QUEENS, New York - The Black Bears traveled to Queens to play the first two of three games in the series against the St. John's University Red Storm, but couldn't pull out a win as they were shut out in game one 3-0, and despite grabbing a 3-0 lead of their own in game two, the Red Storm surged back to take the victory 9-3.
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Despite a solid pitching effort from Maine starter
Justin Courtney, the Black Bears were unable to get anything going offensively as they were shut out by the Red Storm in game one, 3-0.
Courtney lasted 6.2 innings, allowing eight hits and walking one, while striking out three; he gave up three runs, but only two of them were earned.
Cody Laweryson and
Eddie Emerson came in to close the game with 0.1 innings and 1.0 inning respectively. Both allowed a hit, but no runs or walks.
The game was a stalemate through the early going, with St. John's finally breaking the 0-0 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning as a runner scored on a passed ball, giving them a 1-0 lead after five full innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, up 1-0, the Red Storm would hit a sacrifice RBI to left field and an RBI single to right field to score their insurance runs, giving them the eventual final score of 3-0. Courtney ended the day with the decision, a loss to bring his record on the season to 2-2.
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With game one ending around 1:45pm, game two was slated to take place at 2:15pm. The Black Bears got off to a great start offensively, scoring two runs in the top of the first;
Danny Casals would lead off the game with a double, and a one-out
Christopher Bec RBI double would score Casals for the 1-0 lead. After Bec advanced to third on a passed ball,
Tyler Schwanz hit a sacrifice fly to bring Bec home for a quick 2-0 Maine lead.
In the second inning, Maine expanded on their lead on a lead-off double by
Brandon Vicens, who would then advance to third on a wild pitch and be scored by a sacrifice fly by
Caleb Kerbs, giving Maine the 3-0 lead.
After the second inning, St. John's would hold Maine to just those three runs, as they prepared to mount a comeback. The bottom of the second saw their first run, cutting the lead to 3-1.
A wild seven-run bottom of the fifth inning would see St. Johns tie the game on two straight walks, and a single and a triple would eventually clear the bags and score four more to lead it 8-3.
Maine starting pitcher
Jonah Normandeau saw 4.0 innings of work, allowing three hits and walking four, striking out one, and allowing only one run to score unearned.
Trevor DeLaite came into the game in relief of Normandeau to start the fifth, he is credited with the loss, as he is now 0-2 on the season.
The Red Storm would tally on an extra run in the game to take the game by the final score of 9-3.
The two teams will be back at it again for the final game of this three-game series on Sunday at 1pm.
-UMaine-
