CASTLETON, Vt. – The second seeded Husson University baseball team came from behind to take down the fourth seeded University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) in walk-off suicide squeeze bunt fashion on day one of the 2016 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Baseball Championship Tournament on Friday afternoon at Spartan Field. The Eagles won the game 6-5 in 10 innings.

Husson (22-19) extends their postseason winning streak to eight over the University of Maine at Farmington (23-15) and improves to 12-2 all-time versus the Beavers in the postseason.  

UMF jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after forcing an infield error by Mike Wong. In the third inning, the Beavers increased the lead to 2-0 after Ben Keene crushed an RBI triple to right field.

After Husson answered with a run in the bottom of the third inning off a sacrifice fly by Zach Sugar, Jimmy Parks gave UMF a two-run advantage again with an RBI single through the right side.

The Beavers tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth inning off a RBI single by Grayson Beressi and another Eagle miscue by Wong but the Eagles tied the game with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Alex Chapman belted a grand slam over the right field fence to tie the game at 5-5.

UMF had scoring chances in the ninth and tenth inning but could not plate an eventual game-winning run thanks to outstanding pitching by Robert Graff.

In the bottom of the tenth, Husson drew the bases loaded with one out and head coach, Jason Harvey '06 called for a suicide squeeze. Dan Whitney started running for home and Cam Archer laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt and UMF's throw home was too late to tag out Whitney giving the Eagles the 6-5 walk-off victory to advance to day two of the NAC Baseball Championship Tournament.

Whitten and Sugar led the Eagles with two hits while Chapman added four RBIs. Boone and Whitten were credit with a double and Chapman a homerun.

Graff (3-3) was credited with the victory after pitching two scoreless relief innings allowing just two walks while throwing 14 of 24 pitches for strikes. Brandon Reilly started the game but did not factor into the decision after yielding five runs (three earned) on 11 hits with a walk while fanning three over seven innings.

UMF's two-through-four hitters in the lineup combined to hit 7-for-12 with three runs scored and two RBI. Trevor Hisler had three hits, including two doubles and Nate Pushard (4-3) took the loss after allowing one earned run off one hit with a pair of walks in 0.1 innings. Jory Humphrey started the game and earned a no-decision, working six innings and allowing just one earned run on three hits while walking three. Mark Leahy pitched three innings of relief allowing four hits, four earned runs with a pair of walks and strikeouts.

The Eagles will face the top seed and host Castleton tomorrow in a winners bracket game at 1:30 p.m. to determine who will advance to Sunday's NAC Baseball Championship Final Game, while the loser will play Thomas in an elimination game at 4:30 p.m.