BANGOR, Maine – Julien Boone's two run single in the bottom of the sixth inning snapped a 5-5 tie to lead the Husson University Eagles to a 9-7 non-conference win over the Bates College Bobcats in Husson's earliest home opener in program history by four days on Sunday afternoon at Harold Alfond Diamond at Dr. John W. Winkin Sports Complex.

Husson (3-5) wins back-to-back home openers for the first time in eight years, while Bates (5-7) drops their first back-to-back games to the Eagles in ten years and falls to 25-13 in the all-time series.

The Eagles got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the 1st when Andrew Curran scored on a passed ball by Joe Dinoto.

The Bobcats evened the score in the top of the second when Brendon Canavan reached base on a walk by Robert Graff, advanced to third on an Asher MacDonald double to left center before scoring on a RBI groundout by Berto Diaz.

Bates added three more runs in the top of the fourth on two hits and one Eagle miscue. Canavan scored on a throwing error by Graff who was trying to throw out Diaz at first and John Dinucci singled up the middle plating Diaz and Samuel Warren for a 4-1 advantage.

Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of 4th, Husson cut the Bobcats lead to two on a sacrifice fly by Christian Corneil and tied the game at four in the fifth on a RBI single up the middle by JT Whitten and a RBI double down the right field line by Ryan Rebar. Bates retook the lead in the sixth when Eric Vilanova scored on a single to left field by Dinucci.

However, the Eagles responded with a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to regain the lead when Corneil led off the inning with a double to left field, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Chapman before scoring on a suicide squeeze by Curran while Curran reached first base on a fielding error by Canavan off his suicide squeeze. Mike Wong advanced Curran to second on a single left field, Whitten advanced Wong to second and Curran to third on a groundout before Boone drove both Wong and Curran in on a single to right field for a 7-5 advantage.

Brendan Fox scored on two Zach Sugar errors off a groundball by MacDonald cutting the Eagle lead to one in the seventh but the Eagles added insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning on a RBI groundout by Wong and a single through the left side by Whitten making the game 9-6.

In the top of the ninth the Bobcats scored a run off closer Ben Holmes on a RBI groundout by MacDonald, however Holmes got Warren to fly out to Curran with two Bobcats on base to pick up his first career save.

For the Eagles, Rebar was 3-for-5 with a RBI, a run scored and a two bagger, Whitten was 2-for-5 with two RBI, and a run scored and Boone went 1-for-4 with two RBI.  Wong, Corneil and Sugar each record two hits in the victory. Graff allowed five earned runs on four hits while walking six and fanning five in 5.2 innings and Ben Walls (1-1) allowed two hits, one unearned run and struck out one over 1.1 innings of relief to pick up his first win on the season. Steven Hanscom pitched a clean eighth inning while fanning one. Holmes allowed no hits, one earned run while walking two in his inning of work.

For the Bobcats, Dinucci was 2-for-4 with three RBI while MacDonald went 1-for-5 with a two-bagger and a RBI. Anthony Telesca allowed four earned runs off seven hits while walking two and fanning two over 5.0 innings. Justin Foley (0-1) picked up the lost after yielding three runs (one earned) off five hits in two thirds of an inning. Andrew Freeman allowed one hit, two earned runs while walking three with two whiffs in 1.0 inning of work and Mark Cunningham pitched 1.1 innings of shutout ball allowing just a walk.

The Eagles return to action on Saturday, March 26 when they host Norwich University for a non-conference doubleheader at Harold Alfond Diamond at Dr. John W. Winkin Sports Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.  This will be the first time the Eagles and Cadets have met on a baseball diamond. Bates is back in action Saturday, March 26 as they visit Salem State for a doubleheader starting at noon.