Bears stop Monmouth 9-3

loading...

ORONO – University of Maine Coach John Winkin decided to go with junior righthanded Ben Burlingame on three days’ rest instead of ace lefty Larry Thomas in their ECAC Tournament opener here Wednesday night and it worked out.

Burlingame pitched eight innings of seven-hit, three-run baseball, striking out a season-high 10 and walking one, and sophomore designated hitter Shawn Tobin drove in four runs with a three-run homer and a double as the Black Bears beat Monmouth College (N.J.) 9-3 at Mahaney Diamond.

Tobin and right fielder Gary Taylor hit back-to-back homers in the third inning to give Maine the lead for good.

Maine, 42-15, will now face LeMoyne College, 26-13 and a 7-5 winner over Holy Cross, in Thursday’s 7 p.m. game. Maine’s Mike D’Andrea (6-2, 5.19 earned run average), will oppose LeMoyne righty Steve Feistel (2-5, 4.91) in that one. Feistel beat Maine 4-1 to eliminate the Bears from the 1989 ECAC Tournament. Maine’s 42 wins tie the school record they set last year.

Monmouth, 18-18-1, will take on Holy Cross, 18-14-1, in a 1 p.m. losers’ bracket game.

Tobin stroked righthander Dan Husar’s first pitch over the center field fence to the right of the 400-foot sign. It was his fourth homer of the season and second in the last six games.

“He threw me a fastball right down the middle and it was up,” said Tobin.

Taylor took ball one and then rifled the next delivery, a curve according to Husar, over the center field fence for his 14th of the season.

“They were too bad pitches,” said Husar. “On the first one, we were planning to go outside with the fastball but I left it too close to the middle of the plate and up. The breaking ball was up and over the plate on the second one.”

It was the first time the Bears had hit back-to-back homers since Taylor and Gabe Duross homered back-to-back in a 13-1 win over St. Joseph’s on May 1.

Chad White had opened the third inning with a sharp, line-drive single down the left-field line and, after Knox sacrificed him to second, Husar walked Mark Sweeney to set the stage for the homers by Tobin and Taylor.

Maine had spotted the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the second inning on two-out singles by Mark Domashinski and Jeff Barbalinardo and an error by Burlingame, who dropped first baseman Duross’ throw.

The Bears got two more in the fifth on a one-out walk to Tobin, a two-out walk to Tim Scott, Duross’ looping single to center and a wild pitch that was way outside on an 0-2 pitch to Paul Kelliher.

The Hawks battled back with a pair of runs in the sixth as Matt Montenero grounded an 0-2 pitch up the middle for an infield single and Howie Deas launched a high drive over the left field fence for his ninth homer of the season.

Kevin Mason then dropped a bloop single into right-center, but Burlingame battled back to strike out Rich Gluchowski, induce Domashinski to fly out and get Barbalinardo on a liner to right.

The Bears, who squandered a second-and-third, no-outs opportunity in the sixth, got an insurance run off lefty reliever Mike Browne in the seventh.

Taylor walked, went to third on a pair of groundouts and scored when Kelliher spiked a single to center.

Maine got two more in the ninth off reliever Al Wierciszewski on a one-out single by Shanan Knox, Brian Seguin’s single to center which was misplayed by center fielder Anthony Petrocelli allowing Knox to score and Tobin’s RBI double to right-center.

Burlingame threw 113 pitches during his eight-inning stint, 81 for strikes.

Winkin refused to comment on why he made the change to Burlingame, but Burlingame said it didn’t bother him.

“I felt good,” said Burlingame, now 9-2. “I was a little shaky at first and they were hitting the ball although they weren’t hitting me hard. I had to make better pitches.”

Burlingame said he went with his fastball and slider all evening and felt good at the end.

“He had pretty good stuff,” said Deas, who homered off a slider. “He mixed his pitches up and worked us away and in.”

Monmouth Coach Walter Woods said, “Maine came through with eight two-out runs and you have to give them credit. I think we also helped the pitcher by swinging at a lot of bad pitches. We weren’t patient.”

White and Knox had three hits each for Maine and Tobin had two. Deas had two hits for Monmouth to extend his hitting streak to seven games and Domashinski also had a pair.

Ted Novio pitched the ninth inning for Maine. Black Bears 9, Hawks 3 (Game 4)

Monmouth Maine

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Schmitt, lf 5 0 0 0 Knox, 3b 4 1 3 0

Petrocelli,cf 4 0 1 0 Seguin, ss 5 1 1 0

Montenero, 2b 4 1 1 0 Sweeney, cf 4 1 1 0

Deas, rf 4 1 2 2 Tobin, dh 4 2 2 4

Mason, dh 3 0 1 0 Taylor, rf 4 2 1 1

Gluchowski,c 4 0 1 0 Scott, 2b 2 1 0 0

Dm’sh’nski,1b 4 1 2 0 Duross, 1b 4 0 1 1

Barb’lin’rdo,3b 4 0 1 0 Kelliher, c 4 0 1 1

Hickman, ss 3 0 0 0 White, lf 4 1 3 0

Totals 35 3 9 2 Totals 35 9 13 7

Monmouth 010 002 000 – 3

Maine 004 020 12x – 9

E – Barbalinardo, Schmitt, Petrocelli; Knox, Burlingame 2B – Gluchowski; Tobin HR – Deas; Robin, Taylor LOB -Monmouth 7; Maine 8 DP – Knox to Duross SB – Sweeney, Knox S – Knox

Pitching Summary

PITCHER IP H R BB SO

Monmouth

Husar (L,2-3) 5 7 6 4 7

Browne 2 3 1 1 2

Wierciszewski 1 3 2 0 1

Maine

Burl’ng’me(W,9-2) 8 7 3 1 10

Novio 1 2 0 0 1

HBP – Watson by Novio WP – Husar TIME -2:57