Bangor, ME - Husson baseball Tuesday picked up two big non-conference wins against familiar foes St. Joe's of Standish, Maine. The Monks had leads in both games late, but the Eagles came back time after time to take both tilts.
Game 1: Husson 4, SJC 3
Dennis O'Neil proved to be the big difference in game one for Husson, hurling 7 strong innings on the bump for his first win of the season.
The Monks scored in the 1st, 4th and 5th innings off the bats of Brett Barbati, Scott Betts and a solo homer from Taylor Black to lead 3-0.
The Eagles stayed in the game on the back of O'Neil and tightened the game in the 6th. With Kyle Bishop in scoring position, JT Whitten reached base on an errand throw for the first Husson run. Later in the inning, Jordan Carter pushed two more across in Whitten and Darik Messier on a double to left to knot the game at three.
Whitten stepped up again in the bottom of the seventh and delivered a massive double to deep left to score Bishop and earn the walk-off win.
O'Neil let up three runs on seven hits with a strikeout in the win, while Corey McNamara was handed the loss, giving up the walk-off run in the 7th.
Game 2: Husson 8, St. Joes 7 (11 innings)
Game two proved to be a marathon lasting 11 innings over three and a half hours in a game that was only schedule for seven innings. The Monks used seven pitchers but Husson came back in both the seventh and eighth innings to push the game further in to extras and finally won in walk-off style once again.
After trailing 5-2 heading into their final at-bats, Husson turned on the heat. Bishop advanced to third and Brandon Gendreau scored on a wild pitch, Bishop scored on a Christian Corneil sac fly and Cam Archer scored the tying run on a throwing error that allowed Jordan Carter to reach and advance to second.
In the eighth, Barbati doubled to left center and Dan Donovan singled to the same spot to score Joe Coyne and Barbati respectively.
However, the Eagles enjoyed a two-run eighth of their own when none other than Bishop and Gendreau combined for two RBI, deadlocking the game once again 7-7. Gendreau tripled to kick things off, scoring Ryan Rebar and Bishop grounded to the second baseman Taylor Black, who had no play other than to throw out Bishop for the second out. Gendreau scored.
Fast forward to the 11th inning, as the game was almost three and a half hours old. With Bishop aboard at third, Carter hit a sac fly to left that scored the senior and clinched the sweep in dramatic fashion.
With the two wins, Husson picked up its first home sweep of the Monks since 2000 and improve to 10-7 on the year. The Eagles are also riding an eight-game win streak.With the losses St. Joes falls to 6-10.
The Eagles will be back on the Alfond Diamond Thursday as they take on UMaine Farmington in home games for the Beavers, moved from Farmington.