ORONO - The Maine baseball team kicked off their weekend series at Mahaney Diamond against Hartford with a split on day one, picking up an 11-0 win in game one behind a
Nicholas Sinacola gem and a
Joe Bramanti grand slam.
Nick Sinacola took to the mound for game one, and was as solid as ever. He went into the seventh inning, and finished with a final line fof 6.0+ innings, 10 strikeouts, two hits, and one walk. He lowered his season ERA back down to 1.19 and his WHIP to 0.90.
At the plate, Joey Bramanti delieverd the heaviest blow of the day in the third innning. Bramanti smashed a ball to left off the scoreboard with the bases loaded to put the Black Bears up 4-0. Bramanti increased his team leading RBI total to 21 so far.
The very next batter was freshman
Quinn McDaniel, who crushed the first pitch he saw around the left field pole for his third home run of the season and second in as many games.
Leif Bigelow worked a scoreless seventh inning in relief, and Maine cruised to the seventh America East win of the season.
Game two was the exact opposite, as three scoreless frames gave way to a series of unfortunate events for Maine. The Black Bears committed three errors in the game, two of which led directly to runs, and the lineup struck out 14 times against just six singles on the day, as it was Hartford's turn to cruise to the 7-0 victory.
Nick Sinacola improves to 6-0 with his victory. He now has 74 strikeouts on the season overall, as he guns for Maine's single-season record of 108, and he has 51 in conference play as he chases down the in-conference record of 78 in a season.
Joe Bramanti continued his hot streak, he has at least one hit and a one RBI in five off his last six outings.
Sean Lawlor is dominating America East foes, as he is now batting .479 in conference play and leads the team with a .389 average after going 3-4 today.
Maine returns to action tomorrow against Hartford, a noontime start for another doubleheader.
