ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine baseball team evened its America East Conference record to 5-5 with a pair of victories over UMass Lowell at Mahaney Diamond on Saturday afternoon. The Black Bears (6-22, 5-5 AE) earned a dominant 18-4 win in game one, while holding off a late River Hawk surge to win 5-3 in the nightcap.
Six different Black Bears batted over .400 between the two games.
Cody Pasic led the squad .625 average, going 5-for-8 from the plate, with five singles and a double while driving in a team-high six runs. Pasic, playing in his first game since March 30 against Stony Brook, improved his batting average from .256 to .313 in the two games, doubling his RBI total to 12 total on the season.
Joe Bramanti (3-for-6) and
Kevin Doody both drove in four runs on the day, while
Caleb Kerbs hit three singles and a double for four hits. The Black Bears as a team batted .367 as a team in both games while, registering a season-high in runs (18) and hits (16) in game one.
Along with Bramanti,
Danny Casals scored four runs, going 2-for-4 from the plate with a double, while also reaching base on three walks and a hit-by-pitch. Heren Sardinas and
Jake Roper each hit a home run, with Sardinas swatting a solo shot to right field on the second pitch of game one, while Roper smashed a no-doubter to the deepest part of center field in game two. Sardinas had three runs batted total.
Jeffrey Omohundro and
Colin Ridley also tallied multiple hits in the double header.
Nick Silva earned the start in game one, lasting 2.1 innings, allowing four hits and four earned runs while striking out five. After
Dillon Stimpson (1-0) came in to get the final two outs of the third inning,
Justin Courtney put together his best appearance of the season to date, allowing just two hits over the course of five innings, while striking out six and not allowing a run. With Maine holding a large lead,
Jacob Small pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowing just a single.
Peter Kemble (2-5) got the start in game two and picked up his second win of the season. The Bangor native allowed four hits in four innings, allowing just two runs and struck out four and did not give up a walk.
Trevor DeLaite pitched the fifth and sixth frames, allowing a single run on two hits.
Matt Geoffrion picked up his first save of the season, striking out a pair of River Hawks to complete the doubleheader sweep.
After striking out the first batter of game one, Silva walked the next two River Hawks, before getting out of jam with back-to-back strikeouts. On the second pitch UMass Lowell threw on the afternoon, Sardinas sent a pitch over the right field wall, as Maine took an early lead.
Silva would increase his strikeout streak to four consecutive batters before letting up a solo home run off the bat of Ciarian Devenney.
The game would not be tied long, the Black Bears put up a six spot in the bottom of the second, batting around. Sardinas picked up his second RBI of the contest on a single, driving in Kerbs, who led the inning off with a double. After
Bobby Brennan was hit by a pitch, Casals sent a run home on a bases loaded walk. Ridley drove in a run on a groundout, while Bramanti cleared the bases with a two-RBI double. Pasic's first RBI of the day came on a single to score Bramanti from second.
UML would get back into the game by scoring three runs in the following inning to make it a 7-4 ballgame. Stimpson would get the final two outs, as Doody caught a flyout and threw to first to double-up a UML runner on first. The River Hawks did score a run on the play, for its fourth run of the contest.
Maine added a run in the third, and increased its lead to 11-4 in the foruth. Bramanti's second double of the game brought home Casals, and Pasic followed with an RBI single. A sac-fly from Doody would score Bramanti, for the final run of the inning.
Both teams would be held scoreless until the eighth, as Maine added an impressive seven runs to take a commanding 18-4 lead. Maine scored all seven with two outs, scoring a run on a passed ball, a Bramanti two-RBI single, a Pasic bases loaded walk, a Kerbs RBI single and a Doody bases loaded three-RBI triple.
Small finished off the River Hawks in the ninth after allowing leadoff single. Maine's 18 runs are the most since scoring 25 against UMass last season on May 2, 2017.
Game two's contest marked Maine's fifth consecutive game of scoring a run in the first inning, as a Casals double put runners on second and third. Ridley followed with a sac-fly to left field to score Doody, as Maine took an early lead.
Kemble retired UMass Lowell in order in the first two frames. In the bottom of the third with two outs, Casals singled and Ridley doubled to right center to put two runners in scoring position. Bramanti followed with a walk to load the bases, as Pasic would clear them with a three-RBI double to left field to give Maine a 4-0 lead.
The River Hawks would score two runs in the top of the fourth on a two-run home run to right field, making it a 4-2 contest. Maine added an insurance run in its half of the fourth, as Roper led the inning with a solo blast, padding the Black Bear lead to 5-2.
UMass Lowell threatened in the fifth, as the River Hawks loaded the bases with no outs. DeLaite would get the Black Bears out of a jam, striking out a batter while forcing an infield fly and a fly-out to center to escape the frame with no damage. The River Hawks would send a runner across home plate in the sixth, slicing the Maine lead to 5-3.
With a two-run lead in the top of the seventh, Geoffrion would walk the bases loaded with two outs, with the last base on balls coming intentionally. The native of Northborough, Massachusetts would strike out the final out of the day, preserving the 5-3 lead in his first save of the campaign.
Maine and UMass Lowell will meet for the series finale tomorrow at noon at Mahaney Diamond.
-UMaine-
