LEWISTON, Maine -- The University of Southern Maine scored five runs in the fifth inning and added three in the sixth to pull away from the Bates College baseball team for a 10-4 non-conference victory on Thursday at Leahey Field, giving Huskies head coach Ed Flaherty his 900th career victory.

USM (21-9) collected nine hits and took advantage of five Bates errors, all committed in the Huskies' two big innings. USM will host Keene State in a Little East doubleheader on Saturday at 12pm.

Bates (11-13) begins a three-game NESCAC East Division series at Tufts University with a nine-inning game starting at 3pm on Friday.

USM got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the second. Bates first-year starting pitcher Connor Russell (Cumberland, Maine) walked Matt Bender and Brendon Joyce to lead off the inning; Thomas Zarro doubled into the right-center gap to score Bender, and Joyce later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Brandon Martins.

Bates scored one run in the second and added two in the third to take a 3-2 lead. Sophomore Brendon Canavan (Carlisle, Mass.) led off with a single, and the Bobcats loaded the bases with one out as junior Conor Reenstierna (Lincoln, Mass.) walked and first-year Jake Shapiro (Sandy, Utah) bunt singled. Canavan scored on a sac fly by first-year Reed Mszar (Manassas, Va.), but Huskies starter Al Wallach avoided any further damage. In the third, seniors Mekae Hyde (Lewiston, Maine) and Rockwell Jackson (Fort Worth, Texas) led off with back-to-back singles. Canavan bunted the runners up a base, and Hyde came home on a passed ball. Reenstierna's sacrifice bunt later scored Jackson to make it 3-2.

After Wallach gave up a single by Mszar to lead off the fourth, USM righthander Dan Kinnon (1-0) was summoned. Kinnon got out of the inning and proceeded to hold Bates to one run over four innings, scattering two hits and four walks to earn his first win.

The Huskies opened the fifth inning with four hits in a row, including Sam Dexter's two-run single, chasing Bates righthander Rob Jones (South Berwick, Maine; 0-1) in favor of senior lefthander Aidan Sullivan (Yarmouth, Maine). USM scored three more runs with just one more hit in the inning, an infield single by Joyce, taking advantage of back-to-back errors by the Bobcats.

Bates' sudden fielding troubles continued in the sixth with three more errors, a leadoff walk issued to Nick DiBiase and an RBI single by Paul McDonough, allowing the Huskies to assume a 10-3 lead.

Bates senior Jon Anagnost (Boulder, Colo.) and sophomore Ryan McCarthy (Plaistow, N.H.) walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Hyde came up and laced a liner to left field, where Zarro initially made a diving stab, but the ball came out of his glove when he landed. But with McCarthy held up at first base, USM center fielder was able to pick up the ball and easily throw out McCarthy for the force out at second. Jackson followed with a single through the right side to score Anagnost, but Kinnon got the next batter out to preserve USM's 10-4 lead.

Ryan Browner blanked Bates over the final two innings. For Bates, senior Sam Berry (Hamilton, Mass.), first-year Andrew Freeman (Newton, Mass.) and Shapiro all tossed shutout innings in the seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

DiBiase and Joyce had two hits apiece for USM, while Dexter and Damon Wallace drove in two runs apiece.

For Bates, both Hyde and Jackson collected two hits.