By: Riley Driscoll, Athletic Media Associate

GORHAM, Maine – Sophomore Caleb Vacchiano (Cornish, Maine/Sacopee Valley) drove in six runs, including four on an eighth-inning grand slam, to lead the top seed University of Southern Maine Huskies to their seventh Little East Conference Baseball Tournament title with an 11-5 win over the second seed Keene State Owls. The Huskies were trailing 5-3 entering the inning before rallying for eight runs on eight hits to take an 11-5 lead. Vacchiano earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player Award after finishing the tournament with four hits, nine runs batted in and five runs scored.
 
Junior Carter Higgins (Truro, Nova Scotia) led the Huskies with three hits, while junior Mike Anquillare (North Haven, Conn.) and freshman James Main (Northstonington, Conn.) each had two hits. The Huskies had a strong performance from starter Carson Black (Porter, Maine/Sacopee Valley) as the junior struck out five over eight innings of work to earn his seventh win of the season.
 
Anquillare led the Huskies with nine hits in the tournament, followed by senior Kyle Douin (Augusta, Maine/Cony) and junior Peter Keblinsky (Ellsworth, Maine) with seven each.
 
Records:
No. 2 Keene State (26-17)                                                                  100 310 000          5-12-1
No. 1 Southern Maine (30-10)                                                               000 300 08x         11-13-0
 
Pitching Records:
WP: SM, Carson Black (7-1), 8.0 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks, 1 HBP
LP:  KS, Evan Levasseur (4-1), 0.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB
 
How It Happened

• The Owls jumped out to an 1-0 lead in the top of the first after Otis Follet plated a runner on a fielder's choice after back-to-back singles by Evan Cali and Jonathan Chatfield.
• Main started off the bottom of the third with a leadoff single through the left side before the Owls turned a double play and got a lineout to end the innings. Keene State added to their lead with three runs in the top of the fourth thanks to a bases-loaded double by Evan McCue and a Cali sacrifice fly to make the score 4-0.
• Douin led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left-center field and moved up a base when Keblinsky got hit by a pitch. Following a pitching change, Vacchiano cleared the bases with a triple to gap in right-center field and scored on a throwing error by the Owls to cut the lead to 5-3.
• Keene State got a run back in the top of the fifth on a two-out solo homer by Domminic Tagliaferro after a double-play. Southern Maine threatened in the bottom of the sixth when Keblinsky and Higgins both singled, and freshman Kadin Morin (Brewer, Maine) drew a walk, but could not push a run across the plate.
• Higgins and Anquillare hit back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the eighth and Morin loaded the bases with a bunt single to bring up Main with the bases full and no outs. Main then roped a single to left-center field to score Higgins and get the Huskies within a run. Sophomore Drew Scialdone (Amesbury, Mass) tied the game on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to center field before junior Evan Baschnagel (Garden City, NY/Chaminade) put the Huskies ahead 6-5 with a double to left field. Douin was then walked internationally to load the bases for Keblinsky, who was hit by a pitch to bring home another run. Following a pitching change, Vacchiano belted a home run to left field to extend the lead to 11-5.
• Keblinsky moved to the mound for the top of the ninth to close out the game. He struck out his first batter and worked around a double by Cali by getting a fly out to right field and a ground out to second base to clinch the title for the Huskies.  

 
 
Up Next:
Earning the Little East Conference's automatic bid, Southern Maine will participate in its 27th NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. The NCAA will announce its 64-team field, host sites and tournament pairings on Monday (12:00) during its live selection show at ncaa.com