SANFORD – If you don’t believe the University of Maine baseball team has a pretty potent lineup this season, ask Alain Picard.

The sophomore catcher and second baseman has played sparingly of late while nursing a sore right elbow. Picard took advantage of his opportunity to be the designated hitter Wednesday at Goodall Park.

Picard drilled two home runs and knocked in five runs to spark a 12-run fourth inning that carried the Black Bears to a 15-3 nonconference victory over Holy Cross.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ ballclub improved to 30-11, becoming the first UMaine team to win 30 games since the 1993 squad went 33-27.

The first 10 UMaine batters in the decisive fourth inning scored as UMaine sent 17 men to the plate. Picard provided the heroics, becoming only the second Black Bear to hit two home runs in one inning.

Mark Sweeney did it in 1991.

“He’s a hard guy to get in the lineup because he has to DH and that means Jon [Hambelton] has to play first, and he’s hurting [knee],” Kostacopoulos said. “He had a great day. He was all over the ball.”

The sophomore lefthanded hitter came up after Aaron Young walked and Mike Livulpi reached on a throwing error. Picard jacked a 1-0 pitch from Ben Deane over the right field fence, giving the Bears a 5-2 lead.

“I go to practice every day and I work on stuff,” Picard said of his role. “I’ve got to be patient. I can’t rush things.”

After a walk to Quin Peel and Hambelton’s hit-and-run single to right, Joe Drapeau blasted a run-scoring double to the warning track in center field. Pat Tobin punched a two-run, opposite-field single to left, then moved up on a wild pitch. Keith Genest ripped an RBI single back through the box, Mark Reichley walked, and Young delivered a bad-hop RBI single past shortstop.

“The thing that was good about that inning was we had some things going for us, we kept some runners going,” Kostacopoulos said. “We kept the big inning going.”

Livulpi plated a run with a groundout, bringing Picard back to the plate. This time, he roped the first pitch from Deane over the fence in right-center, pushing the Bears’ advantage to 13-2.

“He threw me inside. I just adjusted and took a swing at it and it went over,” Picard said. “It was a good pitch to hit and I’m an aggressive hitter. I don’t let a lot of pitches go by, usually.”

The final run of the inning scored on Hambelton’s single that plated Quin Peel, who had reached on an error. UMaine posted nine hits in the inning.

“You’ve got to love that,” Picard said. “It’s like going on a merry-go-round and never stopping. Two at-bats in the same inning, it’s great.”

Picard went 3-for-5 with six RBIs to spearhead the UMaine offense while Tobin was 3-for-4 with three singles and two RBIs. Hambelton, the leading hitter in America East, singled three times. Drapeau, Genest (three walks), and Young (three walks) rapped two hits apiece.

Senior righty Kris Ehmke (5-1) allowed five hits and two runs in his five-inning stint, becoming the fourth UMaine pitcher to win at least five games this season.

“He gave us five pretty solid innings,” Kostacopoulos said. “It wasn’t totally command, but he did a good job.”

Cory Czajka doubled and singled (1 RBI) for Holy Cross, which scratched out seven hits.

Peter Summa drilled a solo homer in the eighth off Adam Labelle.

UMaine also backed its solid pitching with outstanding defense.

“We played very good defense in the infield,” Kostacopoulos said. “Joe [Drapeau] made a couple of plays that looked routine, but they’re not.”

The game was tied 2-2 through three innings as the Bears struggled to score. They stranded six baserunners through three innings and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position despite hitting the ball hard.

“I thought we were making some loud outs early,” Kostacopoulos said. “We got it going and then it seemed kind of easy from there.”

Black Bears 15, Crusaders 3

Holy Cross (19-22) Maine (30-11)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Turner, ss 4 1 1 0 Livulpi, cf 4 1 1

Czajka, cf 4 1 2 1 Saunders, lf 2 0 0

Sullivan, cf 0 0 0 0 Picard, dh 5 2 6

Summa, 2b 3 1 1 1 Peel, 2b 4 2 0

McEvoy, rf 3 0 1 0 Reynolds, 2b 1 0 0

Powers, 3b-p 4 0 1 0 Hambelton, 1b 6 1 1

Lucey, p 0 0 0 0 Drapeau, 3b 4 3 1

Doneski, dh-3b 3 0 0 0 Tobin, c 4 2

Andruskevich, lf-1b 4 0 0 0 Genest, lf-rf 3 1

Tapper, 1b 3 0 0 0 Reichley, ss 4 1 2

Lewis, lf 1 0 0 0 Young, rf-cf 3 2 1

Burke, c 3 0 1 0

a-Bombard 1 0 0 0

Totals 33 3 7 2 Totals 40 15 17 15

a-grounded out for Burke in the 9th

Holy Cross 002 000 010 ? 3

Maine 020 (12)00 01x ? 15

E?Turner 2; Reichley; LOB?Holy Cross 7, Maine 16; 2B?McEvoy, Picard, Drapeau, Young; 3B?Czajka; HR?Summa (6); Picard 2 (7); DP?Holy Cross 2; Maine 2; SB?Turner, Czajka; Genest, Young

Holy Cross IP H R ER BB SO

Arrante 3 4 2 2 5 1

Deane (L, 3-6) 1 9 12 10 4 0

Powers 3 2 0 0 2 1

Lucey 1 2 1 1 2 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Ehmke (W, 5-1) 5 5 2 2 3 2

Johnson 1 0 0 0 0 0

Foley 1 0 0 0 0 0

Labelle 1 2 1 1 1 0

Truman 1 0 0 0 0 1

HBP?Reichley by Arrante, Drapeau by Powers; WP?Arrante, Dean, Ehmke; PB?Burke, Tobin; T?2:58; ATT?524