ORONO - The collective stagnation of the Maine baseball lineup continued on Saturday, as the Black Bears have entered a slide of averaging just 1.6 runs per game over their last five contests, culminating in a Saturday sweep and series loss at the hands of the Binghamton Bearcats by scores of 5-0 and 3-2 at Mahaney.
Alex McKenney got the start in game three for the second straight weekend, improving on his start a week ago. The redshirt senior went five full innings, settling in after allowing a run in a shaky first. The next four innings were dominant, and McKenney ended with a line of five innings pitched, five hits allowed, three runs (two earned), four walks, and tied his season-high with six strikeouts.
Peter Kemble relieved McKenney, and was victimized by the baseball gods, as he struck out the three batters he faced, with the final out being a dropped third strike that resulted in a run-scoring on a throwing error after a dropped third strike. Kemble came back to strike out the next batter, striking out four batters in one frame.
Maine simply never found it offensively, as Binghamton's starter threw a seven-inning complete game with just three hits allowed, one walk, and seven strikeouts. The Black Bears got just one base-runner on board over the final two innings, and Binghamton cruised to the 5-0 victory.
Matthew Pushard got the start in game four, his second of the season. He put together his best outing so far this season, going seven strong innings with seven hits allowed, two runs (one earned), and four strikeouts.
Tyler Nielsen made his collegiate debut and was very solid out of the bullpen, going 2 2/3 innings of high-pressure relief with two hits and one run (unearned) allowed.
Marshall Smaracko made his second appearance, striking out the lone batter he faced.
The Black Bears ground out some offense in key situations, starting with
Colin Plante beating out an infield single with the bases loaded in the fourth to make it a 2-1 game.
Sean Lawlor drove a ball back up the middle with two outs in the eighth to score
Connor Goodman and tie the game.
Neither team found the winner in the ninth inning, but Binghamton struck for an RBI single in the tenth after a Maine error put the leadoff runner on. Maine went down in order in the tenth, and Binghamton took the game and the series by a 3-2 final.
The Maine pitching staff continued to put up solid performances, giving up just 12 earned runs over the four-game series, mostly in the 8-3 loss on Saturday. After starting with 10+ hits in four of their first seven contests, Maine hasn't hit double-digit hits in their next eight. Individual highlights include
Connor Goodman who leads the team with a .383 batting average after a 5-15 weekend at the plate, and
Sean Lawlor, who went 7-13 on the weekend with three doubles.
Overall, the team now sits at 8-7 overall and 3-4 within the America East conference.
The Black Bears will look to click on all three facets of the game their next time out, a road series at NJIT on Saturday and Sunday.
