LOWELL, Mass. – The University of Maine baseball team split an America East doubleheader with UMass Lowell on Saturday at LeLacheur Park. The Black Bears topped the River Hawks in extra-innings, 9-4, in the nine-inning game before falling in the seven-inning nightcap, 1-0, despite a no-hit pitching performance from
John Arel.
Jeremy Pena finished the day 3-for-5 while earning four walks and scoring a run and
Hernen Sardinas was 5-for-9 with two RBIs and one run scored.
Kevin Doody and
Christopher Bec both finished with three hits.
Danny Casals had three RBIs on a three-run home run. The Black Bears had 14 hits in the first game and finished with 19 total on the day.
After a scoreless first inning in the first game, both teams were able to manufacture a run in the second.
The Black Bears loaded the bases with two outs, and
Jeremy Pena earned the bases loaded walk and RBI with
Caleb Kerbs – who had singled in the inning – crossing the plate. The River Hawks, though, capitalized on two early singles and scored on a wild pitch for a tie game after two innings.
Zach Winn – who got out of a jam in the bottom of the first with three strikeouts – collected five strikeouts through the first three innings. Winn ended up pitching 4.1 innings, allowing three runs – one earned – on five hits while striking out six and walking two.
After UML touched Winn up for a run in the fourth for a 2-1 lead, Maine tied the game an inning later thanks to
Colin Ridley. After Bec doubled, Ridley knocked the ball to right field and Bec was able to slide under the tag at the plate.
The Black Bears then took a 4-3 edge in the sixth.
Kevin Doody started the inning with a single,
Cody Pasic got hit by a pitch and then two batters later both came around on a Sardinas single to right.
A run for UML in the bottom of the eighth would send the game to extra innings, but the Black Bears were ready.
Pena singled home the eventual winning run in Doody before Casals sent a three-run home run over the left field fence. Sardinas doubled and then scored on a Bec single for Maine's ninth run.
Connor Johnson – who had entered in the ninth – finished out the game for Maine's 9-4 win. Johnson pitched 2.0 innings in relief while
Cody Laweryson was strong in his 3.2 innings of work.
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In the seven-inning second game, the Black Bears got six innings of no-hit pitching from Arel but fell, 1-0. The senior struck out 12 batters on the afternoon while walking three – it was a wild pitch on the evening that allowed the River Hawks to score.
After Ben Prada earned a walk to start off the bottom of the third, he stole second and third to put himself 90 feet away. That 90 feet proved key, as two batters later, Prada was able to score on the wild pitch.
The Black Bears – who out-hit the River Hawks 5-0 in the game – got a runner to second base twice in the first four innings but couldn't push it further. In the fifth, Doody led off with a single and move to second after Pasic earned a walk but the sophomore was caught stealing third.
Eventual winning pitcher Andrew Ryan sat the Black Bears down in order in the sixth and then Luke Tomczyk came in to close out the game in the top of the seventh and did the same.
Doody had two of Maine's hits in the second game while Pena had one, including a double, as did Sardinas and Bec. Arel's no-hitter was the first for Maine since the 1987 season when George Goldman did it against Husson.
The squads close out the weekend series tomorrow with first pitch set for 12 p.m. at LeLacheur Park.
-UMaine-
