Battling Bears win three to secure second in league

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ORONO – The University of Maine’s knock-down, drag-out weekend baseball series against Northeastern ended on a calmer note Sunday at Mahaney Diamond.

After the Black Bears suffered an 11-10 loss Friday and battled their way to back-to-back 11-10 America East victories Saturday, Mike MacDonald helped restore a sense of normalcy.

The freshman righthander from Camden pitched a sparkling two-hitter Sunday, striking out a career-high 10, as UMaine ended its regular season with a 9-1 victory over the Huskies.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 36-13 Bears have a 20-8 league mark that earned them second place in this week’s America East tournament at Wilmington, Del. The Bears face No. 3 Towson (17-11) in Thursday’s 3:30 p.m. first-round game.

Northeastern (18-30, 11-17) claimed the No. 4 spot, winning a tiebreaker against Drexel. Delaware (22-6) locked up the top seed.

UMaine demonstrated its resolve Saturday, outslugging NU in two tense contests. The second game was marred by a benches-clearing melee that resulted in an ankle injury to Bears catcher Joe Drapeau of Biddeford, who missed Sunday’s game, and the ejection of UMaine slugger Jon Hambelton, who served a mandatory one-game suspension and didn’t play Sunday.

The anger did not seem to carry over. MacDonald (5-2) settled things down after the teams had combined for 63 runs and 71 hits Friday and Saturday. He allowed an early run, then held NU hitless, retiring 16 of the last 18 batters.

“We wanted to settle the day down, play relaxed,” said Bears senior Keith Genest of Augusta, whose two-run home run in the second inning Sunday put UMaine ahead for good.

“This was a typical game for us; a little more relaxing,” he added.

MacDonald never allowed the Huskies to get back in the game after Genest’s homer.

“He just started to feel it,” Kostacopoulos said. “He started throwing harder at the end; he had better bite on his breaking ball; his velocity was better.”

MacDonald was backed by errorless defense and 11 hits, including three singles by Pat Tobin.

“We played with a lot of intensity this weekend and you’ve got to do that to win, to be successful,” MacDonald said. “The fielders helped me out tremendously and we did a great job all around.”

Genest put the Bears ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the inning, scoring Tobin (single) with a two-run shot into the wind. Mark Reichley’s two-run single highlighted UMaine’s five-run fourth inning.

Alain Picard singled twice for UMaine off loser Jordan Thomson.

In Saturday’s second game, the tension generated by three tight games finally snapped in the sixth with a collision at the plate between NU’s Ben Beck of South Portland and UMaine’s Drapeau.

Beck had reached on a grounder when he ran into first baseman Hambelton, who was trying to field the throw. Beck later tried to score on a delayed double steal, but was thrown out by second baseman Quin Peel despite crashing into Drapeau.

Drapeau stood over Beck, who popped up to confront him. As tempers flared, Hambelton barreled in and blindsided Beck, knocking him down and sending the players into a frenzy of pushing and punching as the benches cleared for the second time in the inning.

“He ran me over at first, starts mouthing off at second base, then he goes home and starts pushing around Drapeau,” Hambelton said.

“You don’t let anybody hurt your teammates. I didn’t even think about it really.”

Drapeau left with an ankle injury, Beck was ejected for failing to slide and Hambelton was thrown out for his body check on Beck.

“I don’t condone it, but I’m not going to apologize about our behavior when the kid’s [Beck] run over two of our players in less than a half-inning,” said Kostacopoulos, who criticized the umpires for failing to keep things under control.

“Sometimes you’ve got to rise up and say we’re not going to take it.”

UMaine, which then trailed 10-8, responded immediately. Reynolds and pinch hitter Mike Ross singled, then Picard flared an RBI single to left. The second run scored when left fielder Pedro Pena failed to field the ball cleanly.

One out later, Genest delivered a hard single to center, scoring Peel with the eventual winning run.

“I think that’s the most intense three games I’ve ever played in a row,” Genest said. “The first two games were emotionally draining.”

Eric Johnson pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to register his third save.

“That’s exactly what we needed after the big fight and after the runs we got,” Picard said.

Mike Collar of Scarborough improved to 8-0 despite allowing 10 hits and seven earned runs.

Picard hit a grand slam, a double and a single to pace UMaine.

In Saturday’s opener, Hambelton lashed an RBI double to left-center in the eighth inning to score pinch runner Pete Saunders from first base with the winning run.

Hambelton stroked an RBI double, a single and an RBI groundout. Adam Labelle pitched 2? innings of scoreless relief to get the win. Simon Williams of Portland hit a two-run homer in the second and a three-run blast in the third.

Reynolds singled three times and Peel lined a two-run home run.

Black Bears 11, Huskies 10

(Saturday’s First Game)

Northeastern (18-28) Maine (34-13)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Guerrero, ss 4 2 1 0 Livulpi, cf 4 1 0

Carlin, c 5 2 4 1 Reynolds, 3b 5 1 0

O’Donnell, 1b 2 2 1 1 c-Saunders 0 0

Beck, lf 5 1 2 1 Hambelton, dh 4 1 3

Korchin, rf 4 1 1 1 Peel, 2b 4 1 2

O. Pena, 2b 5 1 4 1 Tobin, 1b 4 0 1

Wysong, dh 4 0 2 2 Drapeau, c 4 1 0

a-P. Pena, 0 1 0 0 Ross, lf 1 2 0

b-Corcoran 0 0 0 0 Young, rf 1 0 0

Czarnowski, cf 5 0 1 1 Williams, lf 4 5

R. Graves, 3b 5 0 0 0 Reichley, ss 4 0

Totals 40 10 16 8 Totals 35 11 14 11

a-ran and scored for Wysong in the fourth; b-reached on fielder’s choice for P. Pena in the eighth; ran and scored for Reynolds in the eighth

Northeastern 410 005 00 ? 10

Maine 126 010 01 ? 11

E?O. Pena, Czarnowski; Reichley 2; LOB?Northeastern 13, Maine 7; 2B?Guerrero, Carlin, Beck, O. Pena, Wysong, Czarnowski; Hambelton 2, Ross; HR? Peel (3), Williams 2 (4); DP?Graves-O.Pena-O’Donnell; Peel-Tobin; SB?Carlin; S?Corcoran

Northeastern IP H R ER BB SO

Henry 2? 8 9 7 3 1

Biernat (L,0-1) 4? 6 2 6 1 7

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Stoner 5? 13 10 10 2 2

Labelle (W,2-2) 2? 3 0 0 2 1

HBP?O’Donnell, Korchin by Stoner; T?2:52

Black Bears 11, Huskies 10

Northeastern (18-29) Maine (35-13)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Guerrero, ss 2 2 0 0 Livulpi, cf 3 1 0

Carlin, c 4 1 2 3 Reynolds, 3b-2b 3 2 0

O’Donnell, 1b 3 1 2 2 Hambelton, 1b 2 2

Beck, lf 4 1 1 1 Ross, lf 1 1 0

P. Pena, lf 0 0 0 0 Peel, 2b-ss 2 1 0

Korchin, rf 3 2 1 1 Picard, dh-2b 4 2 5

O. Pena, 2b 3 0 1 1 Drapeau, c 3 1 1

Wysong, dh 4 1 1 0 a-Tucker 1 0 0

Czarnowski, cf 4 1 1 0 Williams, lf 2 0

R. Graves, 3b 3 1 1 0 Genest, lf 2 1

Young, rf 3 1 1 1

Reichley, ss 2 1 1 0

Tobin, 3b 2 0 1 0

Totals 30 10 10 8 Totals 30 11 11 10

a-struck out for Drapeau in the sixth

Northeastern 231 022 0 ? 10

Maine 420 023 x ? 11

E?Guerrero, P. Pena; Reichley 2, Reynolds, Tobin; LOB?Northeastern 4, Maine 2; 2B?Beck, Korchin; Hambelton, Picard, Drapeau, Genest; 3B? Carlin; HR?Picard (9); SB?Korchin; SF?O’Donnell, Korchin, O. Pena

Northeastern IP H R ER BB SO

Cavallaro 1 2 6 6 3 1

Burns (L,1-3) 5 9 5 5 2 8

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Collar (W,8-0) 6 10 10 7 2 2

Johnson 1 0 0 0 0 0

HBP?Livulpi by Cavallar; WP?Burns; Collar 3; T?2:19; ATT?434

Black Bears 9, Huskies 1

Northeastern (18-30) Maine (36-13)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Guerrero, ss 2 0 0 0 Livulpi, cf 4 1 0

Carlin, c 3 0 0 0 Reynolds, 3b 4 2 1

O’Donnell, 1b 3 0 1 0 Picard, dh 3 1

Beck, lf 3 0 0 0 Peel, 2b 2 0 1

Korchin, rf 3 1 1 0 Tobin, c 4 1 1

O. Pena, 2b 3 0 0 0 Williams, lf-rf 2 1 0

Wysong, dh 1 0 0 0 a-Carlton 1 0 0

S. Graves, dh 1 0 0 0 Saunders, rf 0 0

Czarnowski, cf 3 0 0 1 Genest, 1b 3 2

R. Graves, 3b 2 0 0 0 Young, rf 2 0

Ross, lf 1 0 0 0

Reichley, ss 2 1 1 2

Totals 24 1 2 1 Totals 28 9 11 8

a-singled for Williams in the sixth

Northeastern 010 000 0 ? 1

Maine 021 501 x ? 9

E?O. Pena, M. Graves; LOB?Northeastern 4, Maine 7; 2B?Korchin; 3B?; HR?Genest (1); DP?Guerrero-O.Pena-O’Donnell; SB?Williams 2, Picard, Genest; SF?Picard, Peel

Northeastern IP H R ER BB SO

Thomson (L,5-3) 3? 9 8 6 3 2

Walsh 2? 2 1 0 1 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

MacDonald (W,5-2) 7 2 1 1 2 10

WP?MacDonald; T?2:07; ATT?272