STONY BROOK, N.Y. - Maine started their America East tournament run in the best way possible on Thursday morning, defeating the hosting and top-seeded Seawolves of Stony Brook by a 4-2 final behind yet another
Nicholas Sinacola gem.
Freshman
Quinn McDaniel set the tone in the leadoff spot, blasting a double on the fourth pitch of the game.
Ryan Turenne brought him in to score two batters later with a single up the middle, as Maine staked out a 1-0 lead for their ace.
From there, it was the Nick Sinacola Show again, with the junior right hander and unanimous America East Pitcher of the Year tossing seven sparkling innings to earn his ninth win of the season. His one blemish came on the 100th pitch of his outing in the seventh inning, a solo shot to right field, but otherwise he allowed just five hits while striking out 11 batters and walking two.
Maine's offense helped their ace along with
Quinn McDaniel blasting a solo shot in the fifth followed by Joey Bramanti's sixth home run of the season (also a solo) in the sixth inning to build out a 3-0 Maine lead.
Stony Brook got on the board in the seventh with a solo home run, but Sinacola struck out the next batter and enduced a fly out from the next to escape without further damage.
Matt Pushard came on to get the final six outs, but a Stony Brook run in the eighth inning off a double then a single tightened things up to 3-2.
Freshman
Colin Plante, starting in the outfield along with
Jake Rainess to replace the injured
Scout Knotts (DTD) and
Jeff Mejia (Out), stepped to the plate in the ninth innning with two outs and provided the biggest insurance run of the Maine season with his first career home run. The opposite field shot put Maine up 4-2, and Pushard worked a clean ninth inning to earn his second straight save and his third overall.
Maine advances into the America East winner's bracket for the first time since 2013, and will take on NJIT on Friday afternoon at 1:30. Maine and NJIT met four times in the regular season, with Maine taking 3 of 4 and scoring 10.3 runs per game in New Jersey. A win from the Black Bears will put them one victory away from their first conference title since 2011.
For all the latest news and updates about Maine Baseball, stay tuned to @MaineBaseball and GoBlackBears.com.
