GORHAM — If you’re going to measure your NCAA Division III baseball program in Maine, you’re going to have to do it against the University of Southern Maine, according to Will Sanborn, the St. Joseph’s College coach.

If Thursday’s game between the two is any indication, the Monks aren’t that far behind.

USM defeated St. Joseph’s 9-8, the winning run coming in on a bases-loaded catcher’s interference call with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. For the third time in four games, the Huskies rallied from a big deficit, tying the game with three runs in the seventh.

“This whole team is resilient,” said Sam Dexter, the Huskies’ superb senior shortstop. “We’ll fight to the last out. We’ve got a bunch of competitors on this team. We hate losing more than we like winning, so we just go out and play hard every day.”

The win was USM’s ninth straight, improving the Huskies to 16-5. The Monks (12-9) had a four-game winning streak end.

Both teams have played well in recent weeks, and need to be playing even better as they enter the bulk of their conference schedules.

“I really like our team,” said Sanborn. “We have an important conference weekend coming up … Those games have to be most important to us right now. That’s the way into the regional.”

The Monks certainly gave USM – ranked 18th or 19th nationally in Division III, depending on which poll you use – everything it could handle.

A five-run fifth inning that included a two-run double by Jameson Collins, and RBI hits by Nic Lops and Max McCoomb, gave the Monks a 6-3 lead. RBI singles by Taylor Black and Joey Murphy in the sixth made it 8-5 St. Joe’s.

But Sam Dexter led off the seventh with a home run to jumpstart USM. The Huskies tied it with an RBI single by Brandon Martins and an RBI triple by Nick DiBiase. Then came the bottom of the eighth.

Jake Dexter, who pitched the final two innings, led off with a walk. After an out, Paul McDonough roped a single off the leg of third baseman Black. The ball caromed into left field, allowing Jake Dexter to go to third. Sanborn then walked Sam Dexter to load the bases.

“I came over here and said we were not going to be beat by him,” said Sanborn. “We were going to have somebody else beat us. It was quite a bit against the book, I’d say.”

That brought up Sam Stauble, who entered the game hitting .547. On a 1-2 pitch, he swung at a high outside pitch and fouled it off. Home plate umpire Patrick Irish immediately called catcher’s interference and Jake Dexter came in with the winning run.

“I was just trying to get the bat on it and I hammered his glove on my swing,” said Stauble. “Lucky for us this time.”

Jake Dexter walked a batter in the ninth but finished up to improve his record to 3-0.

Ed Flaherty, the Huskies’ veteran coach, likes the way his team is responding to adversity.

“I knew what they were made up of,” he said. “The young kids are really competitive. But they’ve come along better than I thought.”

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