Monks closer to hosting tourney St. Joseph’s, Husson split twinbill

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BANGOR – The Saint Joseph’s College Monks of Standish moved a step closer to hosting the North Atlantic Conference baseball tournament next month and the Husson College Eagles look like a good bet to earn the second seed.

The teams split a doubleheader at the Winkin Complex Monday night as St. Joseph’s freshman lefty Charlie Furbush shut out the Eagles for the second time this season in the opener 2-0. Husson rallied to win the nightcap 3-2 in eight innings on reliever Jack Hughes’ two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

Husson is now 20-14 overall and finished the NAC portion of its schedule with a 9-3 record. St. Joseph’s is 21-8 and 7-1, respectively, with four league games remaining.

Sophomore righty Bob Webber went the distance in the nightcap, tossing a seven-hitter to improve his record to 5-1.

“Webber pitched great. Hey, you know what, we have the pitching for the tournament,” said Husson coach John Winkin. “That’s the one thing I like. I like our pitching depth. I liked that we came back [to win the nightcap].”

“These were two good ballgames,” said St. Joseph’s coach Will Sanborn. “I think the teams are pretty comparable. It should make for a good tournament.”

In the nightcap, Kyle Mathieu’s two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning tied the game and set the stage for the eighth-inning dramatics which proved to be controversial.

Sean Brawn greeted reliever Hughes in the eighth by grounding a leadoff single up the middle and was replaced by pinch runner Nate Cousineau.

Mathieu walked, but Chris McInnis flied to right and Billy Kane struck out.

Adam Sheehan reached on an infield single when second baseman Mark Clapp fully extended himself to stop the ball but threw errantly past second trying for the forceout. Cousineau could have scored but stopped at third.

Hughes, on a 2-2 pitch to Danny White, threw a slider in the dirt that bounced off catcher Jake Rodden and went to the backstop as Cousineau scored.

Rodden and the Monks felt that White swung for strike three and the ball was thrown to first, but the umpires ruled that White didn’t swing. White didn’t run.

“The whole stadium saw him swing, but the umpires made the call and that’s it,” said Hughes.

Webber struck out two and walked one while throwing 79 strikes among his 112 pitches.

“As the game went on, my fastball got faster. I had more stuff toward the end of the game. Everything was working better,” said Augusta’s Webber.

Derek McIntosh’s RBI groundout in the first and Luke Enman’s RBI single in the fourth, his fourth of five hits in the doubleheader, staked the Monks to a 2-0 lead.

Mathieu tied it with a ground-ball single up the middle after Justin Spencer legged out an infield single against lefty Greg Kimball and raced to third when Brawn reached on an infield single and shortstop Brian Schools made a throwing error on the play.

“It was a great feeling to come through for the team like that because I hadn’t really done much all day,” said Mathieu.

In the opener, Furbush spaced three hits with five strikeouts and four walks. The 6-foot-3 lefty threw 69 strikes among 115 pitches.

“I had my fastball and hit the spots with it. And I mixed in my curve. I can pitch a little better, but I pitched pretty well,” said Furbush.

“He’s one of those special lefties. He has a fastball, changeup, and slider, and he hits his spots. He’s pretty tough to hit,” said Husson shortstop Jason Harvey.

St. Joseph’s scored both runs off Mike Cowperthwaite in the second.

Enman lined an opposite-field double over left fielder Aaron Brideau’s head off an 0-2 fastball, Aaron Cieslak lined a single to right, and Andrew Dvilinsky walked.

Two strikeouts later, Andy Exley walked on an outside 3-2 fastball to force in the first run and a wild pitch delivered the second run.

Husson loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but right fielder Enman forced a runner at the plate after he dropped Harvey’s very shallow fly and Enman then made a nice running catch on Spencer’s slicing fly toward the foul line.

MONKS 2, EAGLES 0

(Monday’s First Game)

Saint Joseph’s Husson

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Exley, cf 3 0 1 1 Brideau, lf 2 0 0

Clapp, 2b 4 0 1 0 Harvey, ss 3 0 0

McIntosh, c 3 0 0 0 Spencer, cf 3 0 0

Furbush, p 4 0 0 0 Brawn, dh 3 0 0

Enman, rf 4 1 3 0 Mathieu, 1b 2 0 0

Cieslak, lf 3 1 3 0 McInnis, rf 3 0 0

Dvilinsky, 3b 2 0 0 0 Kane, c 2 0 0

Arno, 1b 3 0 1 0 Sheehan, 3b 3 0 0

Schools, ss 3 0 1 0 Henderson, 2b 2 0 0

Totals 29 2 10 1 Totals 23 0 3 0

Saint Joseph’s 020 000 0 – 2

Husson 000 000 0 – 0

LOB-St. Joe’s 9, Husson 7; 2B-Enman; DP-Henderson-Harvey-Mathieu 2; S-Henderson; SB-Enman

Saint Joseph’s IP H R ER BB SO

Furbush (W,5-0) 7 3 0 0 4 5

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Cowperthwaite (L,3-4) 7 10 2 2 2 4

WP-Cowperthwaite 2; PB-Kane; T-1:49

EAGLES 3, MONKS 2

(Monday’s Second Game)

Saint Joseph’s (21-8) Husson (20-14)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Exley, cf 4 1 2 0 Brideau, lf 4 0 0

Clapp, 2b 4 1 2 0 Harvey, ss 4 0 0

McIntosh, rf 2 0 0 1 Spencer, cf 4 1 0

Furbush, 1b 4 0 0 0 Brawn, dh 4 1 0

Enman, lf 3 0 2 1 Cousineau, pr 0 1 0

Cieslak, dh 2 0 1 0 Mathieu, 1b 2 0 2

Rodden, c 3 0 0 0 McInnis, rf 4 0 0

Arno, 3b 3 0 0 0 Potvin, ph 0 0 0

Schools, ss 3 0 0 0 Kane, c 4 0 1 0

Sheehan, 3b 4 0 1 0

Henderson, 2b 1 0 0 0

White, 2b 2 0 0 0

Totals 28 2 7 2 Totals 33 3 10 2

Saint Joseph’s 100 100 00 – 2

Husson 000 002 01 – 3

E-Clapp, Furbush, Schools; LOB-St. Joe’s 5, Husson 9; 2B-Mathieu; DP-Schools-Clapp-Furbush; S-Cieslak; SB-Brideau

Saint Jospeh’s IP H R ER BB SO

Kimball 7 9 2 2 1 9

Hughes (L,0-1) 2/3 1 1 1 1 1

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Webber (W,5-1) 8 7 2 2 1 2

HBP-McIntosh by Webber; WP-Hughes, Kimball; PB-Rodden, Kane; T-2:32; ATT-100 (est.)