HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Maine baseball team couldn’t rally past Hartford in the opening game of a doubleheader Sunday, but the Black Bears managed to hold off the Hawks in the nightcapt.

Hartford earned a 6-5 victory in the opening game Sunday, and Maine claimed the second game 8-7. The Bears, now 19-7 (3-1 in America East), took three of four games this weekend, winning both Saturday contests 3-1 and 6-1.

In Sunday’s second game, Maine scored three runs in the second inning and four in the third to rally from a 2-0 deficit.

Ryan Quintal sparked the Black Bears in the second with a leadoff double and he went to third on a Joe Drapeau groundout. Aaron Young walked and stole second, and got to third on Steve Gambale’s sacrifice fly, which also plated Quintal. Simon Williams, the next hitter, slammed a home run to center field.

In the third, Drapeau smacked a three-run homer and Aaron Young followed Drapeau with a solo shot.

The Hawks tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh as Ryan Cuscovitch hit a grand slam off reliever Greg Creek. That put Hartford one run away from a tie, but Maine’s Adam Labelle faced the final two batters of the game and induced a flyout and a strikeout. Creek (3-0) earned the win and Labelle picked up his third save.

In Sunday’s first game, Maine needed a run to tie it up and had a chance with the top of its lineup due in the seventh, but three groundouts handed the Bears their first conference loss.

Ron Acabbo’s two-run homer in the fifth provided Hartford with the winning run. Tony Cekovsky gave up five hits and struck out three in a complete-game win.

Maine’s Brett Ouellette went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Quintal knocked in two runs, including one on a solo homer. Simon Williams doubled and singled.

On Saturday, the Bears received strong pitching performances from junior righthanders Mike MacDonald and Mike Collar to sweep the Hawks.

MacDonald didn’t walk a batter while striking out six and scattering five hits to pace the Bears in the first game. Collar followed by striking out nine while not issuing a walk and giving up eight hits.

Williams gave MacDonald run support in the top of the fifth when he cranked a two-out, three-run home run. Williams drove in Aaron Izaryk, who had singled, and Jesse Carlton, who had walked.

The Hawks reached MacDonald for a run in the fourth when Cuscovitch singled in Acabbo, who had doubled to left-center.

In Saturday’s second game, Izaryk put Maine on the board early when he hit a two-run homer to right-center, scoring Carlton, who had led off with a double.

The Bears added a run in fourth on Joe Hough’s RBI single and three more in the fifth when Mike Livulpi hit a solo homer and Alain Picard smashed a two-run triple.

Hartford’s only run came in the sixth on a Mike Denorfia solo homer.

HAWKS 6, BLACK BEARS 5

(Sunday’s First Game)

Maine (18-7) Hartford (2-17)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Williams, rf 4 2 2 0 Parker, cf 4 1 0

Ouellette, 2b 3 1 2 1 Denorfia, ss 3 0

Picard, dh 4 0 0 1 Acabbo, 3b 3 2 2

Izaryk, c 3 1 0 0 Cuscovitch, 1b 3 0 1

Carlton, 1b 3 0 1 0 Waldron, dh 3 0 0

Quintal, lf 3 1 1 2 Topp, lf 3 1 2

Drapeau, 3b 3 0 0 0 Eck, c 3 0 1 1

Livulpi, cf 3 0 0 0 Moyer, rf 3 0 0

Gambale, ss 2 0 0 0 O’Neill, 2b 3 0 0

a-Creek 1 0 0 0

Reichley, ss 0 0 0 0

Totals 28 5 6 4 Totals 28 6 11 6

a-grounded out for Gambale in 6th

Maine 310 001 0 ? 5

Hartford 400 020 x ? 6

E?Ouellette, Acabbo; LOB?Maine 4, Hartford 5; 2B?Williams, Ouellette, Acabbo, Topp; HR?Quintal, Acabbo; DP?Norton-Gambale-Carlton; Ouellette-Gamable-Carlton

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (L, 3-1) 4 9 6 2 1 3

Labelle 2 2 0 0 0 2

Home IP H R ER BB SO

Cekovsky (W, 1-4) 7 6 5 3 2 3

T? 2:03; ATT? 141

BLACK BEARS 8, HAWKS 7

(Sunday’s Second Game)

Maine (19-7) Hartford (2-18)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Williams, rf-cf 2 2 2 2 Parker, cf 3 0

Ouellette, 2b 4 0 0 0 DeNorfia, ss 4 1

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

Izaryk, c 2 1 1 1 Waldron, dh 3 0 0

Carlton, 1b 3 0 0 0 a-Traran 0 1 0

Quintal, lf 4 1 1 0 Cuscovitch, 1b 4 1 5

Livulpi, cf 0 0 0 0 Eck, c 3 0 1 1

Drapeau, 3b 4 1 2 3 Collins, c 0 0 0

Young, cf-rf 3 2 1 1 b-Mirante 1 0 0

Gambale, ss 2 0 0 1 Topp, lf 4 0 0

Moyer, rf 2 1 1 0

O’Neill, 2b 3 0 0 0

Totals 27 8 7 8 Totals 31 7 9 7

a-scored for Waldron in 7th; b-flied out for Collins in 7th

Maine 034 001 0 ? 8

Hartford 210 000 4 ? 7

E?Williams, Ouellette; DeNorfia; LOB?Maine 7, Hartford 6; 2B?Quintal; Moyer; HR?Willaims, Drapeau, Young; Cuscovitch; SF?Gambale; SB?Williams, Young

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Warner 2 3 3 1 2 1

Creek (W, 3-0) 4 1/3 6 4 4 1 7

Labelle (S, 3) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Stefka 2 3 3 3 2 0

Manning (L, 0-2) 1 2 4 0 3 2

Flaherty 3 2 1 1 2 2

Mehl 1 0 0 0 0 0

HBP?Picard by Flaherty; WP?Warner, Stefka; BK?Manning; PB?Eck; T?2:35; ATT?141

BLACK BEARS 3, HAWKS 1

(Saturday’s First Game)

Maine Hartford

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Livulpi, cf 2 0 0 0 Parker, cf 3 0 0

Ouellette, 2b 3 0 0 0 Denorfia, ss 3 0

Picard, dh 3 0 0 0 Acabbo, 3b 3 1 0

Izaryk, c 3 1 1 0 Cuscovitch, 1b 3 0 1

Drapeau, 3b 3 0 1 0 Eck, dh 3 0 0 0

Quintal, lf 2 0 0 0 Topp, lf 3 0 0

Hough, rf 0 0 0 0 Waldron, 2b 3 0 0

Young, rf 1 0 0 0 a-Trahan 0 0 0

Carlton, 1b 2 1 0 0 Moyer, rf 3 0 0

Williams, rf-lf 1 1 1 3 O’Neill, c 2 0

Gambale, ss 2 0 0 0

Totals 22 3 3 3 Totals 26 1 5 1

a- ran for Waldron in 7th

Maine 000 030 0 ? 3

Hartford 000 100 0 ? 1

E?Ouellette; LOB?Maine 1, Hartford 4; 2B?Acabbo; HR?Williams; DP?Hartford 2; SB?Cuscovitch

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

MacDonald (4-2) 7 5 1 1 0 6

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Swedberg (0-4) 7 3 3 3 2 4

HBP?Livulpi by Swedberg; WP?Swedberg 2; T?1:40; ATT? 127

BLACK BEARS 6, HAWKS 1

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Maine Hartford

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Williams, lf 4 1 1 0 Parker, cf 4 0 0

Picard, 2b 4 1 1 0 Denorfia, ss 3 1 1

Picard, dh 4 1 2 2 Acabbo, 3b 3 0 0

Carlton, 1b 3 1 2 0 Cuscovitch, 1b 3 0 0

Izaryk, c 4 1 1 2 Waldron, dh 2 0 0

Hough, rf 2 0 1 1 Mirante, dh 1 0 0

Young, rf 0 0 0 0 Topp, lf 3 0 0

Drapeau, 3b 3 0 0 0 Eck, c 3 0 0 0

Livulpi, cf 3 1 1 1 Moyer, rf 3 0 0

Gambale, ss 1 0 0 0 Trahan, 2b 2 0 0

Reichley, ss 1 0 0 0 O’Neill, 2b 1 0 0

Totals 29 6 9 6 Totals 28 1 8 1

Maine 020 130 0 ? 6

Hartford 000 001 x ? 1

E?Denorfia; LOB?Maine 5, Hartford 1; 2B?Ouellette, Carlton 2; Parker, Waldron; 3B?Picard; HR?Izaryk, Livulpi; Denorfia; DP?Maine 1, Hartford 1; SB?Picard

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Collar (W, 4-2) 7 8 1 1 0 9

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Mascaro (L, 1-4) 4 1/3 8 6 6 1 4

Connolly 1 2/3 0 0 0 2 1

Mehl 1 1 0 0 0 0

WP?Collar; T?150; ATT?127