BANGOR – It is tough enough to beat a good team without giving them gifts in terms of walks and hit batsmen.

The Husson College Braves found that out the hard way on Saturday as the opportunistic St. Joseph’s College Monks capitalized on 14 walks and two hit batsmen to sweep the Braves 9-8 and 8-7 at the blustery Husson College field.

The sweep puts the Standish-based Monks in the driver’s seat in the Maine Athletic Conference title chase as Will Sanborn’s club is now 8-2 in the MAC, 17-15-1 overall. Husson fell to 4-4 and 12-15.

St. Joseph’s swept UM-Presque 18-2 and 7-0 in a Sunday twinbill.

St. Joseph’s repeatedly came up with clutch hits in the two seesaw struggles, scoring nine of its 17 runs with two outs. Seven of the nine players who scored in the first game either walked or were hit by a pitch, and three more who walked in the second game crossed the plate.

St. Joseph’s sophomore right fielder Tom Watson, who was one of the offensive catalysts with four hits and six RBIs in eight at-bats during the twinbill, said the Monks had their offensive problems earlier this season “but we’ve been hitting the ball better lately.”

“We lost a game at Farmington where we got 10 hits but only two runs. We left eight runners in scoring position,” said Sanborn. “So when we took batting practice the other day, we put runners on second and third and worked on getting a good pitch and hitting the ball hard.”

He added that it was “nice to see it [pay off].”

“You’ve got to give them credit. They did the job. They did what they had to do,” said Husson coach John Kolasinski. “Our pitching is a concern for me.”

In the nightcap, Watson tied the game 5-5 in the third inning by pulling a 3-1 fastball delivered by Husson starter and loser Gary Sibley over the fence in right-center field for a solo homer.

That set the stage for a three-run outburst one inning later capped by Doug Mayo’s opposite-field, two-run blast off reliever Paul Napoleoni.

A one-out single by T.J. Kanya and a walk chased Sibley and, one out later, a Napoleoni wild pitch gave the Monks the lead for good. Two pitches later, Mayo homered to right-center.

“The previous pitch was up and in and woke me up,” said Mayo. “The next one was up and away and I was able to get my arms extended.”

Tim Remington hurled three solid innings of one-run relief for the Monks after winner Matt Corbett had pitched 2 2/3 innings of two-run relief.

Chris Hashey’s sacrifice fly and Sandy McCuaig’s RBI triple pulled Husson within 8-7 but hard-throwing freshman Pat Lessard preserved the win by inducing Chris Bagley to foul out with the bases loaded in the seventh. Lessard picked up saves in both games.

Lessard had hit the dangerous McCuaig on the leg with a 3-2 breaking ball to load the bases before Bagley fouled out.

“I didn’t want to make a mistake to him [McCuaig] by grooving a 3-2 fastball,” said Lessard.

Watson was the Monks’ only repeat hitter with a double and homer and three RBIs. Matt Alaimo, Andy Boure and McCuaig each had two hits for Husson and Alaimo, who doubled twice, knocked in a pair.

In the opener, Kanya’s two-out, two-run double in the fifth inning gave the Monks a 9-6 lead after they had squandered a 6-0 lead.

Relievers Randy Henry and Lessard held off the Braves.

“By looking at our pitching charts, he [loser Eric Murray] was starting everybody off with fastballs, especially when he was in trouble,” said Kanya. “He came in with one right down the middle.”

Kanya gapped it to left-center.

Bagley’s two-out double over center fielder Wes Rhames’ head drove in a pair of fifth-inning runs to cut the lead to 9-8, but Lessard came on to get Alaimo on a fly ball to center with two on in the seventh to end it.

Hashey, Boure, Bagley, and John McCarty had two hits each for Husson. Boure had a two-run homer for Husson, which has gone 0-3 against St. Joseph’s this spring.

Monks 9, Braves 8

(First Game)

St. Joseph’s Husson

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Kanya, ss 3 1 1 2 McCuaig, ss 4 0 1 0

Wood, c 3 3 1 1 Novak, lf 4 0 0 0

Boutin, 3b 2 1 1 2 Peary, rf 3 1 1 0

Mayo, dh 4 0 1 1 Fogg, c 4 0 0 0

Watson, rf 4 0 2 3 Hashey, dh 2 3 2 1

Thompson, 1b 4 0 1 0 Boure, 1b 4 2 2 2

Quintal, 2b 3 0 0 0 Bagley, 3b 3 1 2 2

a-MacIsaac 0 1 0 0 b-Cyr 0 0 0 0

Spencer, lf 3 1 1 0 Alaimo, cf 4 1 1 1

Lord, lf 0 1 0 0 McCarty, 2b 3 0 2 1

Ogilvie, lf 0 0 0 0

Rhames, cf 2 1 0 0

Totals 28 9 8 9 Totals 31 8 11 7

a-ran for Quintal in fifth

b-ran for Bagley in seventh

St. Joseph’s 240 120 0 – 9

Husson 033 020 0 – 8

E – Bagley, Spencer 2B – Kanya, Boutin, Watson, Spencer; McCuaig, Hashey, Bagley HR – Boure (3) LOB – St. Joseph’s 8, Husson 6 SB – Wood, Hashey SF – Boutin

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

St. Joseph’s

Bither 2 2/3 5 6 5 3 2

Henry (W, 3-5) 4 6 2 2 1 1

Lessard (S-3) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

Husson

Murray (L, 4-2) 4 2/3 7 9 9 6 5

Littlefield 2 1/3 1 0 0 0 1

HBP – Boutin by Murray, Quintal by Murray WP – Murray PB – Wood TIME – 2:01 ATTENDANCE – 61

Monks 8, Braves 7

(Second Game)

St. Joseph’s (15-15-1) Husson (12-15)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Kanya, ss 3 2 2 0 McCuaig, ss 2 3 2 1

Wood, c 1 0 1 1 Bagley, lf 4 0 1 1

a-Ogilvie 0 1 0 0 Peary, rf 4 0 1 0

Thompson, c 1 0 0 0 Fogg, dh 3 1 0 0

Boutin, 3b 2 1 0 0 Hashey, 3b 3 1 1 1

Mayo, dh 4 1 1 2 Boure, 1b 3 1 2 1

Watson, rf 4 1 2 3 b-Cyr 0 0 0 0

Spencer, lf 2 0 1 0 Alaimo, cf 4 0 2 2

Rhames, lf 1 0 0 0 Shaw, c 2 0 0 0

Quintal, 2b 3 1 1 0 c-Napoleoni 0 0 0 0

Flynn, 1b 2 0 0 0 d-Novak 1 0 0 0

e-MacIsaac 0 0 0 0 McCarty, 2b 4 1 1 0

Lord, cf 2 1 1 0

Ogilvie, cf 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 8 9 6 Totals 30 7 10 6

a-ran for Wood in fourth

b-ran for Boure in seventh

c-ran for Shaw in first

d-walked for Shaw in seventh

e-ran for Flynn in fifth

St. Joseph’s 221 300 0 – 8

Husson 410 110 0 – 7

E – Boutin 2, Wood, McCuaig, Boure 2B – Alaimo 2, Boure, Peary, Watson 3B – McCuaig HR – Watson (2), Mayo (2) LOB – St. Joseph’s 5, Husson 11 DP – McCarty to Boure; McCuaig to McCarty to Boure SB – McCuaig S – Wood, Flynn, Quintal, Bagley

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

St. Joseph’s

Dunham 2/3 4 4 0 0 0

Corbett (W, 2-0) 2 2/3 3 2 2 2 1

Remington 3 3 1 1 2 3

Lessard (S-4) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

Husson

Sibley (L, 1-4) 3 1/3 8 7 7 4 2

Napoleoni 1 1 1 1 2 1

Brown 2 2/3 0 0 0 0 2

HBP – Boure by Corbett, Shaw by Corbett, McCuaig by Lessard WP – Napoleoni TIME – 2:21 ATTENDANCE – 71