AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Junior Bryce Afthim (Windham, Maine) spun a complete game gem, holding No. 10 Johns Hopkins to five hits to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to an 8-3 win over the nationally-ranked Blue Jays at the RussMatt Invitational hosted at the Lake Myrtle Athletics Complex.
The win secured head coach Ed Flaherty's 1100 career win. In his 38th season at Southern Maine, Flaherty is now 1100-98-4, and is third all-time among active coaches in NCAA Division III records for wins in a career. Flaherty achieved the 1000 win milestone on May 2, 2019 with a win over Bates College, becoming the 11th coach in NCAA Division III history to reach the 1000 win mark.
THE BASICS:
Records:
Southern Maine (2-8)
No. 10 Johns Hopkins (12-2)
Today's game marked the sixth meeting between the Huskies and Johns Hopkins. The 8-3 win evens the series at 3-3. USM and JHU went 1-1 in 2022.
Score:
Southern Maine 8, Johns Hopkins 3
Pitching:
Winning Pitcher: SM, Bryce Afthim (1-1), 9.0 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 walks, 8 strikeouts
Losing Pitcher: JHU, Bearden Awadzi (1-1), 0.0 IP, 0 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks, 0 strikeouts
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Huskies jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first drawing six walks off of JHU pitchers, including starter Bearden Awadzi and reliever Alex Shane. Freshman Kyle Douin (Augusta, Maine/Cony) recorded the first RBI collecting the fourth consecutive walk of the inning.
Afthim kept JHU off the board through the first three innings, allowing just one hit (an infield single) while fanning three batters. The Blue Jays got on the board in the top of the fourth to trail 5-2 after a home run from Shawn Steuerer.
USM took two back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from senior Jason Komulainen (Gorham, Maine) and an RBI double to the gap in left from senior Arlo Pike (Buxton, Maine/Bonny Eagle) for a 7-2 Husky lead.
JHU's Steuerer collected his second home run of the contest in the top of the sixth, hitting a two-out shot over right field, but the Huskies answered right back in the home half of the inning for an 8-3 advantage off of the bat of junior Cam Seymour (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy). Seymour laced a double to the gap in left for an RBI as part of a three-hit inning for USM.
Afthim secured the win for the Huskies, retiring JHU in order in the seventh, working his way around a two-out single in the eighth, and another two-out single in the ninth.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
Komulainen and Pike each had two RBI.
With his RBI double in the sixth, Seymour now has 100 RBI in his career. He is a career .300 hitter (113 for 377) with 33 doubles, 23 home runs and 100 RBI.
UP NEXT:
Southern Maine returns to Maine from its 10-game Florida trip. The Huskies are scheduled to face Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday, March 22 (3:00 pm) in a road game.