EDINBURG, Texas – The University Maine baseball team split a doubleheader with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Saturday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
Maine topped the Vaqueros, 7-5, in the extra-innings first game but fell, 12-1, in the second half of the doubleheader.
It took until the sixth for the Black Bears to string something together but they did it in a big way.
Cody Pasic led off the inning with a single to right field and then moved all the way to third on a throwing error that allowed
Jeremy Pena to land on second.
Jonathan Bennett's ground ball to second allowed Pasic to cross the plate and then
Hernen Sardinas' single up the middle pushed Pena across the plate to cut the deficit in half. The next batter up –
Brandon Vicens – again touched Jorge Flores up with a ball up the middle and moved to second on the throw to give Maine two in scoring position with one out.
Danny Casals then laced a double to left field, scoring both Vicens and Sardinas to tie it up, 4-4. Two wild pitches later, Casals gave Maine the one-run lead.
Starter
Eddie Emerson went 4.0 innings, allowing four runs on four hits while walking four batters and striking out four. The Vaqueros loaded the bases on Emerson in the fourth and made it 1-0 when Tyler Torres earned a walk. A three-run home run from Ivan Estrella home run the next inning gave UTRGV a 4-0 lead, but the Black Bears took that way with their strong sixth.
UTRGV was able to tie the game, 5-5, in the bottom of the ninth. After Coleman Grubbs reached on a passed ball and then advanced to third, he scored on a single up the middle from Austin Siener.
Maine struck first in extra innings, though, plating two in the top of the 10th to take a 7-5 lead. Sardinas led off with a double to right and then moved to third on Vicens' single to the left.
Colin Ridley then centered to center to score Sardinas. After
Kevin Doody earned a walk so too did
Ben Terwilliger to score Vicens.
Nick Silva was strong in coming on for Emerson, denying UTRGV an earned run. Silva went five innings, giving up five hits while striking out nine to get the win.
UTRGV put two on in the bottom of the extra frame but
Cody Laweryson came on in the and retired the first three UTRGV batters he faced on two pop ups and a strikeout to end the first game.
Sardinas and Vicens both finished the first game with three hits, with Sardinas adding an RBI. Casals had two hits and two RBIs for Maine.
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In the second game, Maine jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Pena led off with a double and then advanced to third on
Jonathan Bennett's ground ball to the pitcher. Sardinas singled to left in the next at-bat to drive Pena in.
It would be the lone run of the seven-inning second game for the Black Bears.
The Vaqueros used three hits in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead, but the damage would come in the fourth when they plated eight runs on eight hits. After Anthony Gomez led off the inning with a home run, two of the next three batters reached to keep it rolling. UTRGV had s 7-1 lead with one out and then scored five more before the third.
Bennett walked in the sixth inning and then moved to second on another Sardinas single, but Trevelle Hill stifled any more offense from the Black Bears.
Sardinas finished the day with five hits in nine at-bats and two RBIs.
Peter Kemble pitched 2.1 innings in relief for
Trevor DeLaite, allowing one run on three hits, while DeLaite went 3.2, giving up 11 runs on 11 hits. Kemble had two strikeouts while DeLaite had three.
Maine (4-9) and UTRGV (8-7) wrap up the series tomorrow with the first pitch of game four set for 1 p.m.
-UMaine-
