ORONO – The University of Maine baseball team played their first set of games on Orono soil this past week, topping the University of Maine at Farmington on Thursday before dropping a doubleheader to Hartford University Sunday afternoon.
The Black Bears — 9-18 overall — will look to improve upon their 1-4 record in America East play in their series finale with the Hawks Monday afternoon.
Balance boosts Black Bears by Beavers
UMaine defeated the UMF Beavers in a 10-1 rout Thursday afternoon in the Black Bears’ home opener at Mahaney Diamond. Both sophomore infielder Shane Bussey and junior outfielder Sam Balzano recorded two hits for the Black Bears in the winning effort.
UMaine got off to a very strong start early in the first inning, opening up a four-run lead.
Senior infielder Colin Gay led off the inning with a single to left field. Senior infielder Troy Black and junior infielder Scott Heath were both hit by pitches to load the base before senior infielder Alex Calbick drew a walk, bringing home Gay for the game’s first run. Two sacrifice flies and another walk drew in the remaining base runners to cap the first-inning scoring.
The Black Bears momentum continued throughout the second when they scored three more runs. Black reached base on an error and scored on a ground out by junior outfielder Brian Doran. In Bussey’s second at bat, he reached base on a walk, then advanced to second on a wild pitch by UMF senior starting pitcher Ben Pearson. Sophomore catcher Jonathan Salcedo was hit by a pitch in the next at bat, and Balzano bunted safely to load the bases. Gay hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Bussey for the second run of the inning. Black’s next at bat brought home Salcedo on a single to centerfield.
Farmington scored its only run in the top of the fourth inning. Sophomore infielder Ben Keene reached base on a Black Bear error before sophomore outfielder Tom Grady, who tallied three hits in the contest, followed that up with a single to advance Keene. Sophomore infielder Grayson Beressi singled to center to bring home Keene for Farmington’s lone tally.
UMaine continued to pour it on in the bottom of the inning. Freshman outfielder Jake Osborne was brought in on the base paths after Doran singled. Osborne stole second base and scored when Bussey tallied his third hit of the game. He then reached home for the second time of the day on a Balzano single to deep left field.
The Black Bears’ final run came in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the 10-1 victory. The run was scored by Balzano who reached home on an error from a groundout by Black.
The Black Bears used six different pitchers throughout the game. Senior Shaun Coughlin earned the win, striking out four batters in two innings to improve to 2-2 on the season. Junior Luke Morrill allowed Farmington’s only earned run, along with two hits in two innings. Two strike-outs in two scoreless innings was recorded by sophomore right-hander Logan Fullmer. Sophomore Jake Marks struck out two Beavers in one inning of action, while freshman Jeff Gelinas and sophomore Burk Fitzpatrick also contributed on the mound for the Black Bears.
Pearson picked up the loss for Farmington, giving up four runs in the outing. He was one of seven pitchers used by the Beavers throughout the contest.
Black Bears drop both games of doubleheader
UMaine dropped two America East conference contests to Hartford by scores of 6-4 and 2-1 in a doubleheader Sunday afternoon. The final game will be held Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. Junior starting pitcher Tommy Lawrence had a good outing in game one, allowing only five hits and four earned runs in nine innings with nine strikeouts.
The Black Bears started off the scoring in game one in the first inning. Black singled to centerfield in his first at bat and then stole third after a walk had moved him to second. A grounder hit to second base by Doran should have ended in a routine double play to end the inning, but an overthrow was made at first base, bringing Black home for the Black Bears’ first run.
The contest remained scoreless until the fourth inning when Lawrence got into some trouble on the mound. He walked the first three batters in the inning to load the bases. A fourth walk brought a Hartford base runner home to even the score at 1-1.
“I just lost my focus out there, and there were a couple of calls that didn’t go my way, which was frustrating,” Lawrence said.
A pop fly hit by Hartford’s senior second baseman Brian Estevez should have resulted in an easy out, but Black was unable to get under the ball, and with the wind, failed to make the play. Black stumbled to the ground during the play, and three Hartford runners made it home to take a 4-1 lead.
“Right now, everything is coming down to just one play. We need to make one more play out there than we are making. One play in every conference game is the difference between being 5-0 and 1-4 for us,” UMaine manager Steve Trimper said.
Despite the rough inning, Trimper had no intentions of taking Lawrence out of the game.
“He had four walks, and that hurt us, but he was throwing strikes all day,” Trimper said. “He’s a senior – he’s a bulldog. I have to wrestle him to get him off the mound. But he just gets better and better down the stretch so he stayed in.”
UMaine responded with three runs in the sixth inning. Heath opened things up with a single to center field. Two consecutive walks by Hartford junior pitcher Sean Newcomb loaded the bases for the Black Bears before a sac fly by Calbick brought in Heath. Sophomore catcher Jonathan Salcedo tallied two RBIs for the Black Bears on a single he hit deep into left field to knot the score at 4-4, one they would take into extra innings.
In the top of the 11th, Black Bears sophomore relief pitcher Charlie Butler walked Hartford’s first batter, sophomore designated hitter Joe Roberti. Roberti advanced to second on a wide throw by Salcedo on a fielder’s choice bunt by Estevez. Freshman infielder Dalton Ruch advanced both runners into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt before junior shortstop Trey Stover and sophomore outfielder Adam Touhey each recorded run-scoring fielder’s choice grounders to bring home Roberti and Estevez.
UMaine had no response in the bottom of the 11th inning and lost 6-4.
The second game of the afternoon was close and competitive as well. UMaine senior starting pitcher Shaun Coughlin pitched all seven innings in the contest, allowing five hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts.
Both runs by the Hawks were recorded in the first inning. Stover hit a single to rightfield to start off the inning for the Hawks before Coughlin walked Touhey to advance Stover into scoring position. Junior outfielder Ryan Lukach hit a single deep to right field, bringing home Stover to go up 1-0. A sac fly by senior DH James Alfonso brought in Touhey to increase the Hartford lead to 2-0.
UMaine’s lone run was tallied in the first as well. Balzano was walked to begin the inning and advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt. Senior centerfielder Colin Gay grounded out to bring in Balzano, who tallied the Black Bears only run in the second contest.
Both defenses held serve the rest of the way, culminating in a 2-1 Hartford win.
“We just couldn’t get the ball into a hole all day,” Trimper said. “I don’t think our offense is stagnant, we’re just not getting the ball into the right spot. We had no quality hits today.”