UM still in race for playoffs> Bears sweep Hartford

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ORONO – The University of Maine baseball team realizes it needs what amounts to a small miracle this weekend to make the America East tournament.

So the Black Bears went out Friday and played for pride, their three seniors and a chance to finish above .500 for the season. The result was a sweep of their conference doubleheader against Hartford at Mahaney Diamond.

UMaine won the opener 6-1 behind the two-hit pitching of Rusty Tucker, then collected 10 hits while grinding out a 12-7 victory in the nightcap.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 23-24 Bears improved to 12-12 in league play while staying alive in the playoff hunt. UMaine now must win both ends of today’s 2 p.m. twinbill, then hope Northeastern takes four games at Vermont today and Sunday, to reach the tourney.

Miami native Ray Goirigolzarri took advantage of the warm weather, going 4-for-7 in the doubleheader with two home runs, a double and six RBIs. He said the Bears’ goals at this point are simple.

“Our hopes are still up, but we’ve got to win our games and then they’ve (Northeastern) got to do their job,” Goirigolzarri said. “Every time you play, you play to win, even if you’re not in the playoffs.”

Kostacopoulos was happy the way his team performed, regardless of their slim postseason chances.

“We may not have as many wins as we wanted to or be in the position that we want to be, but sometimes you owe it to yourself to reward yourself, to go out there and play hard and get yourself some wins. I think we did that tonight,” Kostacopoulos said.

Freshman Joe Drapeau of Biddeford continued his quest for the league rookie of the year award, hitting a solo homer in the first game and bashing a two-run shot, his 15th of the season, in the nightcap. The 15 home runs ranks fifth on UMaine’s all-time, single-season list.

In the opener, sophomore lefthander Tucker (5-2) won his fifth consecutive start, taking advantage of a lively fastball and a sharp curve. He struck out a season-high 12 batters and walked three while throwing 111 pitches.

“I’m on a roll right now, everything’s just going good,” Tucker said. “I just hope Vermont helps us out a little bit (by losing four games) and we get in the playoffs, hopefully. We don’t feel like we’re out of anything yet. We’ve just got to come out here and play our best. We’ve got to win all four. There’s nothing else we can do.”

Goirigolzarri belted a one-out, solo home run over the scoreboard in left to make it 1-0 in the third inning. The senior transfer from Stetson University later snapped a 1-1 tie in the fifth, cranking a towering, three-run blast to left-center.

One out later, Drapeau smashed a solo job, making it 5-1.

The Bears added a run in the sixth on Quin Peel’s double, an infield single by Jon Hambelton and Julian Bracali’s RBI single to left.

Drapeau also doubled, while Hambelton singled three times. Ryan Waldron provided an RBI single for the Hawks (13-32, 6-20).

In the second game, Hartford reached UMaine starter Rob Worcester for four runs in the second inning, sparked by Waldron’s two-run double.

However, the Bears countered with a five-run uprising in the bottom of the inning against righthander Brandon Handfield. Keith Genest crushed a two-out, two-run homer to right-center, while Alain Picard delivered a run-scoring double, Mike Livulpi hit an RBI single and Goirigolzarri roped an RBI double off the fence in right-center.

UMaine made it 9-4 in the fourth on Goirigolzarri’s run-scoring single to right and Drapeau’s two-run homer to center that went more than 400 feet.

In the fifth, the Hawks benefited from three walks, chasing Worcester with a three-run rally after two were out. Javier Marichal drew a bases-loaded walk and Keith Mirante stroked a two-run single to make it 9-7.

But the Bears capitalized on the wildness of Hawks reliever John Orefice to tally three insurance runs in the sixth. All the runs scored on wild pitches. Eric Johnson iptched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball to get the save.

Livulpi, Bracali and Picard notched a double and a single apiece for UMaine. Keith Mirante knocked in three runs for Hartford with two singles.

Black Bears 6, Hawks 1

(First Game)

Hartford (13-31) Maine (22-24)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Waldron, 2b 2 0 1 1 Goirigolzarri,dh 3 2 2 4

Marchese, cf 2 0 0 0 Livulpi, cf 4 0 0 0

Yuhas, c 3 0 0 0 Drapeau, 3b 3 1 2 1

Olivo, 3b 3 0 0 0 Ross, lf 3 0 0 0

Apperson, rf 3 0 0 0 Peel, ss 3 1 1 0

Gardner, 2b 3 1 1 0 Hambelton, 1b 3 0 3 0

Orefice, dh 3 0 0 0 Bracali, 2b 2 1 1 1

Marichal, ss 1 0 0 0 Young, rf 3 0 0 0

Parker, lf 2 0 0 0 Harris, c 1 0 0 0

a-Carlton 0 0 0 0

b-Nunez 0 1 0 0

Picard, c 1 0 0 0

Totals 22 1 2 1 Totals 26 6 9 6

a-walked for Harris in fifth

b-ran for Carlton in fifth

Hartford 000 010 0 – 1

Maine 001 041 x – 6

E – Parker 2B – Gardner; Drapeau, Peel HR – Goirigolzarri 2 (6), Drapeau (14) LOB – Hartford 3; Maine 5 SB – Waldron, Yuhas; Hambelton, Bracali

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Hartford

Wheeler (L,2-9) 5 6 5 5 1 2

Webb 1 3 1 1 1 2

Maine

Tucker (W,5-2) 7 2 1 1 3 12

TIME – 2:10

Black Bears 12, Hawks 7

(Second Game)

Hartford (13-32) Maine (23-24)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Waldron, 2b 4 0 1 2 Livulpi, cf 4 2 2 1

a-Nowak 1 0 0 0 Goirigolzarri, dh 4 2 2 2

Marchese, cf 4 0 1 0 Drapeau, 3b 4 1 1 2

Yubas, dh 4 0 0 0 Ross, lf 4 2 1 0

Olivo, 3b 3 1 1 0 Hambelton, 1b 4 0 0 0

Apperson, rf 3 1 2 0 Peel, ss 3 0 0 0

Gardner, 1b 2 2 1 1 Genest, rf 1 2 1 2

b-Winnick 1 0 0 0 Bracali, 2b 3 2 2 0

Parker, lf 2 2 1 0 Picard, c 2 1 1 2

Marichal, ss 2 1 0 1 Harris, c 1 0 0 0

Mirante, c 3 0 2 3

Totals 29 7 9 7 Totals 30 12 10 9

a-grounded out for Waldron in the seventh

b-grounded out for Gardner in the seventh

Hartford 040 030 0 – 7

Maine 050 403 x – 12

E – Mirante 2, Gardner, Handfield; Worcester 2B – Waldron; Livulpi, Goirigolzarri, Bracali, Picard HR – Drapeau (15), Genest (3) LOB – Hartford 9, Maine 2 SB – Livulpi 2, Goirigolzarri 2, Ross S – Gardner

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Hartford

Handfield (L, 4-4) 4 8 9 4 1 6

Orefice 2 2 3 3 1 4

Maine

Worcester (W, 3-2) 4 2/3 7 7 7 6 2

Johnson 2 1/3 2 0 0 0 2

HBP – Mirante by Johnson WP – Orefice 3; Worcester TIME – 2:25 ATTENDANCE – 230