Southern Maine Outlasts #17 Ramapo 12-11
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- Junior Sam Stauble (Harrison, Maine/Bridgton Academy) delivered the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning with a one-out, bases-loaded single to give the University of Southern Maine Huskies a 12-11 victory over the #17 Ramapo College Roadrunners in a non-conference game Saturday at Chain O Lakes Field #1.
The win levels the Huskies overall record at 1-1 while the Roadrunners, ranked 17th in this week's D3baseball.com poll and winners in four of their last five games, dropped to 4-5.
Ramapo had overcome an 11-7 deficit to tie the game by scoring two runs in the eighth inning and two more in the ninth to draw even. In the home half of the ninth, USM loaded the bases with no outs on a pinch-hit single from sophomore Kaleb Bridgham (Minot, Maine/Poland Regional), a double from rookie Andrew Olszak (Danvers, Mass.) and a walk to senior Matt Bender (Walpole, Mass.).
Sophomore Robert Sartori (Ramsey, N.J.) got the first out striking out the next batter before facing Stauble who had been hitless in the game. The junior delivered the winning hit to chase home junior Thomas Zarro (Billerica, Mass.) who had come on to pinch run for Bridgham.
The two teams combined for 39 hits in the game. Olszak led the Huskies' attack going 4 for 5 with two doubles and four RBI. Sophomores Jake Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) and Devin Warren (Smithfield, Maine/Messalonskee), and rookie Dylan Hapworth (Winslow, Maine) had three hits apiece.
Junior Bobby Shannon (Flanders, N.J.) went 4 for 5, including a home run to lead off the game, with three RBI to pace the Roadrunners. Senior Brandon Martinez (River Edge, N.J.) was 3 for 5, including a three-run homer, with four RBI, and classmate Rob DeAngelis (Staten Island, N.Y.) also had three hits.
Dexter, who came in from second base to pitch in the eighth, got the win after surrendering the tying runs in the top of the ninth. He got the Huskies out of a big jam with a double play to end the eighth, and escaped further damage in the ninth with another twin killing. Sartori, the last of four Ramapo pitchers, was tagged with the loss.
USM fell behind early when Shannon led off the game with his second homer of the season. The Huskies tied the game in the second on Dexter's sacrifice fly that brought home Warren.
Martinez's three-run round tripper highlighted a four-run outburst by Ramapo in the third to regain the lead, 5-1. Southern Maine got one back in its half of the frame when junior Kyle Heath (Westbrook, Maine) scored in a wild pitch.
Ramapo tallied single runs in the fourth and fifth to offset a two-run inning by USM in the fourth to make it 7-4.
Hapworth ignited a four-run rally in the sixth with a single, and Olszak delivered a two-run double. Bender brought home Olszak with another double, and later scored on an infield error to give the Huskies their first lead.
USM tacked up three more in the seventh on Dexter's two-run single and Olszak's RBI single to make it 11-7.
Ramapo scored twice in the eighth on junior Joe Crabbe's (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.) two-run single, and two more in the ninth of a groundout and Martinez's single to tie the game.
Southern Maine is back in action on Sunday (11:30 a.m. EDT) taking on the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) at Lake Myrtle Field #4 in Auburndale, Fla. Ramapo heads north and will play at Drew University on Wednesday (3:30 p.m.).
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