ORONO, Maine – Paced by a 10-strikeout outing from Cody Laweryson and a three hit, four RBI performance from Joe Bramanti, the University of Maine baseball team picked up its first series win of the season with a commanding 9-2 victory over UMBC on Sunday afternoon at Mahaney Diamond.
 
Maine improves to 4-22, 3-5 in America East play, while UMBC is now 14-13, 2-6 after the loss.
 
Laweryson (1-3) lasted seven innings, scattering five hits and three walks (two intentional) in his first win of the 2019 campaign. Nicholas Sinacola pitched the eighth, while Matt Geoffrion finished the Retrievers off in the ninth, combining to allow just one hit in relief.
 
Bramanti put together his best performance from the plate to date, smacking two RBI singles, along with an RBI ground-rule double. Colin Ridley collected two singles and an RBI, while Ryan Turenne and Bobby Brennan drove in a single run.
 
Danny Casals scored four runs, collecting two base knocks, while Hernen Sardinas scored twice and earned a hit on the day.
 
UMBC struck first with a one-out single, but that's all the Retrievers could score, as Laweryson struck out three in the first half inning. For the third consecutive game, Maine scored in its first at bats, as the Black Bears strung out four consecutive singles from Casals, Ridley, Bramanti and Turenne, as Maine took a 2-1 lead after one inning.
 
In the top of the third, an RBI single by UMBC's Blaze O'Saben would knot the score at 2-2. Laweryson earned strikeouts on the final two batters to escape the frame with limited damage.
 
The game would not be tied long, as Casals would walk, advance to second on a Ridley hit-by-pitch, and steal third to put runners on the corners. Casals would score on a wild pitch, as Maine retook a 3-2 lead.
 
UMBC threatened in the fifth, but a double steal attempt proved costly, as a 2-6-2 out would prevent a runner trying to score. The Black Bears tacked on three runs to their lead in their half of the fifth, as Bramanti's ground-rule doubled scored two. Brennan followed with a two-out infield single, as Maine ended the fifth with a 6-2 advantage.
 
The Retrievers went down in order in the sixth, as Bramanti's single would score Sardinas, and an error from the center fielder on a throw to third base would score an additional run, as Maine extended its lead to 8-2.
 
Ridley added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, as a single to left center field brought home Sardinas.
 
Geoffrion retired the Retrievers in order in the ninth, as Maine earned the series win by a final score of 9-2.
 
Maine is back at Mahaney Diamond next weekend, when the Black Bears take on UMass Lowell in a three-game weekend series. Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's single game are both set for a noon start.
 
-UMaine -