Shaine Hughes hit a walk-off three-run home run in the ninth inning to give the Sanford Mainers a 5-2 win over the Valley Blue Sox to take the Northern Division final best-of-three New England Collegiate Baseball League series on Tuesday night in Sanford.

Michael Landestoy added two hits, including an RBI single in the fifth to tie the game at 1-1.

Valley took a 2-1 lead in the sixth, but Sam Stauble drove in the tying run with a triple in the bottom of the eighth.

Sanford moves to the championship round.

The Mainers face the Mystic Schooners in Groton, Connecticut on Wednesday in the opener of the best-of-three series.

Game 2 is at Sanford at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

EASTERN LEAGUE: Wynton Bernard hit a walk-off double to score Grayson Greiner, giving the Erie SeaWolves a 6-5 win over the Portland Sea Dogs at Erie, Pennsylvania.

Portland trailed 5-3 going into the top of the ninth but Rainel Rosario singled in a run and Aneury Tavarez tripled, driving in Rosario to tie the game.

Rosario finished 2 for 4 with two RBI; Tim Roberson and Jake Romanski each added two hits and a double.

COLLEGES

FOOTBALL: Bill Dooley, a three-time coach of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference who piled up 162 wins at North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, died of natural causes. He was 82.

AUTO RACING

NASCAR: Denny Hamlin, the Daytona 500 winner, tweeted a picture after he received his version of the Harley J. Earl Trophy that goes to drivers who win the Great American Race. But instead of the correct year of 2016, the silver plate read “2015.”

“It just hasn’t been the best week as far as mis-prints go,” Hamlin said, referring to a headline he saw Monday after his victory at Watkins Glen that said the winner was “Hamilton.”

HOCKEY

NHL: Before the Rams left town in January, the St. Louis Blues were in line to get an outdoor NHL stadium series game – but not the big one.

Team Chairman Tom Stillman credits the NHL for recognizing the city sorely needed a shot in the arm and scheduling the Blues against the Chicago Blackhawks for the Winter Classic on Jan. 2.

Commissioner Gary Bettman, executives from both teams and former players attended a news conference at home plate at Busch Stadium in the first public forum since the announcement.

– Staff and news service report