ORONO - After having one of the hottest starts in recent program history thrown off track by a canceled series against Stony Brook, the Maine Black Bears returned to the field on Saturday with a dominant pair of wins over UMBC to start the America East slate 2-0.
Game one was about
Nicholas Sinacola, with little exception. Continuing to raise the bar, the righty went the distance in the seven-inning game, striking out a career-high 16 batters. The mark ties an America East single-game conference record, matching an effort by Vermont's Chris Blazek in 2004, and falls just short of the program record of 17 set by Billy Swift in 1984 and Jeff Plympton in 1986. The preceding numbers are all during nine-inning games. Sinacola is now up to 39 strikeouts on the year through three starts and 19.2 innings.
With eight series' remaining, it's reasonable to expect Sinacola to challenge the Maine single-season record of 108 strikeouts (99.1 innings) set by Larry Thomas in 1991 and the America East record of 78 in conference play set by Sean Newcomb of Hartford in 2013.
Maine's offense got running the second time through the order, plating four runs in the fourth inning on three hits and a crucial UMBC error. The final blow came via a
Jeff Mejia RBI-double, who now rides a seven-game hitting streak and has five RBIs in the last three games. That was more than enough room for Sinacola, who started the seventh inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
The last out was a story all on its own, as
Sean Lawlor made the catch of the year to seal the 4-1 Maine victory.
The second game of the day was dominated by the lineup, but
Noah Lewis put together another outstanding performance, as the true freshman went seven-innings to earn his second win of the season. Lewis set a new career-high with eight strikeouts, gave up just two hits and two walks, and did not allow a run in his best outing yet. The South Portland product has established himself as the Black Bears' second ace, as he lowers his season ERA to 1.45 and has only surrendered two extra-base hits all season.
Offensively, the outfield led the way in a 10-hit, 10-run outburst by Maine.
Sean Lawlor,
Jeff Mejia, and freshman
Colin Plante went a combined 7-12 at the plate with four RBIs and three runs as a unit.
Colton Carson worked two innings of relief, and the Black Bears waltzed to a 10-2 win and a 2-0 start to America East play.
Maine is now off to their best ten-game start since 2003, matching that squad's 7-3 overall start. Paul Kostacopoulos' team ended up 38-13 overall that season and 17-7 within the America East. The Black Bears haven't started a conference schedule off with back-to-back wins since 2012.
The story continues to unfold tomorrow morning, as Maine and UMBC have opted to play a single nine-inning game due to a concerning weather forecast in the afternoon. First pitch is at 11:00 AM on AmericaEast.tv.
