OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine—The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) baseball team won its fourth consecutive Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) title and seventh spanning the previous eight seasons, defeating #5 Great Bay Community College (GBCC) and #2 College of St. Joseph (VT) (CSJ) at The Ballpark on Saturday, May 4.
Prior to the games, it was announced SMCC landed five players to the YSCC All-Conference team:
- Junior Cody Bryant (Somersworth, N.H.)
- First-year Stefan Lesco (Somers, Conn.)
- Senior captain Sean Adams (Lebanon, Maine)
- First-year captain Peter Stauber (Cumberland, Maine)
- Pitcher of the Year: sophomore captain Dylan Francoeur (Westbrook, Maine)
#5 Great Bay Community College (semifinals): W, 7-2 | BOX
Lesco and first-year Iain McGaff (Boston, Mass.) combined for 13 strikeouts and two runs, one earned over seven innings. The SMCC pitching staff surrendered just three hits to the opposition to earn Lesco his sixth win of his rookie campaign.
Francoeur got things going in the first inning for the top-seeded SeaWolves crushing a solo homerun to left field—his team-leading third of the year. Great Bay's Bryce Smith got even with a RBI-single to center in the third before SMCC opened it up with two in the bottom-half and four more in the fourth.
Great Bay would inch closer pushing one across in the sixth inning, but McGaff managed to work a lazy fly ball to center for the final out of the seventh to send his team to the championship game.
Stauber collected two hits in four trips to the plate. Bryant and first-year Jeadan Suazo (Boston, Mass.) also contributed RBIs.
View the photo gallery of the game HERE/HERE. REPLAY.
#2 College of St. Joseph (VT) (championships): W, 5-1 | BOX
In the most meaningful game of the season Francoeur proved why he was deserving of YSCC Pitcher of the Year. Changing arm angles and keeping hitters off balance, Francoeur threw a dominant complete-game performance striking out nine, allowing just one run over three hits.
CSJ scored its lone run in the first frame on a single to left field by Logan Pritchard. The SeaWolves used a big four-run third inning highlighted by a one-out bases-loaded double to left by senior Caleb Burpee (Kennebunk, Maine) that drove in a pair and provided all the run support Francoeur would need to pick up his 13th win of his career—tying the all-time record at the college. Francoeur continues to lead the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) in ERA (1.21) and ranks third in strikeouts (80).
CSJ's Justin Holmberg was taxed the loss.
Following the game, Stauber was selected Defensive Player of the Tournament and Francoeur was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
View the photo gallery of the game HERE/HERE. REPLAY.
The SeaWolves move to 29-7 overall and await the USCAA Bid Selection Show this evening, Monday, May 6 hoping to extend their season with an at-large bid to the national tournament in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The selection show begins at 5:30 p.m. WATCH.
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