MANSFIELD, Conn. – Freshman Cam Seymour (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) hit a two-run, opposite-field home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap an improbable comeback and give the second-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies their sixth Little East Conference tournament title with a thrilling 7-6 victory over the top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors Friday afternoon at Eastern Stadium.
The Huskies, 31-9 on the season, also earned the automatic berth to the 2021 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Tournament with the win. The Warriors, 32-6 overall, will have to wait until Sunday evening to see if they receive an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.
Down 5-0 without a base hit through six innings, the Huskies rallied for four runs in the seventh, and another in the eighth to tie the game. Eastern senior Luke Broadhurst (Stafford, Conn) gave the Warriors a 6-5 lead in the top of the ninth with a solo home run to left field to set the stage for Seymour.
In the bottom of the ninth, junior Brogan Searle-Belanger (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) led off with a double to left. After a fly out, Seymour hit the first pitch he saw from sophomore reliever Nathan Furino (East Haven, Conn.) over the fence in left field for his 12th round tripper of the season, making the Huskies the LEC tournament champion for the first time since 2015.
Eastern grabbed a 2-0 lead on solo home runs from seniors John Mesagno (Tappan, N.Y.) in the first and Holden White (Wallingford, Conn.) in the second.
The Warriors' lead grew to 5-0 in the fourth on RBI singles from junior Noah Plantamuro (Bristol, Conn.) and rookie Jason Claiborn (Prospect, Conn.). Plantamuro scored from second base with the third run on a fielder's choice.
Sophomore Billy Oldham (Brookfield, Conn.) held the Huskies' bats in check over the first six innings, surrendering just two walks to junior Sam Troiano (South Portland, Maine). The Huskies finally reached Oldham for a pair of hits in the seventh before he departed.
USM got four runs in the seventh to get back into the game. Senior Andrew Hillier (Bangor, Maine) drew the third walk from Oldham, and classmate Andrew Olszak (Danvers, Mass.) followed with the Huskies' first hit of the game. Two batters later, rookie Janek Luksza (South Paris, Maine/Oxford Hills) drove in Hillier with a single, knocking Oldham from the game.
The rally continued when junior Jason Komulainen (Gorham, Maine) drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Searle-Belanger singled to drive in two, and sophomore Tom Vesosky (Colchester, Vt.) followed with a single to bring home Komulainen.
Luksza, who was named the tournament's outstanding player, tied the game in the eighth with an RBI single that scored Olszak.
Olszak, Luksza and Searle-Belanger each had two hits to account for six of the Huskies eight hits in the game. Senior reliever Colton Lawrence (Farmington, Maine/Mt. Blue), who came on in the ninth, picked up his first victory of the season. The Huskies also received an outstanding five-inning relief stint from senior Gage Feeney (Cutler, Maine/Washington Academy). Feeney only allowed one run on three hits and one walk while striking out three.
Senior Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury, Conn.) led the Warriors' 11-hit attack with three hits, including a double. Broadhurst and White each had two hits. Furino, who gave up three runs on six hits over 1.2 innings, took the loss.