GORHAM — Sam Dexter threw out the potential tying run at the plate as Southern Maine secured the Little East Conference’s regular-season baseball championship with a 2-1 win over UMass-Dartmouth in the second game of a doubleheader Friday.

USM (26-11, 10-4 Little East) earned home-field advantage for the double-elimination conference tournament that starts Wednesday.

Dexter hit a home run in the fifth inning to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. They added a run in the seventh when Brandon Martins doubled and scored on an outfield throwing error, and Nick DiBiase’s single.

The Corsairs (22-15, 9-5) answered with a run in the eighth, then threatened in the ninth. With a runner on first and two outs, Taylor Cacciola dropped a bloop single into right field, but Dexter took the throw from DiBiase in the cutoff position and threw out pinch-runner Zach Courier at the plate.

UMass-Dartmouth won the first game 6-5, scoring twice in the ninth inning.

MAINE 9, NYIT 1: Justin Courtney scattered eight hits and Brian Doran went 3 for 4 with four runs and two RBI for the Black Bears (18-22) in a win over New York Institute of Technology (12-24) at Old Westbury, New York.

Brenden Geary gave Maine a 2-1 lead with a two-run homer in the top of the second inning. Doran and Jonathan Salcedo also homered, and Geary finished with three RBI.

BATES 6, TRINITY 4: Nate Pajka hit a first-inning grand slam and the Bobcats (13-17, 5-6 NESCAC East) kept their postseason hopes alive with a win over the Bantams (14-17, 4-6) at Lewiston.

Bates needs a doubleheader sweep Saturday against Trinity to qualify for the NESCAC playoffs.

Connor Colombo allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings to earn the win. He struck out six and walked three.

SOFTBALL

LITTLE EAST TOURNAMENT: Michaela Roche hit a pair of home runs and drove in four runs as Western Connecticut State (26-13) eliminated Southern Maine (23-18) from the Little East tournament with a 7-3 win at Mansfield, Connecticut.

USM trailed 3-2 after a two-run homer by Mary Caron in the second inning, but Western Connecticut added two runs in the third and two in the fourth.

USM got its final run on an RBI single by Danni Humphrey in the bottom of the fourth.

Earlier, Keene State scored five runs in the fifth inning and held on for a 5-3 win over USM.

USM took a 1-0 lead on a home run by Humphrey in the fourth.

Samantha Crosman hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth.

MAINE, BINGHAMTON SPLIT: Maine (21-19, 10-6 America East) clinched a spot in the league tournament with a 9-0, five-inning win against Binghamton (19-18, 9-6) in the opening game at Vestal, New York.

Janelle Bouchard hit a three-run homer and Shelby Obert added a solo shot for the Black Bears. Alexis Bogdanovich gave up four hits and did not walk a batter while striking out seven to earn the win.

In Game 2, Kristen Koslosky, Nikki Byron and Rachel Harvey had two hits apiece for Maine, which lost 5-4 in 10 innings.

WILLIAMS 3, BOWDOIN 2: Tayler Donze lined a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning as the Ephs (29-5) beat the Polar Bears (27-14) in the NESCAC softball tournament at Medford, Massachusetts.

Bowdoin tied the game in the fifth on RBI doubles by Claire McCarthy and Adriane Krul.

The Polar Bears face Middlebury in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Saturday.