MANSFIELD, Conn. -- The most successful program in the 18-year history of the Little East Conference baseball championship added an eighth jewel to its crown by riding to four straight victories, defeating No. 12 nationally-ranked University of Southern Maine, 6-5, in the first game of the 2014 championship round Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

Now 8-1 in LEC title games, Eastern (32-7) is awarded the NCAA automatic bid from the Little East Conference -- one of eight automatic bids coming out of the New England Region -- and will open play in the NCAA tournament Wednesday. The entire 56-team field will be announced Monday. The appearance will the the 33rd for the program since 1976.

After winning seven titles in the first 13 years of the tournament, Eastern had come up empty each of the last four years, since defeating Keene State College in the 2009 title game at Gorham, ME. The Warriors won the title at the Eastern Baseball Stadium for the fifth time in ten tries and remained undefeated in three title games against Southern Maine (31-12).

The team's tenth straight win Saturday was also the third in ten days for Eastern over two-time defending champion Southern Maine, which finished second nationally a year ago in its quest for a third national title. Eastern has won four national crowns, most recently in 2002. The Warriors had swept the Huskies on USM's field to earn the tournament's No. 1 seed last Friday.

Eastern senior third baseman Mike Vaccarelli (Wolcott) was named tournament MVP with an astounding .737 batting average (14-for-19), with eight runs scored and  four RBI. He also handled 17 chances in the field with just one error. Saturday, Vaccarelli opened the game with a bunt single down the third base line and later scored the first of the team's three runs on an RBI single by senior leftfielder Nik Ververis (Plainfield).

Saturday, senior righty Pat Barnett (Windsor) scattered two singles and a double after a disastrous first inning, when the Huskies amassed five of their game total of eight hits to score four runs and quickly erase Eastern's 3-0 lead.

In the game, Barnett (7-0) -- who saved Friday's winners' bracket game against UMass Dartmouth -- and reliever sophomore righty Adam Merritt (Seymour) extended streaks in combining on the win. Barnett remained unbeaten in 15 appearances, Merritt now pitching 23 1/3 innings over 17 appearances without giving up an earned run.

Trailing 4-3, Eastern went ahead for good with two runs in the top of the fourth, chasing USM senior righty starter Chris Bernard, and tacking on another run in the seventh on senior first baseman Gavin Lavallee's (New Milford) third home run of the year -- a solo shot to left on a 1-2 pitch --  before the Huskies finally broke through again against Barnett to cut the lead to 6-5 after seven.

Ranked first in the NCAA New England Region, Eastern couldn't capitalize on an opportunity to pad the lead when it loaded the bases with one out in the eighth against junior right-handed reliever Andrew Richards. Richards ended the threat when he got Eastern senior shortstop Brendan Lynch (Wethersfield) to ground the first pitch into an inning-ending double play begun by sophomore shortstop Sam Dexter.

Barnett was lifted after pitching a career-high eight innings, and Merritt closed it out -- not without some anxious moments -- with his sixth save. Merritt hit Southern Maine senior catcher Matt Verrier on a 1-2 pitch to open the inning, and a passed ball moved the tying run to second before Merritt got three straight swinging strikeouts to preserve the victory.

Seven of the game's 11 runs were scored before the game reached the second inning. The Warriors jumped on Bernard for three runs in the first on RBIs by Ververis,  Lavallee,  and junior rightfielder Kyle Hart (Guilford), but USM answered right back in the bottom of the inning. The Huskies opened the inning with four straight hits off Barnett, doubling four times in the five-hit frame. Senior centerfielder Forrest Chadwick  -- the tournament's MVP in any other year -- drove in the first two runs with his seventh extra-base hit (a double) in five games, and Bernard and senior third baseman Troy Thibodeau (Danvers, MA) followed with run-producing doubles of their own to give the Huskies their only lead, 4-3.

 Eastern junior second baseman Corey Keane (Tolland) followed Vaccarelli with a .444 tournament batting average (8-for-18), with Hart and Ververis both at .375 (6-for-16). Ververis drove in a team-high six runs, and Hart, Lynch and sophomore DH Andrew Scully (Stratford) three each.

Chadwick hit four home runs for Southern Maine and also tripled twice and doubles once in five games, batting .444 (8-for-18) with 25 total bases. Dexter batted .368 (7-for-19) with two doubles and a home run. Southern Maine entered the tournament leading the conference with a .331 batting average and batted .258 in the tournament. Eastern was the LEC's top pitching (2.65 ERA) and defensive (.973) team and had a 3.75 ERA and .956 defefnsive average in four tournament games.