TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Maine posted a pair of four-run innings early against Florida A&M and rolled to a 17-7 college baseball victory Friday afternoon.

The Black Bears scored four times in the second with RBI singles from Aaron Young, Mark Reichley, and Keith Genest. In the fourth inning, Maine scored two runs when Jesse Carlton drew a bases-loaded walk and Mike Ross was hit by a pitch. Jon Hambleton followed with a two-run single that pushed Maine’s lead to 8-1.

Maine added a run in the fifth, two in the sixth, and three each in the seventh and ninth.

After the Rattlers had cut the Bears’ early edge to 4-1 with a run in the bottom of the second, they could only manage another run in the sixth before a last-ditch rally in the ninth added five runs.

Maine’s Mike Collar pitched seven strong innings in running his record to 3-0. He scattered eight hits, walked only two, and struck out three.

The Black Bears piled up 14 hits and took advantage of 13 walks. Hambleton rapped three singles and racked up three RBIs. Reichley added two singles and three RBIs.

Brian Sims took the loss for the Rattlers, giving up seven runs (four earned) in 3? innings.

Nick Parker notched a triple and single for FAMU, and Vince Palmer had a double and single.

Maine coach Paul Kostacopolous is pleased with his team’s 10-2 spring vacation trip after last year’s 1-11 start.

“The big difference between this year and last year is we pitch a heck of a lot better this year than we did last year,” Kostacopolous told WZON radio after the game.

The Bears face Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn., for a doubleheader on Sunday.

“I want to see how the team responds Sunday [to a] 20-hour bus ride and play a doubleheader,” he said. “We’ll see how the team toughs it out.”

Black Bears 17, Rattlers 7

(Friday Afternoon)

Maine (10-2) Florida A&M (4-16)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Genest, rf 6 1 1 2 Bacon, cf 5 1 1

Ross, lf 3 1 1 2 Bradley, ss 5 0 0

Williams, lf 2 1 0 0 Branning, dh 4 1 1

Carlton, 1b 2 0 0 1 Palmer, 3b 3 1 0

Drapeau, 1b-3b 4 0 0 0 Scott, 3b 2 0

Hambleton, dh 4 3 3 3 Wilson, 1b 2 0

Picard, c 5 3 2 0 Drayton, 1b 3 0 1

Tobin, 3b-1b 3 3 1 2 Batsch, c 2 0 0

Peel, 2b 4 1 1 1 a-Willis 0 1 0

Reynolds, 2b 2 1 2 1 Ammons, lf 4 1 1

Young, cf 3 1 1 2 Coleman, 4 4 1 2

Reichley, ss 3 2 2 3 Parker, 2b 4 1 1

Totals 41 17 14 17 Totals 38 7 12 7

a-walked and scored for Batsch in the 9th

Maine 040 412 303 ? 17

Florida A&M 010 001 005 ? 7

E?Drapeau; Palmer, Parker; LOB?Maine 13, Florida A&M 7; D?Ross; Palmer; T?Coleman, Parker; DP?Florida A&M 2; SF?Branning; SB?Williams, Peel

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Collar (W, 3-0) 7 8 2 2 1 3

Foley 1 0 0 0 0 1

Johnson 1 4 5 4 1 0

Florida A&M IP H R ER BB SO

Sims (L, 0-1) 3? 6 7 4 3 3

Harris 1? 3 4 4 4 1

Braun 1? 3 3 3 4 2

Roberts 2? 2 3 3 2 4

Harris faced two batters in the 6th

HBP?Ross (by Harris), Reichley (by Braun), Reichley (by Roberts); BK?Harris, Braun, Roberts; WP?Collar; Sims, Harris, Braun, Roberts; PB?Batsch; T?3:04; ATT?81

Softball

Southern Maine loses two

At Cape Coral, Fla., Hillsdale College and Buffalo State posted wins over the University of Southern Maine, with Hillsdale winning 9-1 in the first game and Buffalo State 5-4 in the second.

Hillsdale’s Sara Lesko and Gretchen Messenger each notched solo home runs to give the Chargers a steady lead. Southern Maine’s Sunshine Anders recorded the Huskies’ only run with a solo homer in the fifth.

Southern Maine led 4-2 in its game against Buffalo State, with an RBI single by Amy Ouellette, an RBI triple by Anders, and a solo home run by Becky Manson.

Buffalo State reined in the Huskies in the seventh when Heidi Rammacher, Nadine Sirianni, and Tiffany Ciolek collected RBI doubles.

First Game

Southern Maine (1-2) 000 010 – 1 6 7

Hillsdale (5-2) 141 201 – 9 8 2

Gagnon and Heath; DeAngelo and Koch

Second Game

Southern Maine (1-3) 000 300 1 – 4 10 1

Buffalo State (4-1) 010 100 3 – 5 11 3

Becher and Fulton; Urban and Escher

Maine, Bethune-Cookman split

At Daytona Beach, Fla., Thursday, Candace Jaegge scattered five hits in the second game of a doubleheader, helping the University of Maine earn a split with Bethune-Cookman.

The Wildcats won the opener 9-1, before the Black Bears took the nightcap 3-2 to snap a 13-game losing streak.

In the opener, Lamia Scott singled three times as the Bethune-Cookman cruised. Miranda Mayse scattered four hits.

Loser Ashley Yuhas doubled for the Bears.

In the second game, the Wildcats stranded 10 runners in scoring position as UMaine escaped with a victory.

The Bears scored all three runs in the third inning.

(First Game)

Maine 000 10 – 1 4 3

Bethune-Cookman 212 04 – 9 13 0

Yuhas, Green (5) and Bain; Mayse, Cabato (5) and Harrison

(Second Game)

Maine (5-19) 030 000 0 -3 4 1

Bethune-Cookman (23-16) 002 000 0 -2 5 1

Jaegge and Stevens; Cabato, Mayse (2) and Harrison, Cindric (2)

Swimming

Crocker stars for Texas

COLLEGE STATION, Texas ? Two Texas freshmen swam to the forefront in the NCAA swimming and diving championships Friday, putting the Longhorns in position to repeat as champions.

Portland?s Ian Crocker and Brendan Hansen claimed individual titles and helped the Longhorns score 447 points through 14 of 21 events. Stanford is second with 337.5 points.

Crocker, an Olympic gold medalist, won the 100 butterfly in 45.96 to beat teammate Nate Dusing (46.22), who won the event last year.

Hansen won the 100 breaststroke in 52.35, and also helped the Longhorns set an NCAA and American record of 1 minute, 24.74 seconds in the 200 medley relay with a strong breaststroke leg. Matt Ulrickson swam the backstroke, Nate Dusing the butterfly and Leffie Crawford the freestyle.

Dusing also led the Longhorns to a record in the 800 freestyle relay with a swim of 6:18.0, breaking Michigan?s 1996 record of 6:20.89. Scott Golblatt, Jamie Rauch and Chris Kemp were the other relay members. The Longhorns won the event four consecutive years at the championships, and Dusing, Goldblatt and Rauch were members of all four.

Dusing is the top seed in the 200 backstroke on Saturday in 1:41.94.