Bears gets weekend split vs. Hawkeyes Righty Harris among keys in Maine win

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – The University of Maine baseball team split a weekend series with the Iowa, winning Sunday’s game 8-6 after dropping a 3-1 decision on Saturday.

The Black Bears improved their record to 7-3 this spring.

On Sunday, catcher Aaron Izaryk had three singles and two RBIs to lead the Bears’ 12-hit Bears attack and avenge Saturday’s loss. The Hawkeyes committed eight errors.

Joe Hough and Mike Ferriggi each drove in two runs, while Brett Ouellette and Joe Drapeau each had a double and a single.

Maine scored three runs in the third and fifth innings, but it was the last three-run inning that proved crucial as Iowa came back with two runs in the eighth and a run in the ninth.

Izaryk led off the fifth with a single before Greg Creek of Chelsea reached on an error, leaving runners at second and third. An error scored Izaryk before Drapeau was hit by a pitch.

After a groundout moved Creek to third and Drapeau to second, Hough delivered a two-run single to left.

Junior righthander Ryan Harris (1-1) earned the win, scattering seven hits and four -runs over seven innings. He struck out nine and walked four.

Harris appears to have worked his way into the Bears’ starting rotation.

“The last two years, this has been my goal, to get this starter’s position,” said the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder from Woodstock, New Brunswick, who throws a fastball, a curve, a changeup and a cut fastball.

“I actually had my curveball going good, which was good, since they had a lot of righthanded hitters in their lineup,” added Harris, who lauded the hitting and defensive support he received.

“Our D’s been really awesome this year so far,” Harris said. “And our bats woke up today. It’s alwaysnice to pitch when you’ve got a lead.”

Creek took the mound in the ninth to notch his first save of the season. He yielded a Jeff Gremley leadoff single before Gremley stole second and Kyle Thousand singled to put runners at the corners.

After Creek struck out Jim Reid, Nate Yoho singled in Gremley, but Creek recovered by shutting the Hawkeyes rally down with a strikeout and groundout.

In Saturday’s game, Camden’s Mike MacDonald (1-1) gave up five hits over eight innings while striking out four batters and walking one, but he took the loss as Iowa scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to squeak by the Bears.

Maine scored its only run courtesy of a Ryan Quintal solo homer in the bottom of the third inning.

Lightning struck – literally – after the eighth inning ended and the game was delayed an hour due to nearby lightning activity.

Chris Steele led the 3-5 Hawkeyes with two hits.

HAWKEYES 3, BLACK BEARS 1

(Saturday’s Game)

Iowa (3-4) Maine (6-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Thousand, cf 4 1 1 0 Young, cf 3 0 0

Lytle, 2b 4 0 0 0 Ouellette, 2b 3 0 0

Yoho, rf 2 0 0 0 Izaryk, c 4 0 0

Steele, dh 4 1 2 0 Drapeau, 3b 3 0 0

Best, 1b 3 0 1 1 Picard, dh 4 0 0

Guyer, lf 3 1 2 1 Carlton, 1b 3 0 0

Gremley, ss 4 0 0 0 Hough, rf 2 0 0

Andrulonis, 3b 2 0 0 1 Creek, ph 1 0

Husz, c 2 0 0 0 Saunders, pr 0 0 0

c-Maitland, ph 1 0 0 0 Quintal, lf 4 1

Bruckner, c 0 0 0 0 Gambale, ss 2 0 0

Tobin, ph 1 0 0 0

Ferriggi, ss 0 0 0 0

Totals 29 3 6 3 Totals 30 1 5 1

Iowa 000 010 011 ? 3 6 0

Maine 001 000 000 ? 1 5 1

E?Ferriggi; LOB?Iowa 4, Maine 7; 2B?Guyer; HR?Quintal; DP?Maine 1; S?Young, Hough; SF?Best; Andrulonis; SB?Yoho

Iowa IP H R ER BB SO

Mentkowski 6 3 1 1 1 3

Johnson (W,1-0) 3 2 0 0 1 6

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

MacDonald (L,1-1) 8 5 2 2 1 4

Labelle 1 1 1 0 2 1

HBP?Drapeau by Mentkowski; WP?Mentkowski; PB?Izaryk; T?3:40; ATT?100

BLACK BEARS 8, HAWKEYES 6

(Sunday Afternoon)

Maine (7-3) Iowa (3-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Young, cf 5 1 0 0 Thousand, cf 3 1 0

Ouellette, 2b 4 1 2 1 Little, 2b 2 0

Izaryk, c 5 1 3 2 Reid, 2b 3 0 1

Creek, 1b-p 5 1 1 0 Yoho, rf 4 0 1

Drapeau, 3b 4 1 2 0 Steele, dh 3 0 0

Picard, dh 4 0 0 0 Maitland, dh 2 1 0

Carlton, 1b 0 0 0 0 Guyer, lf 3 0 0

Hough, rf 5 0 1 2 Best, 1b 4 1 1

Quintal, lf 4 2 2 0 Andrulonis, 3b 3 0 0

Ferrigi, ss 3 1 1 2 a-Bucklin 1 0 1

b-Tobin 1 0 0 0 Cox, 3b 0 0 0 0

Gambale, ss 0 0 0 0 Bruckner, c 3 1 0

c-Moss 1 0 0 0

Kusz, c 0 0 0 0

Gremley, ss 4 2 3 1

Totals 40 8 12 7 Totals 36 6 12 5

a-singled for Andrulonis in eighth, b-not available, c-grounded out for Bruckner in eighth

Maine 003 130 001 ? 8 12 0

Iowa 110 010 021 ? 6 12 8

E? Reid 3, Guyer, Bruckner, Gremley, Pawlik; LOB? Maine 8, Iowa 8; 2B? Ouellette, Drapeau; Reid, Best, Bruckner, Gremley; DP? Iowa; S? Thousand; SF? Ouellette; SB? Quintal, Ferriggi, Thousand, Yoho, Guyer 2, Gremley

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Harris (W,1-1) 7 7 4 4 4 9

Labelle 1 2 1 1 0 0

Creek (S,1) 1 3 1 1 0 2

Iowa IP H R ER BB SO

Pawelk (L,0-2) 4 1/3 8 7 2 0 3

Hansen 4 2/3 4 1 1 1 1

HBP? Drapeau by Pawelk; WP? Labelle; T? 2:58; ATT? 126