STANDISH, ME - (BOXSCORE) Ben Grant-Roy '10 (Biddeford, ME) plated Wade Oliver '09 (Owls Head, ME) with a single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Saint Joseph's (29-13) past Southern Maine (31-5), 8-7, on Wednesday evening. Pat Moran '10 (Winterport, ME) improved to 7-1 on the season with seven strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of relief and Todd Keneborus '11 (Hollis Center, ME/Cheverus) slugged two home runs in the win. The Huskies entered the game ranked #1 in the country, according to the latest D3Baseball.com poll.

After a Jordan Berthiaume '11 (Berlin, CT) home run gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the second frame, Southern Maine put up three runs on four hits and one Monks miscue in the top of the third to go up 4-0. Run-scoring doubles from Anthony D'Alfonso '09 (Westbrook, ME) and Berthiaume sandwiched a sac fly off the bat of Collin Henry '10 (Penobscot, ME) to account for the USM runs.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Oliver walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third before Grant-Roy sent him scrambling home with a two-bagger down the left field line. Southern Maine got the run back in their next turn, as D'Alfonso singled to send Chris Burleson '09 (Portland, ME/Deering) across the plate to make it a 5-1 game.

The Monks answered with some fireworks in the bottom of the inning, as Keneborus and Michael Burdin '10 (Gardiner, ME) belted back-to-back long balls off USM starter Andrew Stacy '09 (Denmark, ME), cutting the deficit to 5-3.

SJC starter Kyle Dorr '10 (Berwick, ME) pitched well enough to keep the Monks within striking distance, but loaded the bases on 14 pitches with two out in the sixth before yielding to Moran, who fanned Ryan Pike '09 (Saco, ME) to help St. Joe's escape the threat unscathed.

Moran led off the bottom of the sixth and reached after hitting a sharp grounder that third baseman Josh Mackey '10 (Danvers, MA) was unable to handle. After the play, Stacy was lifted in favor of Andrew deBethune '10 (St. Albans, ME). Keneborus greeted the righty by taking the second pitch he saw over the left field fence for a two-run homer, tying the game at five apiece.

Chris Campbell '11 (Rochester, NH) started the seventh inning with a single and was sent to second via an Oliver sac bunt. Reliever Nick Hahn '11 (Guilford, CT), who replaced deBethune after the Keneborus blast in the sixth, intentionally walked Lee to gain the force in the infield and fanned Grant-Roy for the second out of the frame. This set the stage for Moran, who hit a double off the wall in left, just beyond the reach of D'Alfonso, scoring both Campbell and Lee to put the hosts up 7-5.

In the eighth, Mike Eaton '11 (Sabattus, ME) and Burleson reached on a Monks error and fielder's choice, respectively, and both scored when D'Alfonso slapped a double to left to knot the game, 7-7, heading into the final frame. SJC left fielder Todd Keneborus nearly made a diving catch, but the ball hit the end of his glove and trickled into the corner.

The Monks got a leadoff single from Burdin in the bottom of the eighth, but were unable to move him into scoring position and stranded him at first. Moran continued to throw well in the top of the ninth and shut down the side on 13 pitches to preserve the tie, setting the stage for a thrilling final turn for the Monks.

Oliver kicked off the ninth for the Royal Blue with a hard hit single up the middle, prompting the USM coaching staff to tap into their bullpen and bring in their staff ace, Tim Therrian '09 (New Portland, ME), for a rare relief appearance. The move proved to be ineffective, however, as Lee hit the first pitch he saw through the right side for a single to move Oliver to third. Grant-Roy followed by plating the game winner with a line drive to the right side that got past the drawn-in USM infield.

For St. Joe's, Keneborus was 2-4 with three RBI and now has three taters on the year and Burdin went 2-3 with his fifth homer of the spring. Grant-Roy was 2-5 with two runs batted in, Campbell had two hits in five trips with a run scored and Lee extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a 2-4 effort. The sophomore catcher is now hitting .483 and, with 73 hits, has passed David Quintal '00 for second place in the program's single season record book.

Dorr allowed six hits, five earned runs and seven walks in 5 2/3 innings for Saint Joseph's.

For the Huskies, D'Alfonso was 3-3 with two doubles and four RBI and Berthiaume went 2-5 with two RBI. Stacy tossed five innings and allowed five hits, three earned runs and two walks with one strikeout.

Hahn (6-1), who suffers the loss, worked three innings in relief and allowed three earned runs on four hits with a walk and four punch outs.

Saint Joseph's will host a doubleheader with Bates College on Sunday starting at 10:00 AM, while Southern Maine is set to play at Babson on Thursday in a 3:30 PM contest.