Captain Clutch Delivers Timely Home Run, SeaWolves Split

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine— The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) baseball team split with the NJCAA Division II Knights from the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) in a non-conference doubleheader on Sunday, Apr. 22.

Game 1: W, 8-7
Head Coach Jordan Yanni gave first-year Dylan Francoeur (Westbrook, Maine) the nod in game one against a talented Knights' squad. The right-hander gave his guys 4.2 innings of work in which he allowed three earned runs over seven hits and three walks.

CCRI turned over the scoreboard twice in the first frame and pushed another across in the top-half of the third.

Sophomore Evan Leveroni (Sandown, N.H.) got things going for the home team connecting for a lead-off single in the third inning. First-year Ian Westphal (Portland, Maine) followed with a single of his own before sophomore Cody Bryant (Somersworth, N.H.) moved the runners over on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs in the inning, junior Amos Herrin (Wilton, Maine) delivered a base knock to right field to score both and cut SMCC's deficit to 3-2.

Trailing 6-2 in the fifth, the SeaWolves strung together their biggest half-inning manufacturing four runs on three hits to even the score at 6-6. Junior Sean Adams (Lebanon, Maine) and first-year Timothy Greenlaw (Windham, Maine) both recorded RBIs in the sixth inning to give the SeaWolves their first lead of the day.

Bryant came on in relief in the fifth inning to earn his first career win as a pitcher throwing 2.2 innings of one-run baseball.

Game 2: L, 10-8 (8 innings)
It was Herrin who took the hill for the SeaWolves in the second game. The trusted veteran allowed nine earned runs, three walks, and struck out 11 over the course of 7.2 innings in a game that featured seven lead changes.

The SeaWolves' bats produced seven runs in six innings to keep pace with a relentless CCRI offense that led by one. With two outs in a do or die scenario in the bottom of the seventh, junior captain Caleb Chambers (Lebanon, Maine) came to the plate as a pinch hitter and mashed a solo shot over the center field fence to tie the ball game at 8-8.

In extras, CCRI doubled in a pair of runs and held SMCC to a one-two-three eighth inning to win 10-8. Herrin suffered the loss as the Knights' Joseph Barter was credited the win.

SMCC remains 7-0 in conference action, and sports a 23-12 mark overall.

The action continues when the SeaWolves host Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) Central Maine Community College in a nine-inning bout on Tuesday, Apr. 24 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Can't be in attendance? Track every at-bat using LIVE STATS.

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