Huskies topple Bears Maine knocked out of tourney

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WILMINGTON, Del. – With Jon Hambelton and Joe Drapeau in the lineup, the University of Maine was an America East baseball championship contender.

Without the two sluggers, who represented 30 percent of the Black Bears’ run production this season, UMaine was just another good team Friday in the America East tournament.

Mike Wyson’s RBI single in the ninth inning scored Pedro Pena (leadoff double) with the winning run as fourth-seeded Northeastern eliminated No. 2 Maine 5-4 at Frawley Stadium.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ Bears finish the season 36-15, the best record for UMaine since the 1991 team went 48-18. The Bears are 2-12 in the postseason since ’93.

Northeastern (19-31) met No. 3 Towson (36-22) in Friday night’s elimination contest. Delaware beat Towson 4-1 in the afternoon game for a berth in the championship game, and awaits the winner of the Huskies-Tigers contest.

“We still had a great season,” Kostacopoulos said. “You can’t judge a season on two days of a tournament.”

Hambelton – a first-team, all-conference pick who was serving a mandatory three-game suspension for his role in a May 12 fight with Northeastern at Orono – and Drapeau (sprained left ankle) were missed.

“We need those two to win,” said Aaron Young of Augusta, whose two hits included a one-out home run in the eighth.

“They’re a huge part of our team and [being] without them kind of hurt,” Young said. “We kind of felt like there was something missing this whole couple days and it was probably those two not being around because they’re like the heart of our team, pretty much.”

Hambelton, an All-America East first-team first baseman, led the league with a .429 batting average. He had 13 homers and 50 RBIs.

“I think that really put a dent in our attitude,” said UMaine pitcher Simon Stoner. “… Once we got told that Jon wasn’t able to join us, it brought us down.”

Drapeau, a junior from Biddeford, didn’t start Friday because of his ankle. He rapped a pinch-hit single in the ninth, but the Bears scored only once after putting runners at first and third with nobody out.

“That was about all he had in him,” Kostacopoulos said. “He probably shouldn’t have played (Thursday) … but you owe it to him to give him a chance.”

Northeastern freshman righthander Jordan Thomson shackled UMaine, allowing four hits and striking out a career-high 14 in eight innings.

“He did a good job of keeping us off-balance,” said UMaine senior Quin Peel. “He’d go slow, slow, slow and then come with a fastball, (then) he’d change speeds on that fastball.”

Even so, the Bears were in position to win.

UMaine trailed 4-3 before tying it in the ninth. Mike Ross singled to right-center and Drapeau lined a pinch single to center. Reliever Brendan Ryan struck out Mike Livulpi and Young, but walked Alain Picard and forced in a run when Peel (batting in Hambelton’s No. 4 spot) was hit by a pitch. Pat Tobin bounced back to the mound for the third out.

“You can’t take a (.429) hitter out and a (.341) hitter out – and they both have 50 RBIs – and think you’re going to be the same,” Kostacopoulos said. “It could have made a difference today.”

The Huskies won it against Bears closer Matt Truman of Otisfield. Pedro Pena doubled down the line in left, moved up on Brad Czarnowski’s sacrifice bunt, and scored when Wysong singled sharply to left.

Stoner pitched well, scattering five hits in 71/3 innings while striking out 10. It wasn’t good enough.

“I thought I threw well, but not well enough,” Stoner said. “Well enough would have been if we had come out with a win today.”

UMaine took a 3-2 lead with two runs in the eighth on Young’s long homer to right-center, a two-out walk to Peel, a wild pitch and Tobin’s line single to center. Matt Reynolds reached on an infield hit, but Jesse Carlton flied out to end the threat.

The Bears went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Northeastern answered with two runs, chasing Stoner after a Wysong single, a sacrifice and Luke Carlin’s RBI double to right. Coley O’Donnell was walked intentionally.

That brought up South Portland’s Ben Beck, who tried to bowl over Drapeau at the plate in the May 12 game, causing Drapeau’s injury and inciting Hambelton’s body check that led to the suspension. Beck singled past third to give NU a 4-3 lead.

UMaine made it 1-0 in the third when Livulpi reached on an error, took third on Young’s single, and scored on a Picard groundout.

Northeastern scored twice in the sixth. Nick Graves singled, Hernan Guerrero walked and both advanced on a passed ball. A groundout and a wild pitch plated the runs.

Huskies 5, Black Bears 4

Maine (36-15) Northeastern (19-31)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Livulpi, cf 5 1 0 0 Guerrero, ss-rf 2 1 0

Young, rf 5 1 2 1 Carlin, c 4 1 1

Picard, dh-2b 4 0 0 1 O’Donnell, 1b 2 1

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

Tobin, c 5 0 1 1 Korchin, rf 1 0 0

Reynolds, 3b 4 0 1 0 Corcoran, 2b 3 0 0

Genest, 1b 2 0 0 0 O. Pena, 2b-ss 4 0 0

Carlton, 1b 2 0 0 0 P. Pena, dh 4 1 0

Williams, lf 2 0 0 0 Czarnowski, cf 3 0 0

Ross, lf 1 1 1 0 Graves, 3b 2 1 0

Reichley, ss 3 0 0 0 Wysong, 3b 2 1 1

a-Drapeau 1 0 1 0

b-Saunders 0 0 0 0

Totals 36 4 6 4 Totals 30 5 8 4

a-singled for Reichley in the ninth; b-ran for Drapeau in the ninth

Maine 001 000 021 ? 4

Northeastern 000 002 021 ? 5

E?O. Pena 2, Corcoran, Thomson; LOB?Maine 10, Northeastern 6; 2B?Carlin; P.Pena; HR?Young (7); DP?Peel-Reichley-Genest; S?Guerrero, Czarnowski; SB?Beck

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Stoner 7? 5 4 3 3 10

Truman (L, 1-5) 1 3 1 1 1 1

Northeastern IP H R ER BB SO

Thomson 8 4 3 2 3 14

Ryan (W, 3-2) 1 2 1 1 1 2

HBP?Peel by Ryan; WP?Stoner; Thomson, Ryan; PB?Tobin; T?2:54