WATERVILLE — Thomas College’s James McLamb fired a four-hitter in the second game, helping the Terriers earn a 2-1 victory and complete a North East Athletic Conference baseball sweep of the Husson University Eagles Tuesday.
Thomas won the first game 7-1.
In Game 2, McLamb struck out five and walked two for the Terriers (10-9), who scored both of their runs in the third. John Charves singled, moved up on a one-out single by Jeff Richardson and scored on a Ethan Hurley single. Josh Gray’s two-out single provided the margin of victory.
Hurley and Gray had two singles each.
Pat McEwen spaced seven hits and two runs with a strikeout for Husson (7-9). Jake Arthers doubled and Brandon Gendreau had an RBI fielder’s choice in the third.
In the opener, Chris Farrar spread out five hits with four strikeouts and two walks to pace Thomas. Tom Cameron and Taylor Livingston each had two singles and an RBI and Wes Perreault posted a run-scoring double.
Ben McLain doubled and knocked in a run to back losing pitcher Nate Adams for Husson, which committed four errors.
USM 9, Endicott 3
At Beverly, Mass., Jake Glauser hit a home run, double, and drove in three runs to power the University of Southern Maine to victory.
Tucker White chipped in with a triple, single and three RBIs for the 9-8 Huskies. David Ricker added three singles and Matt Verrier doubled and singled. Alex Tobey pitched six strong innings to notch the win. He allowed four hits and one run and didn’t walk a batter.
Michael Russo had three hits for 10-12 Endicott.
UMF, Lyndon State split
At Farmington, Brett Wallingford and Matthew Woodbury each drove in two runs as the University of Maine salvaged a split with 6-2 win over Lyndon State in the second game of a doubleheader. Lyndon State won the first game 5-2.
Zach Keene contributed a home run for 2-8 UMF in the second game Jack MacVane singled twice. Ben Pearson scattered eight hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in the complete-game victory.
Cody Gage singled, doubled and had an RBI for 2-11 Lyndon.
In the opener, Dylan Newton crushed a three-run home run as Lyndon scored four times in the fourth en route to the victory.
Ethan Jean had an RBI double and RBI single for UMF and Woodbury recorded a run-scoring single.
Softball
St. Joe’s sweeps USM
At Gorham, Kayla Vannah and Rae-Marie Copan each picked up their fifth wins of the season, pitching solid games as St. Joseph’s swept the University of Southern Maine 5-0 and 4-2.
The Monks extended their winning streak to seven games and are now 16-4 while the Huskies slipped to 0-12.
In the first game, Vannah held USM to just three hits and didn’t issue a walk while striking out two. The Monks struck for two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Heather Tripp provided an RBI double, Lindsay Moore drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and Kim Jordan had a run-producing single.
In the second game, Copan struck out nine, scattered seven hits and didn’t walk a batter. St. Joe’s scored three runs in the first, highlighted by Moore’s RBI double and Theresa Hendrix’s RBI triple.
Annie Mitchell and Katie Davis each recorded RBI singles for USM.
Football
Ducks open practice
The Oregon Ducks have opened spring practice in Eugene, Ore., without an audience and a couple of familiar faces from last year’s Rose Bowl-winning team. But their speed is still there.
“Kids had great energy,” coach Chip Kelly said Tuesday about the first of 15 practices this month. “Everybody was out there early running around.”
This is the first year that Oregon has closed drills to supporters, as well as the media. While some fans weren’t happy with the new decree, Kelly said recently that spring practice didn’t draw that many onlookers, anyway.
Also different this year was the absence of running back LaMichael James and quarterback Darron Thomas, who decided to skip their senior seasons and make the leap to the NFL.
Kenjon Barner, James’ backup for the past two seasons, said he’s happy he decided to stay for his senior year and is looking forward to carrying a greater load. He ran for 939 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, while pulling down 17 passes for 184 yards and three scores.
Joining Barner on Oregon’s speedy offense will be De’Anthony Thomas, who broke out as a true freshman last season and is listed as both a running back and wide receiver. Thomas set an Oregon freshman record with 18 touchdowns: seven on the ground, nine via the pass and two on kickoff returns.
Running back Tra Carson, who would have been a sophomore this season, has decided to transfer to be closer to home in Texas, Oregon announced on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Kelly said last week that the competition at quarterback is wide open between Bryan Bennett, redshirt freshman Marcus Mariota and true freshman Jake Rodrigues, an early enrollee at Oregon.
Bennett is the most experienced of the group, having started a game last season when Darron Thomas was injured.
Thomas surprised many when he announced he was declaring for the draft. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior passed for 2,761 yards and a school-record 33 touchdowns last season despite missing a game because of an injury. He also ran for three scores.
In contrast, James’ decision had been widely anticipated. The All-American who was a Heisman finalist his sophomore season rushed for a school-record 1,805 yards as a junior despite missing two games with a dislocated right elbow. He led the nation with an average of 150.4 yards rushing per game.
Over the weekend, James was one of those who weighed in on Oregon’s decision to close the spring practice.
“I feel as Oregon fans should be allowed to watch Oregon spring practice I mean it’s not like they’re playing some1,” he posted on Twitter.
When asked about closing practice in a conference call with reporters late last week, Kelly never really offered a concrete reason for the decision.
“I would say we analyze everything we do here as a football program, and look at the pluses and the minuses. And if the pluses outweigh the minuses, then that’s the direction we go in,” he said. “There’s a lot to be made of it, but I don’t know if we’ve ever had more than 15 people at practice, so it’s not like we’ve told thousands that they can’t come to practice.”
Among those at practice Tuesday were new recruits Rodrigues, tight end Evan Baylis and defensive end Arik Armstead — especially imposing at 6-foot-8 and 295 pounds.
Kelly’s advice to Armstead?
“Jump in the deep end and start swimming, son,” he joked.