BANGOR, ME - #11 Saint Joseph's (8-3) escaped with a 3-2 victory over Husson University (4-8) in a non-conference baseball game on Thursday afternoon. Senior starting pitcher Jimmy Kennedy (York, Maine) earned the victory after allowing one run off six hits in 5.1 innings.

Saint Joseph's scored single runs in the first, fifth and seventh innings to offset Husson's lone runs in the fifth and eighth frames, but survived the Eagles' comeback attempt with an exciting - and game-ending - play in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on first and third and one out in the hosts' final turn, Zachary Yates (Newport, R.I.) was called upon to execute a suicide squeeze, but his bunt was lofted near the mound, where freshman reliever Corey McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) made a magnificent diving catch and doubled-off the would-be tying run at third base for the final out of the game. 

St. Joe's jumped out of the gate quickly, as sophomore catcher Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) drove in junior third baseman Alex Markakis (Lynnfield, Mass.) with an RBI single in the top of the first inning. The Monks doubled their lead when senior first baseman Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, Mass.) plated senior left fielder Sam Butts (Saco, Maine) with a two-out double.

Husson answered by scoring a run off a Dylan Foster (Oakland, Maine) RBI double in the bottom of the inning, scoring Cody McInnis (Bangor, Maine) to make it a 2-1 contest.

Coyne proceeded to pick up another RBI for the Monks in the seventh, this time driving in Pratt on an RBI double of his own. 

Husson clawed back within one in the eighth inning when Josh Gaudette (Waterville, Maine) plated Pat Thibodeau (Caribou, Maine) with a base hit.

Sophomore southpaw Dan Meeken (Marshfield, Mass.) came in for 2.1 innings of middle-relief for St. Joe's, yielding four hits and one run, and McNamara collected his third save of the year after working 1.1 frames of two-hit ball in addition to making the stellar game-ending catch. 

Sophomore Dennis O'Neil (Mount Desert, Maine) took the loss for the Eagles, going 7.2 innings while giving up three runs on eight hits and striking out four batters.  Brandon Reilly (Pemaquid, Maine) tossed 1.1 innings of no-hit ball with a strikeout to finish the game for Husson.

Offensively, Butts, Pratt and Coyne notched two hits apiece for Saint Joseph's while senior Shawn Smith (Winterport, Maine) was 3-4 and McInnis and Foster both chipped in with a pair of hits for Husson.

With the victory Saint Joseph's improves to 61-33 in the history of the series with Husson University and has now defeated the Eagles in eight-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2007 season.

Saint Joseph's hosts Roger Williams University in the 2013 home-opener on Friday afternoon in a doubleheader that begins at 1:00 PM. Husson travels to Endicott College on Saturday for two games, the first starting at 12:00 PM.