UMaine clinches berth in America East tourney

loading...

ORONO – The University of Maine baseball team managed only one victory over the weekend in the final three games of its America East series against Stony Brook.

However, by virtue of the split in the four-game set that began Friday, the Black Bears have clinched a berth in the four-team America East Championship, which will be played May 23-25 at UMaine’s Mahaney Diamond.

The Seawolves kept their postseason hopes alive with a 9-5 victory in Sunday’s single game. UMaine won Saturday’s opener 1-0 behind another superb pitching performance by Mike MacDonald, but Stony Brook won Saturday’s second game 3-1.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 34-14 Bears, now 14-6 in conference play, can finish no lower than third with four games to play at Binghamton.

“The first goal has been made, to get in [the tournament],” Kostacopoulos said. “The next goal is to win the thing.”

UMaine failed to put together its pitching, hitting and defense consistently over the weekend. The Bears received shaky pitching and defense Sunday, which overshadowed a much-needed 13-hit attack.

“It’s tough to lose the last two games of the series, especially at home,” said senior Mike Ross. “We had 13 hits, but we didn’t really bunch them together to get the one big inning. We didn’t make the plays in the field we should make to win ballgames.”

In Sunday’s game, Dwayne Whitaker’s two-run triple off Scott Robinson in the fifth inning gave Stony Brook the lead for good.

Whitaker also hit a solo homer in the Seawolves’ four-run seventh inning that put the game out of reach. He singled in the fourth.

The Bears’ pitchers struggled and were victimized by three errors. Meanwhile, UMaine stranded 10 baserunners while going 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

UMaine built a 3-0 lead on Jesse Carlton’s RBI infield hit in the first, Aaron Young’s RBI single to left-center in the second and Brett Ouellette’s RBI single in the third.

Stony Brook got two back in the fourth on Rob Sandora’s two-run home run, added three in the fifth, and got Andrew Zielinski’s two-run double in the seventh against reliever Adam Labelle.

The Bears threatened in the seventh, but reliever Kevin Willi retired three batters with the bases loaded to preserve the victory.

“I think I would be [concerned] if this were our last regular-season game, but we have four more games. That’s a lot of innings, a lot of at-bats, a lot of plays, to get yourself back going,” Kostacopoulos said.

Ross doubled twice for UMaine, Carlton had two singles and two RBIs and Ouellette singled twice.

In Saturday’s opener, MacDonald continued his mastery of America East opponents with a superb two-hitter.

The sophomore righthander induced 15 ground-ball outs, striking out four and walking four. He mixed his usually brisk fastball with a snappy curve to keep Stony Brook batters guessing.

“Mac’s been pitching amazingly,” said catcher Alain Picard. “He’s got three good pitches, he throws hard, he changes speeds and he hits locations. That’s what every good pitcher does.”

UMaine scored in the fourth inning when Mark Reichley reached on an error by shortstop Matt Devins. Reichley raced home from first when Aaron Young lined a double up the gap in left-center.

It was the first run the Bears had scored on MacDonald’s behalf in 21 1/3 innings dating back to an April 20 win at Vermont. He has allowed only 11 hits and two runs in his last three starts (24 1/3 innings), combined.

Young doubled and singled for the Bears, who went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Reichley singled twice.

Lee Lipschutz broked up MacDonald’s no-hit bit to open the fifth, bouncing a bad-hop single over the head second baseman Ouellette.

In Saturday’s second game, the Bears couldn’t Houdini their way out of their offensive woes.

Stony Brook ace Jon Lewis (7-3) held UMaine to three hits, striking out five and walking three. The Bears were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, hitting balls hard at fielders and up into the stiff wind blowing in all afternoon.

“It’s not like we’re not hitting the ball at all. We’re just not getting the hits when we need them,” said UMaine’s Joe Drapeau.

The hosts grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third when Drapeau doubled to right-center, took third on Pete Saunders’ flyout to right and scored when the throw skipped past third base.

The Seawolves jumped in front in the fourth when UMaine starter Rich Laganiere sandwiched one-out walks around Devins’ infield single. Lipschutz stroked a two-run single to left, chasing Laganiere (6-4), who was lifted because of a “dead” left (pitching) arm.

“He just didn’t feel right,” Kostacopoulos said. “There was no sharp pain or anything; nothing pulled, nothing popped, no tingling in the fingers, just dead.”

Reliever Greg Creek pitched well in his first conference action. The freshman righty scattered two hits in 3 2/3 innings, striking out two, hitting two and walking one.

Rich Graham’s two-out, ground-ball, RBI single in the seventh was the only ball hit out of the infield against Creek.

“He threw well and that was good experience for him,” Kostacopoulos said. “He kind of got over the ice-breaker of pitching in a big game.”

UMaine had the potential tying run at second with one out in the sixth when Young walked and was sacrificed over by Aaron Izaryk. Picard grounded out, Ross walked and Pat Tobin hit a come-backer to the pitcher for the third out.

The Bears made a mild threat in the seventh on a leadoff walk to Matt Reynolds and Saunders’ two-out single to center, but Young bounced out to first.

BLACK BEARS 1, SEAWOLVES 0

(Saturday’s First Game)

Stony Brook Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Graham, 2b 3 0 0 0 Livulpi, cf 4 0 0

Taormina, cf 2 0 0 0 Izaryk, dh 4 0 0

Devins, ss 3 0 1 0 Picard, c 3 0 0

Sandora, 3b 3 0 0 0 Ross, lf 1 0 0

Lipschutz, rf 2 0 1 0 Tobin, 1b 2 0

Kull, c 2 0 0 0 Ouellette, 2b 3 0 0

b-Larsen 0 0 0 0 Drapeau, 3b 3 0 0

Juarez, dh 3 0 0 0 Reichley, ss 3 1 0

Johnson,1b 2 0 0 0 a-Saunders 0 0 0

Etzel, 1b 0 0 0 0 Ferriggi, ss 0 0 0

c-Mischo 0 0 0 0 Young, rf 3 0 1

Zielinski, lf 3 0 0 0

Totals 23 0 2 0 Totals 26 1 7 1

a-ran for Reichley in the sixth; b-ran for Kull in the seventh; c-walked for Etzel in the seventh

Stony Brook 000 000 0 ? 0

Maine 000 100 x ? 1

E?Devins (14); LOB?Stony Brook 6; Maine 10; 2B?Young; SB?Lipschutz (8), Larsen (10)

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Szwejkowski (L,4-3) 5 7 1 0 1 3

Blumberg 1 0 0 0 0 0

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

MacDonald (W,5-2) 7 2 0 0 4 4

HBP?Ross 2 by Szwejkowski; T?1:52

SEAWOLVES 3, BLACK BEARS 1

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Stony Brook (24-21) Maine (34-13)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Graham, 2b 4 0 2 1 Young, cf 3 0 0

Taormina, lf 3 1 0 0 Izaryk, dh 2 0 0

Devins, ss 2 1 1 0 Picard, c 3 0 0

Sandora, 3b 2 0 0 0 Ross, rf 2 0 0

Lipschutz, rf 2 0 1 2 Tobin, 1b 3 0

Kull, c 3 0 0 0 Reynolds, 2b 2 0 0

Whitaker, dh 2 1 0 0 Livulpi 0 0 0 0

Larsen, cf 3 0 0 0 Drapeau, 3b 3 1 0

Etzel, 1b 3 0 0 0 Reichley, ss 3 0 0

Saunders, lf 3 0 1 0

Totals 24 3 4 3 Totals 24 1 3 0

a-ran for Saunders in the seventh

Stony Brook 000 200 1 ? 3

Maine 001 000 0 ? 1

E?Devins (15), Lipschutz (1); Reichley (14); LOB?Stony Brook 5; Maine 6; 2B?Young, Drapeau; DP?Reichley-Reynolds-Tobin; S?Izaryk; SB?Whitaker (8)

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Lewis (W,7-3) 7 3 1 1 3 5

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Laganiere (L,6-4) 3 1/3 2 2 2 2 2

Creek 3 2/3 2 1 1 1 2

HBP?Lipschutz, Whitaker by Creek; T?2:10; ATT?349

STONY BROOK 9, MAINE 4

(Sunday’s Game)

Stony Brook (25-21) Maine (34-14)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Graham, 2b 4 1 0 0 Livulpi, cf 3 0 0

Whitaker, dh-lf 4 3 3 3 a-Tobin 1 0 1

Devins, ss 3 1 1 1 Reichley, ss 0 0 0

Sandora, 3b 2 2 1 2 Izaryk, dh 4 1 0

Lipschutz, rf 2 1 1 0 Picard, c 4 0

Kull, c 3 0 0 0 Ross, lf-rf 3 1 0

Taormina, lf-cf 3 0 0 1 Carlton, 1b 3 2

Larsen, cf 3 0 0 0 Ouellette, 2b 3 0 1

b-Zielinski 1 0 1 2 Drapeau, 3b 2 0 0

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

Ferriggi, ss 2 1 1 0

Saunders, lf 2 0 0 0

Young, rf-cf 4 0 2 1

Totals 29 9 8 9 Totals 33 5 13 5

a-singled for Livulpi in the sixth; b-doubled for Larsen in the seventh

Stony Brook 000 230 4 ? 9

Maine 111 001 1 ? 4

E?Devins (16); Reichley (15), Ferriggi 2 (10); LOB?Stony Brook 6; Maine 10; 2B?Zielinski; Ross 2, Ferriggi; 3B?Whitaker; HR?Whitaker (9), Sandora (2); DP?Graham-Devins-Etzel, Devins-Graham-Etzel, Sandora-Graham; S?Taormina; SB?Sandora (1), Lipschutz 2 (10)

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Stutz (W,6-2) 6 12 5 4 1 4

Willi 1 1 0 0 1 2

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Robinson (L,3-1) 4 4 5 4 2 4

Labelle 2 2 3 3 2 2

Harris 1 2 1 1 0 1

HBP?Sandora by Robinson, Lipschutz by Labelle; Carlton by Stutz; WP?Robinson, Labelle 2; PB?Kull; T?2:20; ATT?126