BANGOR – The Husson College Braves had their hands full with a scrappy and fundamentally sound University of Maine-Presque Isle team Wednesday.

But the Braves parlayed timely hitting, some solid pitching performances and a triple play into a pair of hard-fought 4-2, 7-4 wins over the winless Owls on a blustery day that featured all different types of precipitation.

Husson is now 12-11 overall, 7-3 in the Sunrise Conference. UMPI fell to 0-14 and 0-8, respectively.

“UMPI always plays us tough,” said Husson coach John Kolasinski. “It wasn’t an ideal day to play with the sleet and freezing rain and everything else thrown in together. But you’ve got to learn how to battle through it and we were able to get two wins out of it.”

“These were two pretty good moral victories for us,” said UMPI sophomore third baseman Ben Goodwin. “Husson has a real good baseball team. We’ve struggled on the little things but we played good ball.”

Goodwin caused some anxious moments for the Braves in the second game when he belted a two-out, three-run double to deep left in the sixth to pull the Owls within 5-4.

But the Braves picked up a couple of important insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Brandon Traknis.

Josh Ferguson walked, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Craig Harvey bounced a ground-ball single to center through a drawn-in infield.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play and he threw me pitch right down the middle. I just shot it through,” said Harvey.

Billy Kane singled and a Tony Laprino fielder’s choice produced the final run.

First baseman Kane was the key to the Braves’ triple play in the fifth when he dove to his left to snare a foul pop up by Darren Belskis.

The runners on first and second were running on the pitch so Kane simply stepped on first and threw to shortstop Jason Harvey at second.

“I’ve never been involved in one before,” said Kane.

Aaron Brideau came on in relief of winner Barrett Dionne after the Goodwin double and got the final four outs for his first career save.

Josh Ferguson tripled and doubled to trigger a two-run rally in the third and a three-run outburst in the fourth.

“I knew he [Steve Galkowski] was going to throw me fastballs. I saw the guy pretty well and felt comfortable up there,” said Ferguson.

In the opener, UMPI righty Sam Michaud and Husson lefty Craig Harvey dueled brilliantly. Michaud pitched five-hit ball over seven innings with six strikeouts and three walks while Harvey scattered nine hits and allowed two runs over 8 2/3 innings before Ferguson came on to get the final out with two runners on.

Greg Ingalls’ two-run double in the sixth staked UMPI to a 2-1 lead but Husson rallied for three in the seventh.

Jason Harvey was hit by a pitch to open the seventh and Ferguson walked.

Folsom flared a soft RBI single into left-center to tie it and, one out and a double steal later, Kane’s bloop single dropped behind the drawn-in infield to break the tie. Laprino capped the rally with a sacrifice fly.

“We toughed it out,” said Folsom.

Kane and UMPI’s Belskis had four hits apiece in the doubleheader.

BRAVES 4, OWLS 2

(First Game)

UMPI Husson

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Belskis, cf 4 0 2 0 J. Harvey, ss 4 1 0

Saucier, cf 0 0 0 0 Ferguson, 3b-p 2 1 0

Bouchard, 2b 5 0 1 0 Folsom, c 3 0 1

Goodwin, 3b 5 0 0 0 a-McInnis 0 2 0

O’Dell, 1b 4 1 0 0 C. Harvey, p 4 0 1

Blackwood, ss 4 1 2 0 b-Brideau 0 0

Andrews, ss 0 0 0 0 Kane, rf 4 0 1

Ingalls, dh 3 0 2 2 Laprino, lf 1 0 1

Berry, rf 3 0 0 0 Creek, 1b-3b 4 0 0

Alley, lf 4 0 0 0 Spencer, cf 4 0 0

Holabird, c 4 0 1 0 Henderson, 2b 3 0 0

c-Lane 0 0 0 0

Michaud, p 1 0 1 0

Totals 37 2 9 2 Totals 29 4 5 4

a-courtesy runner for Folsom in 3rd and 7th; b-ran for C. Harvey in 3rd, c-courtesy runner for Ingalls in 2nd and 6th, pinch-runner for Holabird in 3rd

UM-Presque Isle 000 002 000 ? 2

Husson 001 000 30x ? 4

E?Blackwood, Alley; C. Harvey; LOB?UMPI 10, Husson 9; 2B?Belskis, Ingalls; C. Harvey; SF?Laprino; SB?Ferguson 2, J. Harvey, McInnis

UMPI IP H R ER BB SO

Michaud (L, 0-4) 7 5 4 4 3 6

Traknis 1 0 0 0 1 1

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

C. Harvey (W, 4-1) 8 2/3 9 2 1 1 10

Ferguson (S, 4) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

HBP?Laprino, Folsom, J. Harvey by Michaud; Berry by Harvey; WP?Traknis; T?2:41; ATT?30 (est.)

BRAVES 7, OWLS 4

(Second Game)

UMPI (0-14) Husson (12-11)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Belskis, lf 4 0 2 0 J. Harvey, ss 3 0 0

Bouchard, 2b 3 1 0 0 Ferguson, 3b 2 3 0

Berry, rf 2 1 1 0 Folsom, c 3 0 1

O’Dell, 1b 3 0 1 1 a-McInnis 0 2 0

Blackwood, ss 2 1 0 0 C. Harvey, dh 3 1

Ingalls, c 2 0 0 0 Kane, 1b 4 0 1

Holabird, c 0 0 0 0 Laprino, lf 2 0 2

b-Andrews 0 1 0 0 Mathieu, rf 3 0 0

Goodwin, 3b 3 0 1 3 Spencer, cf 3 0 0

Tarpey 2 0 1 0 Henderson, 2b 3 0 0

c-Lane 0 0 0 0

Saucier, cf 1 0 0 0

Traknis, p 1 0 0 0

Totals 23 4 6 4 Totals 26 7 8 5

a-courtesy runner for Folsom in 3rd, 4th innings; b-ran for Holabird in 6th; c?ran for Tarpey in 5th

UMPI 100 003 0 ? 4

Husson 002 302 x ? 7

E?Blackwood 2, O’Dell; LOB?UMPI 4, Husson 9; 2B? Berry, Goodwin; Ferguson; 3B?Ferguson, Folsom; DP?Kane-J. Harvey; TP?Kane-J. Harvey; S?Bouchard, Ferguson; SF?Laprino; SB?Ferguson

UMPI IP H R ER BB SO

Galkowski (L,0-3) 4 6 5 4 5 3

Traknis 2 2 2 2 1 0

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Dionne (W, 3-0) 5 2/3 6 4 4 2 5

Brideau (S,1) 1 1/3 0 0 0 1 1

HBP?Berry, Holabird by Dionne; WP?Galkowski, Traknis; T?1:55; ATT? 40 (est.)