BOSTON — Dan Mantoni allowed one run over seven innings, and went 3 for 3 with an RBI and two runs to lead UMass-Boston to a 5-3 victory against Southern Maine in an elimination game at the Little East Conference baseball tournament Thursday.

It was the second straight loss for second-seeded USM (29-13), which needs an at-large bid to reach the NCAA Division III tournament for the fifth straight year. The field will be announced Monday.

Mantoni’s RBI single off Dalton Rice gave top-seeded UMass-Boston (27-13) a 1-0 lead in the third inning, and Dave Murphy followed with a two-run homer. The Beacons added two runs in the fifth on bases-loaded walks.

USM scored a run in each of the final three innings, on RBI singles by Nick Bowie, Jake Glauser and Sam Dexter. After Dexter’s hit cut the deficit to 5-3, the Huskies loaded the bases with two outs, but Glauser grounded out.

SOFTBALL

MAINE 7, ALBANY 4: Maddie Decker capped a five-run fourth inning with a pinch three-run homer, propelling the second-seeded Black Bears (27-19) over third-seeded Albany (32-18) in the America East tournament at Vestal, New York.

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Maine trailed 2-0 before Felicia Lennon’s double started a two-out rally in the fourth. Alyssa Derrick and Kristen Niland had RBI singles to tie it, and Decker’s homer made it 5-2.

Lennon added an RBI triple in the fifth and scored on an error.

Molly Flowers (11-10) took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, and allowed two hits and two earned runs in 52/3 innings. Erin Bogdanovich recorded the last four outs for a save.

The Black Bears will face top-seeded Binghamton at 11 a.m. Friday with the winner advancing to Saturday’s championship round.

FOOTBALL

MISSISSIPPI: Text messages exchanged by Miami Dolphins rookie Laremy Tunsil and Ole Miss officials were confirmed by the school, which, according to ESPN, is still trying to determine whether they were altered before being published.

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The texts were part of two social-media incidents that caused Tunsil to tumble to the 13th overall pick in the NFL draft. The first incident was a tweet of a video of Tunsil smoking while wearing a gas mask/bong. The longer texts were screenshots posted to Tunsil’s Instagram account, which has been deleted, and were conversations that occurred in February and April 2015.

In them, Tunsil allegedly asks Ole Miss assistant athletic director John Miller for money to pay rent and his mother’s $305 utility bill. Miller’s answer was to “See Barney next week.” That appears to be a reference to Barney Farrar, the school’s assistant athletic director for high school and junior college relations.

In an interview with ESPN’s Joe Schad, Farrar said Tunsil didn’t ask for money and he hasn’t given him any.

In a news conference after the April 28 draft, Tunsil admitted to taking money from an Ole Miss coach. “I’d have to say yeah,” he told reporters.


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