PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Alexander Semin scored three goals as the Portland Pirates defeated the Providence Bruins 6-2 on Friday, sweeping the best-of-three American Hockey League Atlantic Division qualifying series.

Portland advances to face the Hartford Wolf Pack in the best-of-seven Atlantic Division semifinals.

Jakub Cutta opened the scoring for Portland at 13:18 of the first period.

The Pirates went up 2-0 at 8:31 of the second period when Semin scored from the righthand faceoff circle.

The Pirates built their lead to 4-0 early in the third period with Brad Parsons scoring on a breakaway at 4:28 and Jared Aulin knocking in a loose puck at 5:37.

Providence finally broke through Pirates goalie Rastislav Stana at 6:19 of the third period when Brad Boyes tipped in a Matt Herr slap shot. The Bruins cut the deficit to 4-2 with a goal by Carl Corazzini at 14:17.

Semin eliminated any hopes of a Bruins comeback with a long wrist shot goal at 15:15 that put the Pirates up 5-2. He added an empty net goal at 19:31 to complete his hat trick.

Providence outshot the Pirates 30-13.
Baseball
Binghamton 6, Portland 3
PORTLAND (AP) – David Bacani knocked in two runs with a single and Wayne Lydon tripled home the game-winner as the Binghamton Mets defeated the Portland Sea Dogs 6-3 Friday in the Eastern League.

The Mets were helped by four Portland fielding errors.

Brett Roneberg drove in all three Sea Dogs runs.

Portland (2-5) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Roneberg’s two-run double.

Prentice Redman’s leadoff double and Bacani’s two-run single keyed three runs for Binghamton (7-2) in the second. Roneberg’s RBI single tied it at three in the third.

Chris Basak doubled to lead off Binghamton’s three-run seventh inning, then scored on Lydon’s triple. Lydon scampered home on Ron Acuna’s double and Acuna scored the final run of the game on Edgar Martinez’s third error of the game.