BANGOR, Maine — Husson University right-hander Ben Walls survived a 31-pitch first inning to pitch a six-hit complete game as the Eagles beat Thomas College of Waterville 8-1 to salvage a split of Saturday’s North Atlantic Conference doubleheader at the Winkin Sports Complex.
Thomas triumphed 8-7 in the opener.
Walls, a 6-foot-3 junior from Bar Harbor, struck out three and walked three while throwing 98 pitches, 62 for strikes, over his seven-inning stint.
“Nothing was working other than my fastball. I just tried to hit my spots with it,” said Walls. “After losing the first one, we needed this win.”
“He spotted his fastball very, very well,” said Thomas coach Greg King.
“He threw a lot of them low and away. That’s hard to hit,” said Thomas left-handed hitting first baseman Derek Kane.
Kane singled and scored Thomas’ only run in the first inning on a two-out, bases-loaded walk.
Walls’ teammates supported him nicely with errorless baseball and a 13-hit attack.
“We focused on driving the ball the other way and staying relaxed at the plate,” said Husson freshman catcher Sam Huston of Bangor, who went 3-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in.
“We stayed short [with our swings] and waited for our pitch,” added senior designated hitter-right fielder Julien Boone, who went 5-for-7 in the doubleheader including two singles and an RBI in the nightcap.
Husson (7-8, 2-2 NAC) answered Thomas’ first-inning run with two in the bottom of the first when Andrew Curran doubled off loser Matt Rutherford and eventually scored on J.T. Whitten’s ground-ball single past Rutherford’s glove.
Whitten moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Boone’s line-drive single to right.
Husson made it 4-1 in the third on singles by Boone and Ryan Rebar, Zach Sugar’s sacrifice fly and Huston’s RBI double to left-center.
“I was expecting a curve but [Rutherford] threw me a fastball and I hit it where it was pitched,” said Huston.
Husson added two unearned runs off reliever Taylor Bacon in the fifth on an error, a walk, Alex Chapman’s bunt single, a run-producing, double-play grounder by Cam Archer and Curran’s RBI infield single.
Husson capped the scoring with two off Rett Adams in the sixth. Waterville’s Whitten became the 18th player in program history to reach the 150-hit plateau with a leadoff single and he eventually scored on Huston’s two-run ground-ball single just inside the third-base bag.
In addition to Huston and Boone, Curran and Whitten had two hits each for Husson.
Zach Mathieu had two singles for Thomas (7-8, 3-3 NAC), and Nik Beeson tripled.
In the opener, Husson spotted Thomas five first-inning runs and rallied from an 8-2 deficit to within 8-7 on five fifth-inning runs. Reliever Dominic Esposito thwarted the comeback with 2⅓ innings of two-hit, one-run ball.
“My cutter was definitely working for me. And I struck two guys out with my changeup,” said righty Esposito, who stranded the potential tying run at second in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
“He has done a hell of a job for us. He’s the type of kid you want in that situation,” said King.
“He mixed his speeds well and he had a little cutter,” said Husson coach Jason Harvey.
Kane’s RBI triple and run-scoring singles by Joe Quinlan and Hank Vinall keyed the five-run first inning off loser Robert Graff.
“It was good to jump out on top,” said Beeson, who sparked the 13-hit attack with a double, two singles and an RBI.
Husson’s fifth-inning rally featured Archer’s two-run triple off starter Isiah Fleming followed by a two-run, inside-the-park homer by Curran off Esposito.
To go with Beeson, Kane also had three hits for Thomas including his triple and Quinlan and Vinall had two singles apiece.
Boone had three singles for Husson, Rebar had two singles and Archer had a single to accompany his triple.