Gorham, Maine - Junior Shawn Smith (Winterport, Maine) hit his second home run of the game, a three-run shot, in the eighth inning to snap a 10-10 tie and the Husson University Eagles went on to defeat the University of Southern Maine Huskies 14-10 in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.  The win was the fifth straight for the Eagles, and improved their record to 19-16 overall.  The Huskies dropped their second straight to slip to 16-16 overall.

Shawn Smith hit his first two home runs of the season and had six RBI in the game for the Eagles.  His first three-run homer in the seventh gave the Eagles a short-lived 10-7 lead.

Rookie Brandon Gendreau (Brewer, Maine) paced the Eagles' 15-hit attack with three hits.  Sophomore Niko Ververis (Plainsfield, Conn) had a double and a triple, and senior Jason Smith (Milford, Maine) and sophomore Cody McInnis (Bangor, Maine) had a pair of safeties.

Junior Brett Barrett (Keene, N.H.) led the Huskies' 15-hit offense with two doubles and a single.  Rookie (Goffstown, N.H.), juniors Tucker White, Jake Glauser (Deerfield, N.H.) and Nick Grady (Whitefield, Maine), and sophomores Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) and Matt Powers (Portland, Maine) all had two hits.  Chadwick and senior David Ricker (Winthrop, Maine) hit round trippers for the Huskies.

Husson junior right-hander Austin Clark (Catonsville, Md.) went the final three innings on the mound to pick up his third win of the season against no losses.  Sophomore Troy Thibodeau (Danvers, Mass.), the fifth of six hurlers used by USM, was tagged with his first loss.

Tied 10-10 in the eighth, Gendreau was hit by a pitch and junior Jake Arthers (Belfast, Maine) walked to send Thibodeau to the dugout.  Chadwick retired the first batter he faced before Shawn Smith hit his second home run of the season.  Chadwick got out of the inning without further damage.  Husson tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on Arthers RBI double.

USM had taken a 7-5 lead with five runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by Glauser's two-run double and Chadwick's three-run homer.

The Eagles responded in the seventh with five runs of their own to take a 10-7 edge.  Sophomore Nick Lancisi (Dover, Maine) brought home the first run with a single, and Shawn Smith followed with a three-run homer.  Ververis tripled and later scored on a single by sophomore Cody McInnis (Bangor, Maine).

            The Huskies tied the game on a Barrett RBI double, a balk that scored Chadwick with the second run, and an RBI single from Powers that scored Barrett.

            Southern Maine is back in action tomorrow (3:30 p.m.) when it hosts Babson College in a non-conference game.  Husson will play Thomas College on Friday (2:30 p.m.) in a first-round game of the NEAC tournament being held at Castleton State College.