Forrest Chadwick went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI as Southern Maine staved off elimination.
APPLETON, Wis. -- Senior outfielder Forrest Chadwick went 4-for-5 with a home runs and three RBI as the Southern Maine Huskies defeated the Salisbury Sea Gulls 6-3 on Saturday afternoon in an elimination game of the 2014 NCAA Division III national championship tournament at Fox Cities Stadium.
The Huskies, 36-15, will play the loser of Saturday's winners bracket game between Baldwin Wallace and St. Thomas (Minn.). The Sea Gulls, winners of 20 consecutive games entering the tournament, finished the season 37-9. In an earlier elimination game, Emory defeated defending champion Linfield 8-5 to stay alive in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament.
Chadwick hit a solo home run, his seventh of the season, in the top of the ninth inning to give the Huskies a 6-3 lead. Chadwick scored the Huskies' first run in the second inning coming home on a double play. He knocked in two runs with a single through the right side in the Huskies' four-run fifth-inning explosion that wiped out a 2-1 deficit.The Huskies had 11 hits against Sea Gulls. In addition to Chadwick, rookie Paul McDonough and senior Matt Verrier had two hits apiece. Junior Jake Glauser had a solo home run for the Huskies.
Junior right-hander Andrew Richards came on in relief of sophomore Shyler Scates in the fourth inning and earned the win with 5.2 innings of three-hit relief. The only run scored against Richards (6-1) was unearned. He did not walk a batter and struck out three.
Junior Kyle Hayman had a double and two singles for the Sea Gulls. Sophomore Tom LaBriola had a pair of safeties. Junior southpaw Dan Fein started in the mound and went 6.2 innings. Fein (8-2) allowed five runs (three earned) on 10 hits and one walk while fanning one.
The Huskies loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning on singles by Chadwick and Verrier and an infield error. Chadwick scored the game's first run when the Sea Gulls turned a 6-4-3 double play.
Salisbury took a 2-1 lead scoring twice in the home half of the frame. With two out, junior Austin Barefoot singled and scored when senior Bill Root followed with a double. Hayman doubled home Root, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.
After two scoreless innings, the Huskies erupted for four runs in the fifth to take the lead for good. Glauser tied the game with his third home run of the season over the left field fence. Rookie Matt Bender and McDonough followed with singles, and moved up on a groundout. Sophomore Sam Dexter singled to score Bender with the go-ahead run, and took second with some heads up base running. Chadwick then singled through the right side to score McDonough and Dexter who was able to slide around the tag.
Richards silenced the Sea Gulls bats over the next three innings. The Sea Gulls chipped away for a single run in the eighth inning as Hayman bunted his way on and took second on a throwing error by Richards. Hayman advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a groundout.
