ORONO – Northeastern did in six innings Friday night what America East opponents couldn’t accomplish in the last seven weeks combined against University of Maine ace Rusty Tucker.

The Huskies reached the Black Bears’ lefthander for eight runs in six innings, then outlasted UMaine for a gritty 11-10, extra-inning victory in an America East game at Mahaney Diamond.

Todd Korchin stroked a run-scoring single to center field in the top of the eighth off Bears closer Matt Truman (1-4), giving Northeastern (18-27, 11-14 AE) the margin of victory as the Huskies kept their hopes alive for an ninth straight tournament appearance.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ Bears are 33-13 and 17-8, respectively, heading into the last three games of the weekend series.

“For the first time in three weeks we played in a tournament atmosphere, a postseason-type game; back and forth, slugging it out,” Kostacopoulos said. “We needed to do that.”

A season-high crowd of 637 looked on as Tucker’s string of five straight complete games finally ended. He struck out 10 and walked one, but hit three batters and threw two wild pitches while struggling with consistency.

“He is human. He’s not going to go out there every time and pitch a shutout,” UMaine’s Jon Hambelton said of Tucker. “When he’s not going good, we should be able to pick him up and help him out.”

Tucker’s earned run average, which led America East and ranked third in the nation, rose from 1.09 to 2.38.

UMaine third baseman Joe Drapeau committed three errors, including one in the seventh inning that put Omar Pena at third with nobody out. Northeastern made one big defensive play, cutting down Matt Tobin at the plate on Mike Livulpi’s RBI single to left to end the bottom of the seventh.

“We really needed to play a little better defensively,” Kostacopoulos said. “There were maybe one or two plays we didn’t end up making.”

The fierce rivalry between UMaine and Northeastern was evident as the teams battled back and forth through three lead changes and two ties.

“It’s incredibly intense every time we play them,” said Hambelton, who led the Bears with a solo home run in the first inning and a game-tying grand slam in the fifth.

“We picked up our game and we knew we had to fight,” he added. “That’s a good thing, especially coming down the stretch.”

Livulpi broke out of his recent funk with a two-run triple in the sixth and his single in the seventh.

“These two hits came up big and hopefully I can take that into the rest of the series,” he said.

Drapeau hit a solo homer in the second inning for UMaine.

Pena cranked a grand slam in the fifth and singled while Korchin had two singles and two RBIs for NU behind relief winner Chris Walsh. Brad Czarnowski doubled and singled with two RBIs among the Huskies’ 12 hits.

Coley O’Donnell’s leadoff homer to right in the seventh provided a big lift for Northeastern.

“We didn’t go to pieces when we got down 6-2. We scored four immediate runs to tie the game up,” Kostacopoulos said. “We had to come back. I don’t think anyone was quitting in here [the dugout].”

Hambelton staked the Bears to a 1-0 lead with his homer to right-center. Drapeau made it 2-0 in the second, lining a one-out, first-pitch home run to center field. It was his first homer in 15 games.

Northeastern tied the ballgame in the fourth on a wild pitch and Czarnowski’s handle double to left that eluded Simon Williams. Tucker surrendered his first earned run in 25? innings.

In the fifth, Carlin doubled, Tucker hit two batters and Pena lashed a two-out grand slam off the scoreboard netting, giving NU an instant four-run cushion.

The lead quickly vanished in the bottom of the inning. Gillespie walked the bases loaded, struck out Young, then surrendered Hambelton’s second homer of the night, a grand slam past the light pole in right.

The Huskies answered back in the sixth, chasing Tucker. Czarnowski started the rally with a bunt single and took second on Drapeau’s wild throw past first. He scored on Guerrero’s ground single up the middle.

Guerrero stole second, moved up on a wild pitch and scored when Korchin beat out a chopper to shortstop for a hit to make it 8-6 NU.

Undaunted, UMaine came right back with three runs to retake the lead. Walsh walked Pat Tobin and Williams, who advanced on Reynolds’ sacrifice bunt. Livulpi capitalized, lacing a triple over the head of Czarnowski in center field to make it 8-8.

Hambelton was walked intentionally, but Livulpi scored on a wild pitch with Keith Genest at the plate.

Northeastern had yet another response in the seventh. O’Donnell greeted Truman with a towering leadoff home run to right that tied the game at 9-9.

Huskies 11, Black Bears 10

Northeastern (18-27) Maine (33-13)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Guerrero, ss 4 1 2 1 Livulpi, cf 3 2 3

Carlin, c 4 2 2 0 Young, rf 5 0 0

Beck, lf 5 0 0 0 Hambelton, 1b 2 2 5

Korchin, rf 4 1 2 2 b-Saunders 0 0 0

P. Pena, dh 2 0 0 0 Picard, dh 2 0 0

Thomson, dh 3 0 0 0 Genest, dh 3 0 0

O’Donnell, 1b 3 3 2 1 Peel, 2b-ss 4 0

O. Pena, 2b 4 3 2 4 Drapeau, 3b 4 1 1

Graves, 3b 4 0 0 0 Tobin, c 3 1 0

Czarnowski, cf 3 1 2 2 Williams, lf 1 0

a-Ross, lf 1 0 0 0

Reichley, ss 1 0 0 0

Reynolds, 2b 0 1 0 0

Totals 36 11 12 10 Totals 29 10 8 9

a-struck out for Williams in the seventh; b-ran for Hambelton in the eighth

Northeastern 000 242 21 ? 11

Maine 110 043 10 ? 10

E?Drapeau 3; LOB?Northeastern 6, Maine 7; 2B?Guerrero, Carlin, O’Donnell, Czarnowski; 3B?Livulpi; HR?O’Donnell (5), O. Pena (2); Hambelton 2 (13), Drapeau (12); DP?Peel-Reynolds-Hambelton; SB?Guerrero; S?Czarnowski; Reynolds

Northeastern IP H R ER BB SO

Gillespie 4? 5 6 6 4 8

Walsh (W, 1-7) 3? 3 4 4 6 3

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Tucker 5 8 8 8 1 10

Labelle 1 1 0 0 0 2

Truman (L, 1-4) 1? 3 3 2 0 2

Johnson ? 0 0 0 0 0

HBP?Carlin, Korchin, O’Donnell by Tucker; Livulpi by Gillespie; WP?Walsh; Tucker 2, Labelle, Truman; T?3:08; ATT?637