WATERVILLE – Senior Kelly McCaffrey hit an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to lift the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 2-1 softball victory over the Colby College White Mules Saturday.

McCaffrey finished with two singles. Erica Gagnon limited the White Mules to seven hits and one run in nine innings to earn the win. June LaVallee singled twice and drove in the Huskies’ first run.

Liz Oberlin scored on Lindsay Santini’s RBI groundout to tie the game for Colby. Brooke Fitzsimmons gave up six singles in nine innings while striking out four.

Southern Maine (10-11) 000 000 011 – 2 6 0 Colby (8-5) 000 000 010 – 1 7 0

Gagnon and Buccieri; Fitzsimmons and Parks

Baseball

Bowdoin 5, Husson 2

At Brunswick, Bowdoin’s Scott Jamieson scattered nine hits and two runs over eight innings of work to lead the Polar Bears over Husson of Bangor.

Dave DeCew singled twice, doubled and drove in two runs to pace Bowdoin. Joe Nicastro and John Paquet each had two singles.

Mike King singled three times for the Braves and John Montgomery singled twice. Barrett Williams had an RBI single in the second.

Husson (1-16) 010 100 000 – 2 9 3 Bowdoin (4-10) 210 001 10x – 5 12 0

Zukowski, Rocheford (8) and McGlinn; Jamieson, Perry (9) and Leigh

Bates splits with Caldwell

(First Game) Caldwell 013 004 0 – 8 11 0 Bates 000 001 0 – 1 7 4

Johanssen, MacEntee (5) and Pein; Hanley, Philbin (6), Couli Johanssen, MacEntee (5) and Pein; Hanley, Philbin (6), Coulie (7) and Donaldson, Argereow (7) (Second Game) Caldwell (8-10) 002 000 0 – 2 3 2 Bates (2-11) 300 110 x – 5 6 0

Peters, Carberry (5) and Kearns; Donaldson, Coulie (7) and Argereow

USM 12, Colby-Sawyer 7

Southern Maine (11-9) 000 110 505 – 12 15 0 Colby-Sawyer (7-8) 041 011 000 – 7 13 2

Liddy, Szklarz (2), Roach (5) and Melanson; Cabe, Lindberg (9) and Shoreman

Men’s basketball

Cowens is URI candidate

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. – Former Boston Celtics great Dave Cowens and a former Rhode Island assistant coach have moved up the list as a search committee narrows its choice for a new basketball coach at URI, according to a published report.

Cowens has had extensive NBA experience as a coach and player. As well as playing for and coaching the Celtics, Cowens began this season with the Charlotte Hornets.

He resigned shortly after the start of the season after citiwith management and his $700,000 salary.

It remains to be seen how interested Cowens would be in the job, as it would pay substantially less.

In addition to Cowens, Larry Farmer says he is interested. Farmer was an assistant at URI before taking the coaching job at Loyola-Chicago this past season.

Farmer says the search committee has contacted him and received permission from Loyola administrators to interview him. Farmer was a star player at UCLA and coached there from 1981-1983 before being fired.

Despite the search committee’s growing interest in Cowens and Farmer, assistant coach Jerry DeGregorio remains the most likely choice, reported The Providence Journal, citing sources.

DeGregorio is liked by players and has a close relationship with star player Lamar Odom, although some have questioned whether he has the experience to run the team.

A candidate who fallen in favor is Mike Deane, according to the Journal. Deane, who spent the past five years coaching at Marquette, did not receive good recommendations, according to the Journal.

Deane is said to have a volatile personality, although his coaching skills have not been questioned.

Harrick stunned the team and URI officials last week by announcing that he was taking the coaching job at Georgia. He then flip-flopped and said he had a change of heart and would return to URI.

But as the university scrambled to hold a news conference to herald his decision to stay, Harrick again changed his mind and chose Georgia.

AP-ES-04-09-99 1501EDT