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BURLINGTON, Vt. – If the University of Maine baseball team is going to repeat as America East champion, it will again have to do it the hard way.
Righthander Jon Lewis spaced eight hits over eight innings Thursday as third-seeded Stony Brook beat No. 2 UMaine 4-2 in the first round of the America East Championship at Centennial Field.
Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 37-17 Black Bears, who won four straight games and the 2002 title after dropping the tourney opener, play the loser of Thursday’s late game between No. 1 Vermont and No. 4 Northeastern in today’s noon losers’ bracket contest.
The Black Bears have lost five straight tournament openers.
If UMaine wins, it would then play at 7 p.m. in the four-team, double-elimination event. Stony Brook (27-19) meets the UVM-Northeastern winner at 3:30.
Last year could serve as motivation for the Bears, who played well but could not solve Lewis.
“The guys have been here, they know what the situation is,” said UMaine junior Mike MacDonald of Camden. “We’ve just got to go out there and try to win every inning. If we do that, we’ll have a chance to come back and do what we did last year.”
MacDonald (7-5) pitched well enough to win. He allowed 10 hits, struck out four and walked nobody in going the distance.
“Mac pitched his butt off,” Kostacopoulos said. “They had chances early on to blow the game open and they didn’t. He kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win.”
Lewis (4-3) was a bit better. The sophomore afforded the Bears only eight hits and two unearned runs. Mixing four pitches, including a good curve, he struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
“(Lewis) didn’t allow himself to get hurt and he went at people,” said Stony Brook coach Matt Senk. “What you saw today was what Jon had given us all last year and unfortunately this year was sporadic, but no better time to get the old Jon Lewis back than today.”
Matt Restivo pitched a scoreless ninth to earn a save.
Freshman Ryan Quintal stroked a double and two singles for UMaine, which was unable to string many hits together and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
“The main thing is to stay relaxed,” said Quintal, an America East All-Rookie choice. “You’ve really got to keep the concentration level up the whole game, every pitch.”
The Bears tied it 2-2 in the fourth on Joe Drapeau’s single to center field, a two-out double by Quintal and a two-run fielding error by Seawolves second baseman Jim McCurdy.
Stony Brook countered in the fifth when Lee Lipschutz reached on an infield single, advanced on McCurdy’s sacrifice and scored on a two-out single to left by Matt Devins.
UMaine put runners at second and third in the fifth on a Brett Ouellette fielder’s choice, Alain Picard’s single to left and a balk. Drapeau grounded to third to end the inning.
“We had good some good swings and you’ve just got to hit it,” Kostacopoulos said. “I thought it was a good college baseball game.”
The ‘Wolves added a big insurance run in the ninth on Andrew Larsen’s one-out single, a wild pitch, a groundout and a low, outside breaking pitch that was scored a passed ball.
Quintal opened the ninth with a pop-fly single to left, but was erased when pinch hitter Jesse Carlton grounded into a double play.
“We’ll see what we’re made out of,” Kostacopoulos said. “We’ve had the experience of this before, but it’s certainly not where you want to be.”
Stony Brook took a 1-0 lead in the second. Mike Russo and Cole Cicatelli posted back-to-back singles, then Russo was cut down between third and home on an Ed Kull grounder.
The runners moved up to second and third on the play and Cicatelli scored on Larsen’s sacrifice fly.
The Seawolves made it 2-0 in the third on Lipschutz’s leadoff double, McCurdy’s single and a Garrett Renner groundout.
SEAWOLVES 4, BLACK BEARS 2
(Thursday Afternoon)
Stony Brook (27-19) Maine (37-17)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
McCundy, 2b 3 0 1 0 Williams, rf 4 0 0
Renner, 3b 4 0 1 1 Izaryk, c 4 0 0
Devins, ss 4 0 1 1 Ouellette, 2b 4 0 0
Russo, dh 4 0 2 0 Picard, dh 4 0 0
Cicatelli, lf 4 1 1 0 Drapeau, 3b 4 0
Solano, lf 0 0 0 0 Creek, 1b 4 0 0
Kull, c 4 0 0 0 Quintal, lf 4 1 0
Larsen, cf 2 1 1 1 Livulpi, cf 3 0 0
Wood, 1b 4 0 0 0 a-Carlton 1 0 0
Lipschutz, rf 4 2 3 0 Gambale, ss 2 0
Ferriggi, ss 2 0 0 0
Totals 35 4 10 3 Totals 36 2 8 0
a-grounded into double play for Livulpi in 9th
Stony Brook 011 010 001 ? 4
Maine 000 200 000 ? 2
E?McCurdy (5), Wood (4); LOB?Stony Brook 5; Maine 7; 2B?Russo, Lipschutz; Quintal; DP?Renner-McCurdy-Wood; Drapeau-Ouellette-Creek; S?McCurdy; SF?Larsen; SB?Larsen (10); Livulpi (21)
Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO
Lewis (W, 4-5) 8 8 2 0 0 4
Restivo 1 0 0 0 0 0
Maine IP H R ER BB SO
McDonald (L, 7-5) 9 10 4 3 0 2
Lewis faced one batter in the 9th
HBP?by McDonald, Larsen; WP?McDonald; BK?Lewis; PB?Izaryk; T?2:00
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