BANGOR – St. Joseph’s College coach Will Sanborn considers sophomore leadoff hitter Chris Lord to be his most dedicated player to work on his swing.

That dedication paid off Saturday as Lord’s two-run single in the eighth inning snapped a 6-6 tie and gave the Monks an 8-7 win over archrival Husson College for the NAIA New England Regional championship at Mansfield Stadium.

St. Joseph’s, now 26-11, will play in the NAIA Northeast Regional in Orangeburg, N.Y., beginning Wednesday. Husson finished up at 23-18.

Ace reliever Pat Lessard allowed a run in the ninth but worked his way out of a first-and-third jam with two strikeouts to pick up his ninth save of the season and second in the tourney.

The game was a seesaw thriller that lived up to its championship billing.

The Monks’ decisive eighth-inning rally was set up by three walks. Reliever and loser Jeremy Nelson walked Aaron Vachon, and bullpen ace Rich Doble was summoned. Vachon stole second and, one out later, Doble walked Kevin Golden and Nate Martell to load the bases.

Lord then grounded Doble’s 0-1 pitch just fair over the third-base bag.

“He hung a curve and I hit it well,” Lord said.

“Yeah, I left it hanging,” agreed Doble. “I was trying to get it over the inside corner. I didn’t think he’d turn on it.”

Lessard, who had suffered one of his two blown saves in a 9-8 loss to Husson on April 21, was reached for a leadoff single by Roy Peary in the ninth. It was the third hit of the game for Peary, who had beaten Lessard with a two-run single in that game.

Brian Malo then reached on shortstop T.J. Kanya’s throwing error. Aaron Largay hit into a fielder’s choice but pinch hitter Barrett Williams lined an RBI single to center that left runners on first and third.

But the hard-throwing Lessard struck out John McCarty swinging with an 0-2 fastball on the outside corner and Jason Cyr took a called third-strike fastball to end the game.

“I didn’t have my best stuff,” said Lessard. “I was just trying to hit the corners and let them hit it. I figured we’d make the plays.”

Lessard said he decided to go right after McCarty and Cyr with fastballs.

St. Joseph’s took a 2-0 lead at the expense of Husson starter Jeremy Rocheford in the first inning on Lord’s leadoff double, Eric Thompson’s two-out RBI double and Kanya’s RBI single.

Freshman Rocheford settled down and blanked the Monks over the next four innings and his mates gave him the lead with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Singles by Andy Boure and Malo and Largay’s bad-hop RBI single accounted for the fourth-inning run. Singles by McCarty and Cyr and Sandy McCuaig’s sacrifice fly tied it in the fifth, and Peary chased starter Matt Northrup with a leadoff homer to left-center in the sixth.

The Braves proceded to load the bases against reliever Tim Remington with one out but Cyr popped up and Don Sawyer grounded out to end the threat.

“That hurt. We had a chance to put some distance between us,” said Husson coach John Kolasinski.

The Monks answered with three in the bottom of the sixth as they chased Rocheford.

Husson rallied to tie it in the seventh on a Vachon error, Boure’s double, Peary’s RBI fielder’s choice and Malo’s run-scoring single.

Tournament MVP Royce Watson pulled Nelson’s 1-1 pitch down the right-field line to give St. Joseph’s a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh but Husson tied it off Lessard in the eighth when McCarty was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on McCuaig’s clutch two-out single to left-center.

“McCuaig haunts me,” said Lessard.

Monks 8, Braves 7

Husson (23-18) St. Joseph’s (26-11)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Cyr, lf 5 0 1 0 Lord, cf 5 1 2 2

Sawyer, ss 5 0 1 0 Watson, rf 5 1 2 1

McCuaig, cf 4 1 1 2 Boutin, 3b 5 0 0 0

Boure, 1b 5 2 2 0 Thompson, dh 3 2 2 1

Peary, rf 5 2 3 2 Kanya, ss 4 1 2 1

Malo, dh 4 0 3 1 Quintal, 2b 2 0 0 0

Largay, 2b 5 0 2 1 Vachon, 2b 1 1 1 1

Nakamura, c 4 0 0 0 Greve, 1b 3 1 1 0

a-Williams 1 0 1 1 Golden, lf 2 1 0 0

b-Roy 0 0 0 0 Rhames, lf 0 0 0 0

McCarty, 3b 4 2 2 0 Martell, c 3 0 0 0

c-Palleschi 0 0 0 0

Totals 42 7 16 7 Totals 33 8 10 6

a-singled for Nakamura in 9th

b-courtesy runner for Williams in 9th

c-courtesy runner for Martell in 8th

Husson 000 111 211 – 7

St. Joseph’s 200 003 12x – 8

E – Vachon, Rhames, Kanya 2B – Boure, Lord, Thompson HR – Peary (2), Watson (4) LOB – Husson 12, St. Joseph’s 7 DP – Kanya to Greve SB – Sawyer, McCarty, Kanya, Thompson, Vachon, Rhames SF – McCuaig

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Husson

Rocheford 5 2/3 7 5 4 3 0

Nelson (L, 2-5) 1 1/3 2 2 2 1 0

Doble 1 1 1 1 2 0

St. Joseph’s

Northrup 5 9 3 3 0 1

Remington 1 1/3 4 2 1 0 0

Fullerton 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

Lessard (W, 1-1) 2 3 2 1 0 3

HBP – Malo by Remington, McCarty by Lessard WP – Rocheford PB – Nakamura TIME – 2:48