Bangor, ME - The Northern Vermont University-Lyndon baseball team got a pair of solid pitching performances on Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately for the Hornets, they weren't able to muster enough offense, and dropped both ends of a North Atlantic Conference doubleheader to host Husson University.  Husson improves to 8-4 on the season and sits atop the NAC with an 8-0 conference mark.  Lyndon falls to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in conference.

Game 1 - Husson 3, NVU-Lyndon 1

Husson got on the board with a run in the bottom of the second inning.  Brandon Smith drew a one out walk off of Hornet starter Cooper Whitehouse (South Berwick, ME).  Two batters later Nick Swift doubled to the left center field wall, scoring Smith.

Lyndon's Matt Brault (Milton, VT) led off the top of the third inning with a double for the first Hornet hit off of Husson starter Cam Graham.  Brault was stranded there, however, and Husson held onto the one run advantage.

The Eagles extended their lead to 3-0 with single runs in their half of the third and fifth innings.  In the third, Kobe Rogerson delivered a triple to deep right center field, then came home on Tyler Parke's sacrifice fly.  Then in the fifth Akira Warren led off with a triple and scored on Rogerson's sacrifice fly.

Lyndon got something going in the top of the sixth inning.  Ryder Thornton (Essex, VT) led off with a base hit.  TJ Santaw (Newport, VT) followed with another single and advanced to second as Thornton was thrown out trying to go to third.  Jake Gregoire then came out of the Husson bullpen to relieve Graham.  After Santaw moved to third on Codi Smith's (Hartford, VT) ground out, Jordan Cane (Merrimac, MA) drove in Santaw with a base hit to right.

That would be all of the scoring, as Gregoire set the Hornets down in order in the seventh inning to close things out.

Graham picked up the win for the Eagles, striking out seven while walking two and giving up three hits over 5.1 innings.  Gregoire picked up the save.  Whitehouse went the distance and absorbed the loss for the Hornets.  He struck out five and allowed five hits.

Game 2 - Husson 3, NVU-Lyndon 2

Husson struck first in the bottom of the first inning.  Following back to back one out walks to Swift and David LeBlanc, Chris Ewanik's single through the right side of the infield drove in Swift.  Hornet starter Dylan Crump (Falls Village, CT) retired the next two batters to snuff out the rally.

The Eagles added another run in their half of the second inning.  James Lubanski drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.  Warren then drove in Lubanski with a base hit to left field.

Lyndon got one run back in the top of the third inning.  Santaw walked with one out and advanced all the way to third base following an errant pickoff attempt.  Smith's sacrifice fly to deep left field brought home Santaw and cut the Husson lead to 2-1.

The Hornets then tied things at 2-2 in the top of the fifth.  Tyler Roberge (Essex, Vt) led off with a double down the left field line off of Jesse Colford, the third Husson pitcher of the game.  Brault moved Roberge to third with a sacrifice bunt, then Thornton drove in Roberge with a base hit to left.  After Thornton moved to second on Santaw's ground out, Smith was intentionally walked.  Colford was able to get Cane to ground out to keep the game tied.

Husson regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.  The Eagles loaded the bases on three walks.  Then with one out Warren hit a ground ball to short and barely avoided a double play by beating the throw to first and allowing the go ahead run to score.

Trainling by one and down to their final out, the Hornets stayed alive when Santaw drew a walk and Smith reached on an infield single.  Then with the tying run at second, Cane hit a sinking liner to right center, but LeBlanc made a diving catch to end the game.

Colford picked up the win with three innings of work in relief.  Sam Ognenoff (Brattleboro, VT) took the loss for the Hornets.  Crump didn't factor in the decision, going five innings and yielding two runs on three hits.

The same two teams will conclude their five game series with another doubleheader at Husson on Sunday afternoon.  First pitch is set for 12:00 noon.