifth innings to secure the win and improve to 19-15 overall. The Huskies have won five out of their last six games. Suffering its third straight loss, Bowdoin falls to 20-11 overall.

Southern Maine had six players with at least two hits in the game, led by a 5-for-5 performance from senior 2B Josh Mackey (Danvers, Mass.). Chadwick was 3-for-5 at the plate, including a homerun and a triple as part of a seven run first inning for the Huskies. Senior C Jordan Berthiaume (Berlin, Conn.) and junior OF David Ricker (Winthrop, Maine) each had three hits for the Huskies, while Ricker added three RBI.

Trailing 2-0, the Huskies batted around their lineup, scoring seven runs on six hits to claim the lead for good. Chadwick led off the inning with a solo homerun, his sixth of the season, and collected a two-out, two-RBI triple down the right field line before the Huskies were retired.

Falling behind the Huskies 9-5 after three full innings, Bowdoin battled back to within one run of USM, plating two runs in the top of the fourth and one in the top of the fifth to trial 9-8. Freshmen DH Justin Lefeber (Brandford, Conn./Hamden Hall) and OF Matt Savard (Duxbury, Mass.) each had an RBI in the fourth inning. Lefeber drove in his run on a RBI double, while Savard knocked in a run with a groundout RBI. In the fifth, junior SS Jordan Edgett (Lynn, Mass./St. John’s Prep) had an RBI single.

With its lead cut to a single run, Southern Maine responded with six runs in the bottom of the fifth on seven hits for a 15-8 lead. Sophomore OF Tucker White (Deerfield, N.H./Coe-Brown Northwood) and sophomore OF Nick Grady (Whitefield, Maine/Erskine Academy) drove in five of the Huskies six runs in the inning. White smacked a bases clearing double, while Grady launched a two-run homerun to center field for his fourth homerun of the season.

The Polar Bears scored two runs in the top of the sixth and two more in the top of the ninth, but the Huskies were able to hold on for the win.

Southern Maine returns to action on Wednesday (4:00 p.m.) at Bates College. Bowdoin College travels to Colby College on Friday.

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