Auburndale, Fla. – The Trinity College Bantams came up on the short end of a slugfest, 16-10, against the University of Southern Maine Huskies this afternoon in RussMatt Central Florida Baseball Invitational action this afternoon at Lake Myrtle Park. Trinity falls to 6-6 with its second loss in a row, while Southern Maine improves to 4-1.

Holding a 4-1 lead, Southern Maine scored six times in the top of the fourth inning to open up a sizable advantage. Troy Thibodeau highlighted the rally with an RBI double, and two Bantam errors also contributed to the big inning. Trinity allowed two more runs in the top of the sixth frame, but got both back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a double by senior OF Alex Almeida (Bridgeport, Conn.), an RBI single by senior captain OF Michael Rueger (Teaneck, N.J.), and an RBI triple by senior captain 1B Joe Papa (Stoneham, Mass.).

With the score at 13-3 in the Huskies' favor, the Bantams took advantage of an error, three walks, and a wild pitch to plate four unearned runs with two outs. Senior Evan Sternberg (Glen Ridge, N.J.) provided a pinch-hit, RBI single, while sophomore C Carson Kenney (Kensington, Md.) added a two-run single in the frame. Southern Maine answered with three runs, all unearned, in the top of the ninth, including two on a two-out, two-run double by freshman IF Sam Dexter. Trinity fought back once again, scoring three times on an error, a sacrifice fly by senior captain SS Stephen Rogers (Watertown, Mass.), and a run-scoring base knock by sophomore 1B Bryan Wolfe (La Habra Heights, Calif.). Husky sophomore RHP Andrew Richards relieved with runners on first and second and struck out the game's final batter.

Senior IF Nick Grady was 6-for-6 with three RBI for Southern Maine, and junior Logan Carman earned the win on the mound with three runs and five hits allowed with no walks and six strikeouts in seven innings. Papa was 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the Bantams, who committed seven errors and yielded 18 hits, nine earned runs and seven unearned runs.