STANDISH – Husson College baseball coach John Kolasinski thought Friday afternoon’s NAIA Region 10 Independent Baseball Tournament opener against Thomas College was going to be a microcosm of their season.

The Braves had stranded 11 runners through six innings, going 2-for-11 with men in scoring position, at wind-swept Larry Mahaney Diamond.

But the Braves strung together a sacrifice bunt, four consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning en route to a six-run outburst that gave them a 10-5 win over the defending tournament champs.

Second seed Husson, 22-18, will play host and top seed St. Joseph’s College, a 10-8 winner over Lyndon State (Vt.), at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Thomas, 16-17, will play 13-16 Lyndon State at 11 a.m.

“I was pleased,” said Kolasinski. “I thought we were going to leave guys on base the whole game. But, that inning, we got some hits and a couple of breaks. We haven’t hit the ball consistently all season but we banged it around a little bit today. And he conditions weren’t great.”

Senior catcher John McGlinn paced the attack with his first four-hit game of the season, including a homer.

“I’ve struggled off and on all year and I’m just glad I was able to come through when it really mattered to help the team out,” said McGlinn. “It was a good day for everybody.”

Thomas had rallied from a 3-0 deficit to take a 5-3 lead at the expense of Braves ace righty Dave Dostie.

Freshman catcher Scott Brawn, Dostie’s former Cony High of Augusta teammate, pulled a towering three-run homer to right in the four-run fifth-inning.

But McGlinn belted a wind-aided opposite-field solo homer to right off Thomas starter Travis Hotham in the sixth to make it 5-4 and the Braves erupted off reliever Chad Stowell in the seventh.

“It looked like it was going to be a slugfest so we all had confidence we could score more runs,” said McGlinn.

Aaron Brideau walked to open the seventh and Jonas Bard lined a single to center. Shawn Henderson sacrificed the runners along.

Josh Ferguson tied the game with a soft line drive single to center.

Craig Harvey and McGlinn followed with RBI singles.

Mike Worcester looped a single into left and Kyle Mathieu’s sacrifice fly made it 8-5 before an error and errant pickoff produced the final two runs.

“They kept finding the holes. It was definitely an offensive game,” said Stowell.

Dostie was touched up for 14 hits but retired the last six hitters for the complete-game win.

“Thomas hit the ball real well today. I didn’t have the pop on my fastball I usually have. It got a little better the last couple of innings. My slider was definitely my best pitch. And I threw change-ups for the first time and they worked well for me,” said Dostie, who struck out seven and walked three while throwing a career-high 155 pitches, 85 for strikes.

“He’s an excellent pitcher. Any time you get 14 hits off a pitcher like that, there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” said Hotham. “But we needed to get more runs out of them.”

Mathieu had three hits and three RBIs for Husson while Harvey and Jason Folsom also had three hits. Aaron Bonenfant and Hotham had three hits each for Thomas and Brawn drove in four runs with two hits.

In Friday’s second game, four batters had two hits apiece to help lead Saint Joseph’s past Lyndon State.

Derek McIntosh, and Nick Mirabello each had a double and a single for two RBIs while Jim Becvar and Andy Exley each singled twice. Jeremy Dalton pitched three innings of scoreless relief for the Monks while Dan Brent induced the final batter to ground out for his first save.

For Lyndon State, Nick Merrill had a double and two singles.

Lyndon State (13-16) 002 051 000 – 8 12 2

Saint Joseph’s (24-16) 114 310 00x – 10 11 1

Demming, Ward (4) and Sheet; Buker, Dalton (6), Dan (9) and McIntosh

BRAVES 10, TERRIERS 5

Husson (22-18) Thomas (16-17)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Ferguson, ss 6 1 1 1 Bonenfant, 2b 5 0 0

Harvey, 1b 5 2 3 1 O’Connor, 1b 5 1 0

McGlinn, c 5 1 4 2 Hotham, p-dh 5 1 0

a-T. Reynolds 0 1 0 0 Sibley, 3b 4 1

b-Foster 0 1 0 0 Brawn, c 4 1 4

Worcester, dh 6 1 1 0 d-Chapdelaine 0 0

Mathieu, lf 4 1 3 3 Simpson, cf 5 0 0

Folsom, 3b 6 0 3 1 Porter, lf 3 0 0

Brideau, cf 2 1 0 0 Adams, rf 3 0 0

Bard, rf 4 1 1 0 Pelletier, ss 4 0 0

c-Simmons 1 0 0 0

Henderson, 2b 3 0 0 0

Totals 42 10 16 8 Totals 38 5 14 5

a-courtesy runner for McGlinn in 1st, 3rd, 4th innings; b-courtesy runner for McGlinn in 7th inning; c-grounded out for Bard in 7th inning; d-courtesy runner for Brawn in 7th inning

Husson 003 001 600 ? 10

Thomas 000 140 000 ? 5

E?O’Connor, Brawn, Pelletier; LOB?Husson 16, Thomas 10; 2B?Mathieu; HR?Brawn (9), McGlinn (2); DP?Henderson-Ferguson-Harvey; Dostie-Folsom-Harvey; Sibley-Bonenfant- Pelletier; S?Henderson, Adams; SF?Mathieu

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Dostie (W, 6-3) 9 14 5 4 3 7

Thomas IP H R ER BB SO

Hotham 6 8 4 3 7 4

Stowell (L, 4-4) ? 5 6 4 2 0

Dow 2? 3 0 0 0 0

PB?McGlinn; T?2:58; ATT?50 (est.)