STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Despite an impressive outing from junior right-handed pitcher
Cody Laweryson, the Maine Black Bears could not fend off late runs from Stony Brook, falling to the Seawolves by a score of 2-0 on Sunday morning at Joe Nathan Field.
Laweryson (0-3) pitched 7 and 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and just one walk while ringing up nine Seawolves. The Bingham, Maine native brought a perfect game into the seventh inning, retiring the first 18 batters he faced in order. He allowed a single to lead off the seventh frame, but a strike 'em out throw 'em out double play had Laweryson facing the minimum amount of batters through seven.
Three of Maine's four hits went extra bases, as freshman outfielder
Jake Roper smacked two on the day, while senior third baseman
Danny Casals also rocked a two-bagger.
Colin Ridley collected the other hit for the Black Bears.
Hernen Sardinas drew two walks, while
Kevin Doody and
Joe Bramanti also earned bases on balls.
Maine looked to take the lead in the top of the eighth, as Roper was hit by a pitch and would steal second a few pitches later to put a runner in scoring position with one out. He advanced to third on a groundout. Standing 90 feet from scoring, a fly-out to center field would end the half inning without any damage.
Stony Brook's first two batters of the eighth singled and doubled to put runners on second and third. Laweryson struck out the next batter for the first out of the inning. With a 1-1 count, the Stony Brook runner on third base charged home as the batter bunted. The ball lifted in the air to the left of the mound fell just out of reach of a diving Laweryson, as the suicide squeeze scored the first run of the game. After another bunt single, a sac-fly to right brought in Stony Brook's second run.
Casals smacked a leadoff double in the top of the ninth, but a ground out and back-to-back strike outs would end the series.
After having its first 23 games on the road, Maine will finally have its home opener at Mahaney Diamond on Saturday, April 6 against UMBC. The doubleheader against the Retrievers is slated for a noon start.
-UMaine-
