LOWELL, Massachusetts - After losing to Albany 3-0 in the first game of the tournament, the Black Bears responded with three straight elimination-game wins. That put the Black Bears in the losers-bracket finals, forcing a rematch with the Great Danes on Saturday afternoon.
Albany got off to a quick start in the first inning scoring two runs on a hit and an error, putting Maine in an 0-2 hole quick.
Maine responded in the top of the second with two runs of their own, the first on an RBI single to right field by Hernen Sardinas, scoring Jonathan Bennett, and the second on a sac-fly by Cody Pasic allowing Brandon Vicens to tie the game at 2-all. Maine tallied another run in the top of the fourth as Hernen Sardinas doubled to left field, scoring Bennett, to take the lead 3-2.
From that point forward, Maine would never look back. The fifth inning saw four Maine runs come across; Jonathan Bennett singled to right field on an nine-pitch at-bat, scoring Lou Della Fera, followed by Vicens hitting a double to right-center to score Bennett and Tyler Schwanz, and Caleb Kerbs hit a deep triple to right center field allowing Vicens to score, as Maine led 7-2 after four and a half innings of play.
Despite Albany getting a run back in the sixth on an RBI double, Maine wasn't done adding to their lead. Three more runs would come across in the sixth on three straight plays, as an error would score Pena on a Christopher Bec single, followed by Schwanz singling to left field to score Della Fera, and Bennett reaching on a fielders choice, as Albany couldn't turn the double play which allowed Bec to score. After Albany added another in the bottom of the sixth, the score was 10-4 Maine.
Maine got two more in the seventh, as Jeremy Pena sent the first pitch of his at-bat into the left-field scoreboard, scoring Cody Pasic with a two-run home run to make the lead 12-4.
Albany would get a run back in the eighth, but couldn't tally more as Matthew Pushard came into the game to pitch with two outs and two runners in scoring position, and forced a ground-out. Pushard went 1.1 innings, allowing no hits, no walks, and no runs on 11 pitches, and kept the game at what would become the final score, 12-5.
Eddie Emerson came into the game for Maine in relief in the first inning; his night would last 7.0 IP, scattering six hits, three earned runs, and five walks while striking out five. He gets his third win of the season and is now 3-0.
The Black Bears will face the UMBC Retreivers on Championship Sunday, with UMBC still having no losses in this double elimination tournament, meaning Maine would have to win two games in a row on Sunday to take the title.
Game one is scheduled for a 1pm first pitch, with a game two (if necessary) being played shortly after the end of the first game.
-UMaine-
