GORHAM, Maine—Sophomore Caleb Vacchiano (Cornish, Maine) hit a go-ahead grand slam to cap a nine-run uprising in the bottom of the eighth inning as the University of Southern Maine came from behind to defeat visiting Babson College, 11-7, in the NCAA Tournament Gorham Regional on Saturday afternoon at Ed Flaherty Field.
Babson, which had its six-game winning streak snapped, dips to 26-16 on the season. Southern Maine extended its winning streak to six in a row while improving to 31-10 overall.
Senior
Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and sophomore
Gabe Cushner (Harrington Park, N.J.) both went 3-for-4 with two RBI, junior
Dante D'Avanzo (Ashland, Mass.) singled twice and drove in two runs, and sophomore
Gabe Harmon (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) added two hits and two runs scored for the Beavers. Junior
Jason Finkelstein (Walpole, Mass.) was terrific on the hill, striking out seven and allowing just two runs on four hits over 7.0 innings.
Vacchiano finished with two hits and two runs scored, senior Kyle Douin (Augusta, Maine) went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, and first-year Kaiden Morin (Brewer, Maine) singled and knocked in a pair of runs for the Huskies. First-year Kason Lewis (South Portland, Maine) retired the only batter he faced to get the win after junior Gabe Gifford (Old Town, Maine) allowed seven runs on 13 hits to go along with seven strikeouts in 7.2 innings.
The Green and White started fast as its first five batters reached base on the way to scoring three times in the top of the first. Cushner dropped a single into right to bring home sophomore
Dylan Drazka (Rye Brook, N.Y.) with the first run, classmate
Ben Valente (Newton, Mass.) scored on D'Avanzo's infield single and Teator raced home on junior
Connor Frickey's (Colorado Springs, Colo.) RBI ground out to first.
Teator added to the lead with a two-out RBI single to left in the top of the second before Southern Maine cut its deficit to 4-2 on Douin's two-run double to deep left in the bottom of the frame. Babson extended its lead back to 5-2 when Teator doubled to led off the fifth and scored two batters later on D'Avanzo's RBI base hit back up the box.
Finkelstein was superb through the middle innings for the Beavers, allowing no hits and just two base runners from the third through the seventh while retiring five in a row to end his outing. Babson tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth thanks to back-to-back RBI singles by Teator and Cushner to make it 7-2 before the Huskies exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Southern Maine's first five hitters reached base against sophomore
Dillon James (Attleboro, Mass.) and Morin followed junior Carter Higgins' (Truro, Nova Scotia) RBI single up the middle with a base hit to right that plated two more runs to cut the Beavers' lead to 7-5. Junior Mike Anquillare (North Haven, Conn.), who reached on a catcher's interference call scored on a throwing error to make it one-run game, classmate Evan Baschnagel (Garden City, N.Y.) tied it with a single to left and Vacchiano broke the deadlock with a grand slam to left two batters later to give the hosts their first lead of the game.
Junior Carson Black (Porter, Maine) retired the side in order in the top of the ninth for the Huskies.
Babson will face RIT in an elimination game at 11 a.m. on Sunday, while Southern Maine takes on No. 4/5 Rowan at 2:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 9-15-1 all-time against Southern Maine and Saturday's contest was the first between the teams in the NCAA Tournament.
• Saturday's loss marked just the second time in 20 instances this season that Babson has lost when its starting pitcher works at least 6.0 innings.
• Teator extended his hitting streak to 11 games and has reached base safely in 19 straight contests, while D'Avanzo has at least one hit and an RBI in 13 of the last 15 outings.
• Drazka has now reached base in seven straight games and swiped his 19th bag of the year in the loss, while Harmon extended his hitting streak to four games.
