Presque Isle, ME - Northern Vermont University-Lyndon used the long ball to sweep Saturday's North Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.  With the sweep, Lyndon improved to 10-23 overall and 6-8 in conference.  UMPI fell to 2-31 on the season and 1-13 in the NAC.

Game 1 - NVU-Lyndon 6, UMaine-Presque Isle 5

The Hornets were only able to muster four hits off of UMPI starter Joey Lippo.  However, three of them were solo home runs.  TJ Santaw (Newport, VT) led off the game by homering, and Matt Doherty (Gardner, MA) went yard in consecutive at bats in the second and fourth innings.  Ryan Alt (Poultney, VT) had the only other Lyndon hit, an RBY single in the fifth inning.  Lyndon took advantage of three Owl errors to score three unearned runs.

Lippo helped himself at the plate with three hits in four at bats, including a double.  He also scored twice.  Timothy Burns hit a two-run home run for the Owls that brought UMPI back within one in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Nathan Bigelow (East Hampton, CT) picked up the complete game victory for the Hornets.  He allowed five hits and struck out five without walking a batter.  Lippo also went the distance in taking the loss.  He struck out two and walked three.

Game 2 - NVU-Lyndon 12, UMaine-Presque Isle 10

The Hornets pounded out 17 hits and built a 12-1 lead before holding off a furious Owl rally in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Santaw hoit his second home run of the day and added a double and a single.  He drove in three runs and scored twice.  Dale Ostermann (Milford, DE) also homered and had three hits and three runs batted in.  Aberto Bustamante (Los Angeles, AC) was three for four at the plate and scored four runs.  Tyler Murro (Littleton, NH) and Mark Osorio (Manchester, CT) had two hits apiece and Anthony Ness (Silver Springs, NV) had an RBI triple.

UMPI took an early lead in the bottom of the first inning after Lippo led off with a double and scored on Garrett Chadwick's base hit.  After that, Lyndon starter Carlos Rodriguez (La Mirada, CA) settled in and kept the Owls off the scoreboard over the next seven innings.

Down 11 runs heading into their final at bat, the Owls strung together nine hits and took advantage of a Hornet error to push across nine runs and bring the tying run to the plate after Ricky Goupille's two-run triple cut the lead to 12-10.  Sean Cavanaugh (Londonderry, NH) then came out of the Lyndon bullpen to strike out Campton Tinkham, end the game, and earn the save.

Rodriguez allowed four runs, three of them earned, over 8.1 innings of work to pick up the win.  He struck out 12 Owls and only allowed one walk.  UMPI starter Dakota Morrow took the loss.

The Hornets will close out the season on Sunday afternoon when they take on UMPI in another doubleheader.  First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 noon.