ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears faced off with the Albany Great Danes in a long afternoon of baseball, with Albany taking both games by one run, game one ending in their favor 7-6, and game two ending 3-2 in the 10th inning.
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The Black Bears got off to a slow start offensively in game one, as they were only able to manage one run in the first eight innings.
Cody Pasic hit an RBI single through the right side in the bottom of the fourth to give Maine that run by way of
Brandon Vicens scoring from third base, tying the game at 1-all, after a run was scored by the Great Danes in the first inning.
Albany would take the lead in the sixth and would build that lead in the seventh, scoring six runs between those two innings, going into the bottom of the seventh inning with a 7-1 lead.
Maine would get one back in the seventh by way of a
Tyler Schwanz sacrifice fly scoring
Jeremy Pena from third base, cutting the Albany lead to 7-2.
Maine would make a rally in the ninth, starting with another RBI by Schwanz, as he forced a walk with the bases loaded, scoring
Jeremy Pena to make it 7-3. Schwanz would be tagged out at second base on a
Colin Ridley fielder's choice RBI, which allowed
Lou Della Fera to score, making it 7-4. A pinch-hitting
Jonathan Bennett would come to the plate and hit an infield single that would score
Christopher Bec from third, and
Hernen Sardinas would single to left field scoring Ridley, to make it a one-run game, 7-6. Maine was unable to finish the rally as an infield hit would tag out Sardinas at second to end the game.
Justin Courtney gets the decision for Maine, a loss putting his record at 4-5. Courtney pitched 6.0 innings and threw 98 pitches.
Cody Laweryson came into the game in releif and went 3.0 innings, allowing no runs on five hits, one walk, and striking out one.
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Game two was a much lower-scoring affair as the game was tied at two runs apiece for four innings. Albany once again got out in front first, scoring in the top of the first inning to lead 1-0.
Maine answered back in the bottom of the second on a
Caleb Kerbs ground-out would allow
Jonathan Bennett to score from third base to tie the game 1-all.
In the third, Maine took a one-run lead on a sacrifice fly to left field by Chris Bec, scoring
Jeremy Pena from third. Maine led 2-1 after three innings of play.
Albany would tie the game back up in the sixth and with the game tied 2-2 after seven, the game went to extra innings.
After several offensive chances for both teams were shut down by the opposing defense, Albany finally got through in the 10th inning with a two-runners on single up the middle that would finally break the tie. Albany led 3-2 going into the bottom of the 10th.
Despite a clutch one-out infield single by
Tyler Schwanz, Albany was able to force a double play to end the game.
Jeff Gelinas pitched 4.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits, two walks and three strikeouts. He gets his third decision of the year and an 0-3 record. He came into the game in releif of
Connor Johnson who saw a 0.1 inning effort, and
Nick Silva who started the game for Maine went 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, four walks and four strikeouts on 102 pitches.
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Maine and Albany will play game three on Saturday, May 20th at 1pm before both teams prepare to travel to Lowell for the America East Tournament next week.
-UMaine-
