C. Burke	Gutierrez
Alexander	Chiampa
Heide	Murphy-Romboletti
N. Burke	Simon
Ciummei	Furbush

LEWISTON, Maine -- The No. 3 nationally ranked University of Southern Maine baseball team overcame an early 3-0 deficit to defeat Bates College 5-3 at rainy Leahey Field on Wednesday.

The host Bobcats (8-16) scored a run in the first and added two in the third for a 3-0 lead. The Huskies (29-3) tied up the game with three runs in the fourth and went ahead in the fourth on Jordan Berthiaume's sacrifice fly. The Huskies tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on Josh Mackey's third home run of the year, a solo shot to right field.

Nick Hahn came on in relief of USM starter Josh Jillson in the fourth inning and earned the win to raise his record to 5-0. Hahn went 2 1/3 shutout innings. Andrew deBethune held the lead for USM for 1 2/3 innings of relief, before Mike Eaton pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, holding the Bobcats scoreless to earn his third save of the season.

Bates first-year starter Karl Alexander (Cambridge, Mass.) accepted the loss after holding the Huskies scoreless through the first three innings. Alexander allowed four runs, two earned, on six hits and two walks through five innings. Sophomore Paul Chiampa (Bryantville, Mass.), sophomore Ryan Heide (Medfield, Mass.) and senior Chuck Murphy-Romboletti (Holyoke, Mass.) all pitched shutout innings of relief for Bates. First-year Will Furbush (South Portland, Maine) pitched the ninth and allowed one run.

Bates got on the board in the first inning when sophomore Noah Burke (Appleton, Maine) hit an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on sophomore Chris Burke's (Andover, Mass.) infield single and came home on sophomore Jake Simon's (Waterford, Conn.) RBI groundout.

The Bobcats went ahead 3-0 in the third, as the rain began to come down (and kept pouring until the ninth inning). Chris Burke led off with a bunt single, then stole second with with two outs. First-year Mike Ciummei's (Acton, Mass.) infield single advanced Chris Burke to third, and both players came home when first-year Kelvin Gutierrez (New York, N.Y.) laced a two-run double down the left-field line.

USM tied up the game, however, with three in the fourth. Mackey reached on an error, and Anthony D'Alfonso followed with a single thorugh the right side. Ryan Pike was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs, and Ryan Gaffney put the Huskies on the board with an RBI walk, after getting ahead 3-0 and Alexander battled back to get the count to 3-2. Berthiaume scored D'Alfonso with a sac fly to right, and Anthony Pisani singled up the middle to score Pike. Grey Goodrich walked to reload the bases, but Alexander induced Eaton into an inning-ending double play to keep the score at 3-3.

USM moved ahead 4-3 with a run in the fifth, as Mackey reached on an error, reached second on a single by D'Alfonso, and came home on Pike's single through the left side.

Mackey had three of USM's 11 hits in the game, going 3-for-5 with the homer, an RBI and three runs scored. D'Alfonso also went 3-for-5 and Pisani had two hits.

For Bates, Chris Burke had three of the Bobcats' six hits, going 3-for-4 and also drawing a walk. Gutierrez drove in two runs on his double, one of only two extra-base hits in the game.

Bates will host Bowdoin on Friday at 3 p.m. to begin a key three-game NESCAC East Division series. The Bobcats maintain hopes of a berth in the NESCAC Championship, but will need to win at least two out of three from the Polar Bears and receive help from Colby in their series against Tufts.

BOX SCORE: Southern Maine 5, Bates 3