ORONO, Maine - After taking both games in the double header on Friday, the Black Bears looked to complete the sweep with game three on commencement Saturday. The Black Bears took an early lead ad never looked back as they took game three by a final score of 8-4.
Jonah Normandeau got the start for Maine and improved his record to 2-5, as he threw 96 pitches in 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, two walks, and two earned runs, while striking out one.Â
The Black Bears gave Jonah run support early, as they started off with another one-run first inning, by way of
Christopher Bec hitting one to left center, scoring the recently graduated
Lou Della Fera, to give Maine a 1-0 lead after one. They would add to the lead in the bottom of the second, when Della Fera got back up to bat and hit a single through the right side scoring
Cody Pasic and
Caleb Kerbs. Della Fera would get help from his fellow graduated senior,
Tyler Schwanz, who crushed one over the left field scoreboard, scoring three runs in total counting
Jeremy Pena, to extend Maine's lead to six runs after two innings.
UMass Lowell would get two back in the top of the third on a single to right field, and a balk with runners in scoring position.
Maine tallied another run in the fifth;
Jonathan Bennett sliced one down the right field line, getting himself a double and scoring Schwanz to give Maine a 7-2 lead.Â
The River Hawks would add two more runs in an attempted rally in the eighth, scoring on an RBI single, and a no-out double play allowing a runner on third to score, to cut Maine's lead down to 7-4. Maine would get one more run in the eighth to add insurance as Pena reached second on a fielding error, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on another wild pitch, to give Maine the final score of 8-4.
The third and final senior that graduated in the morning session,
Jeff Gelinas, came into the game in the top of the ninth, throwing 22 pitches in 1.0 inning of work with one walk, one hit, and a game-ending strikeout.
The Black Bears improve to 20-24 on the season, 7-10 in conference, going into the final week of the regular season. They face off at Boston College on Tuesday afternoon at 4pm, before returning home to host Albany in a three-game series.
-UMaine-
