GORHAM, Maine – Backed by a 10-run effort in the second inning, the University of Southern Maine defeated UMass Dartmouth, 14-6 in game seven of the 2026 Little East Conference Tournament on Friday. With the win, the top-seeded Huskies move to 29-10, while the third-seeded Corsairs are now 21-21 overall.
 
UMD will now play in game 9, the final elimination game of the day at 7pm. They will face the winner of the middle game between #5 UMass Boston and #2 Keene State – which gets underway around 3:30pm. The winner of the 7pm game advances to Saturday's championship series against Southern Maine at 12pm.
 
The Corsairs got things going quickly in the top of the first as a single to right by rookie second baseman Jayden Cruz, coupled with a walk to junior shortstop and captain Cooper Wixon led to a fielder's choice by senior center fielder and captain Brett Baker to put runners on the corners with one out.
 
A walk to graduate student designated hitter Spencer Aubin loaded the bases as Cruz came home on a passed ball and a single through the left side by sophomore third baseman Luc Nivaud pushed another run in for a 2-0 lead. A single to right from rookie right fielder Sam Bradford followed and a double down the left field line from senior first baseman Jake San Antonio made it a 4-0 score.
 
Junior catcher Ryan Jones moved the lead to 5-0 in the next at-bat, grounding out to short as Bradford came in to score. The homestanding Huskies answered in the bottom of the frame as a two-run single up the middle from Peter Keblinsky closed the gap to 5-2.
 
Southern Maine took advantage in to bottom of the second, pushing 10 runs across, including a pair of two-run singles by Kyle Douin to open a 12-5 advantage for the home team.
 
The fourth inning saw Nivaud send a sacrifice fly to center, bringing home Cruz to narrow the gap to 12-6, but the Huskies added a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, including another RBI for Douin to make it a 14-6 score after four.
 
UMass Dartmouth worked to pull back into the game, but the Southern Maine pitching proved to be too much as the Corsairs were held to just a single and two walks over the final five innings of play.
 
Nivaud had a hit with a run scored and two runs batted in, while San Antonio pushed across two RBI on a hit. Cruz also had a hit with two runs scored. On the mound, senior AJ Rourke shouldered the loss, with eight runs allowed on five hits. He also had a strikeout. Junior Nick Bartalini came on in relief, striking out a batter while allowing four runs, while sophomore Leo Colena went the final 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on nine hits with four strikeouts.