BANGOR, Maine — Two Husson University baseball players looking to jumpstart their seasons offensively did just that on Sunday and helped lead the Eagles to a 9-7 non-conference victory over Bates College of Lewiston at the Winkin Sports Complex.
Junior center fielder Christian Corneil, who was 0-for-15 entering the game, had a pair of hits including a lead-off double that triggered a three-run rally in the sixth inning, and senior designated hitter Julien Boone had a clutch two-out, two-run single in the sixth.
Boone was hitting .136 (3-for-22) when he delivered his pivotal base hit.
“My approach was a little different today, it was a lot better than last week,” said Bangor native Corneil referring to the team’s trip to Florida. “I forgot about last week. Just being back home and playing the home-opener on a nice day got me going. I was ready to go today.”
Boone said he doesn’t “ worry too much about my average” because you can hit a ball hard only to have it caught.
“It’s all about the team. But when you get up in a big [situation] like that, that’s when we need it the most,” said Boone.
The Eagles were down 5-4 entering the sixth when Corneil greeted reliever Justin Foley with a long double over left fielder John Dinucci’s head.
“I watched him warming up and he had been missing the zone. So I felt he might groove one right down the middle and I was ready for it,” said Corneil.
Alex Chapman sacrificed him to third and Andrew Curran’s squeeze bunt delivered him.
Curran reached when the throw to first was dropped.
Mike Wong singled to left, both moved up on a groundout and Boone pulled a line-drive single to right to score Curran and Wong and make it 7-5.
“He threw me a fastball inside and I like that pitch,” said Boone.
Bates got an unearned run off reliever and winner Ben Walls in the seventh but Husson answered with two more in the bottom of the seventh.
Corneil drew a leadoff walk and stole second. One out later, Curran walked and he and Corneil worked a double steal.
Corneil scored on Wong’s groundout and Curran made it 9-6 when J.T. Whitten grounded a two-out single to left.
“This was a great start to our northern schedule,” Husson coach Jason Harvey said. “The guys came up with some huge two-out hits and that’s something we had lacked on our trip to Florida.”
First baseman Whitten’s defensive gem in the ninth helped preserve the win as he dove to his right to snare Brendon Canavan’s grounder and throw him out at first with runners on first and second and nobody out.
“I just gave it my all on that one because I know we needed it. They tying run was at the plate,” said Whitten. “This was a great team win.”
“They made the plays and got the hits when they needed to and we didn’t,” Bates coach Mike Leonard said.
Junior Dinucci helped stake Bates to a 5-4 lead with a pair of two-out hits: a two-run single in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth.
Ryan Rebar had a double and two singles and drove in a run for 3-5 Husson. Whitten had a pair of RBI singles; Corneil had a double, single and sacrifice fly and Wong and Zach Sugar had two singles apiece. Wong had an RBI.
Dinucci paced 5-7 Bates with his two singles and three RBIs. Asher MacDonald had a double and an RBI and Berto Diaz had a single and an RBI.