Maine takes two of three from Hartford Barrett, MacDonald spark Black Bears

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BANGOR – Offense hasn’t come easily this season to the University of Maine baseball team, so even after scratching out only three runs against Hartford in the first two games of their America East series at Mansfield Stadium, the Black Bears didn’t get demoralized.

Freshman Joel Barrett stroked a clutch RBI double in the third inning, then hit a run-scoring single during a four-run fourth Sunday afternoon as UMaine beat Hartford 8-3 in Sunday’s series finale and took two of three weekend contests.

The Bears won 2-1 Saturday behind a 15-strikeout performance by senior Mike MacDonald, then Hartford took Sunday’s first game 6-1.

UMaine (16-15, 3-3 America East) piled up 12 hits in Sunday’s clincher after struggling to score in the first two games.

“It was a great bounce-back,” said UMaine coach Paul Kostacopoulos. “It’s the first time in a while that we’ve done that [bunch hits together]. That was really nice to see.”

In Sunday’s second game, Steve Richard (2-2) and Troy Martin (save) combined to scatter eight hits and were backed by plenty of offensive support.

Ron Acabbo gave Hartford (7-17, 2-4 AE) the lead with a two-run home run in the third, but the Bears responded in the bottom of the frame. Aaron Izaryk singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Barrett ripped a ball inside the bag at third for an RBI double.

“The biggest hit of the ballgame, I think, was Joel’s double,” Kostacopoulos said. “That one just kind of sparked us and got us going again.”

Matt McGraw made it 2-2 with an RBI single to right.

UMaine erupted for four runs in the fourth. Joe Hough broke an 0-for-14 slump, lining a leadoff double off the left-field fence off loser Jeff Swedberg.

Hough scored when shortstop Matt Denorfia’s throw, after a Mike Ferriggi grounder, hit him on the helmet as he raced for third base. Izaryk smashed a single off Swedberg’s glove for the second run, then Greg Creek, Barrett (RBI) and Ryan Quintal (RBI) followed with consecutive singles.

“It’s just what we needed,” Creek said of the big rally. “We finally got four or five hits put together in one inning. That was a huge inning for us.”

Creek, Izaryk and McGraw joined Barrett with two hits apiece. Acabbo also had a run-scoring double for the Hawks.

Richard left after five innings with a 6-3 lead and Martin closed it out with four innings of three-hit, shutout relief.

“Troy’s comfortable, he doesn’t get worked up over too many things,” Kostacopoulos said of Martin, who left last Sunday’s start at Northeastern with a bad blister on his middle finger.

Martin said soaking the finger in pickle juice and applying Super Glue were among the remedies that helped him repair the damage.

In Sunday’s opener, senior Jarrett Stawarz hurled a six-hitter with eight strikeouts to help Hartford salvage a game.

The Bears went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and couldn’t string together any hits off the poised righty.

Hartford scored all the runs it would need in the fourth off loser Greg Norton (3-5). Acabbo led off with a towering homer to right, then Ryan Cuscovitch and Brian Eck stroked back-to-back singles.

The second run scored when Josh Topp’s bunt was fielded by catcher Izaryk, who threw to third where Creek failed to handle the ball. Matt Denorfia’s groundout made it 3-0.

UMaine scored an unearned run in the fourth when Creek singled to right-center, moved up when the ball was misplayed in the outfield, and rode home on Quintal’s one-out single to right. Stawarz worked his way out of further difficulty.

Simon Williams and Creek each doubled and singled for the Bears. Acabbo added a double and a single to his homer and Topp singled twice.

In Saturday’s game, MacDonald overcame cold, windy, rainy conditions with one of his most dominating performances.

“He was awesome,” Kostacopoulos said of the righthander from Camden, who allowed six hits and one run in eight-plus innings. He racked up a career-best 15 strikeouts while passing Billy Swift for third place on UMaine’s career strikeouts list with 245.

“Last weekend I struggled a little bit, so I wanted to come out here and do a better job, help my team out, and I happened to be able to do that tonight,” said MacDonald (3-1), who had a lively fastball, a good curveball and slider, and a tantalizing changeup.

“It wasn’t a real pitcher’s day, but he overcame,” said McGraw, UMaine’s catcher. “He’s a warrior. He throws real hard, real accurate. He was on top of his game.”

The Bears took a 1-0 lead against Scott Roy in the fourth. Barrett and Quintal singled with one out and Hough hit a sacrifice fly.

UMaine tallied the eventual winning run in the sixth when Williams singled, stole second and scored on a Barrett single.

“I’m just glad we pulled off a close one,” said Barrett, who singled three times. “We’ve had so many tight games that have gone the other way, but finally we got this one.”

Hartford finally chased MacDonald in the ninth when Cuscovitch doubled and Eck singled. Reliever Scott Robinson induced a fly ball, allowed Steve Moyer’s RBI single, then got the final two batters.

Izaryk singled twice.

BLACK BEARS 2, HAWKS 1

(Saturday’s Game)

Hartford (6-16) Maine (15-14)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Cipolla, 2b 4 0 1 0 Izaryk, 2b-c 4 0 0

Denorfia, ss 3 0 1 0 Williams, cf 4 1 0

Acabbo, 3b 4 0 0 0 Creek, 3b 4 0 0

Coscovitch, 1b 3 1 1 0 Barrett, 1b 4 1

Eck, c 4 0 1 0 Quintal, lf 4 0 0

a-O’Neill 0 0 0 0 Hough, rf 1 0 1

Topp, lf 4 0 0 0 Houser, dh 3 0 0

Moyer, rf 4 0 1 1 McGraw, c 3 0 0

Crowley, dh 3 0 0 0 Ferriggi, 2b 0 0 0

Langer, cf 4 0 1 0 Harvey, ss 3 0 0

Totals 33 1 6 1 Totals 20 2 9 2

a-ran for Eck in the 9th

Hartford 000 000 001 ? 1

Maine 000 101 00x ? 2

E?Creek (3); DP?Acabbo-Cipolla-Cuscovitch; LOB?Hartford 8, Maine 6; 2B?Cuscovitch; S?Denorfia; SF?Hough; SB?Acabbo (2), Moyer (1); Williams (13)

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Roy (L,2-3) 7 8 2 2 1 3

Connolly 1 1 0 0 0 0

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

MacDonald (W,3-1) 8 5 1 1 2 15

Robinson (S,3) 1 1 0 0 0 1

WP?MacDonald; T?2:15; ATT?282

MacDonald faced two batters in the 9th

HAWKS 6, BLACK BEARS 1

(Sunday’s First Game)

Hartford (7-16) Maine (15-15)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Cipolla, 2b 4 0 0 0 Williams, cf 3 0 0

Moyer, rf 3 2 1 0 Izaryk, c 4 0 0

Acabbo, 3b 3 2 3 1 Creek, 3b 3 1 0

Cuscovitch, 1b 2 1 1 1 Barrett, 1b 3 0

Eck, c 3 1 1 0 Quintal, lf 2 0 1

Collins, c 1 0 0 0 Hough, rf 3 0 0

Topp, lf 3 0 2 2 McGraw, dh 3 0 0

Denorfia, ss 4 0 0 1 Ferriggi, 2b 2 0 0

Crowley, dh 2 0 0 0 a-Saunders 1 0 0

Langer, cf 3 0 0 0 Harvey, ss 2 0 0

b-Reichley 1 0 0 0

Totals 28 6 8 5 Totals 27 1 6 1

a-struck out for Ferriggi in the 9th; b-struck out for Harvey in the 7th

Hartford 000 310 2 ? 6

Maine 000 100 0 ? 1

E?Langer (1); Creek (4), Norton (2); LOB?Hartford 7, Maine 7; 2B?Acabbo; Williams, Creek, McGraw; HR?Acabbo (6); SF?Cuscovitch; SB?Acabbo (3); Williams (14)

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Stawarz (W,3-2) 7 6 1 0 1 8

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (L,3-5) 5 5 4 2 4 5

Harris 2 3 2 2 0 3

HBP?Acabbo by Norton; Quintal by Stawarz; T?2:04

BLACK BEARS 8, HAWKS 3

(Sunday’s Second Game)

Hartford (7-17) Maine (16-15)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Cipolla, 2b 4 0 1 0 Williams, cf 5 0 2

Moyer, rf 3 1 1 1 Izaryk, c 5 2 1

Acabbo, 3b 4 1 2 2 Creek, 3b 5 1 0

Cuscovitch 3 0 1 0 Barrett, 1b 4 1 2

Topp, lf 4 0 1 0 Quintal, lf 3 0 1

Denorfia, ss 4 0 1 0 McGraw, dh 4 0 1

Crowley, c 2 0 0 0 Hough, rf 2 2 0

a-Jermine 1 0 1 0 Ferriggi, 2b 4 2 0

Trahan, dh 4 0 0 0 Harvey, ss 3 0 0

Langer, cf 3 1 0 0

Totals 32 3 8 3 Totals 35 8 12 7

a-singled for Crowley in the 9th

Hartford 002 010 000 ? 3

Maine 002 400 02x ? 8

E?Denorfia (6); LOB?Hartford 6, Maine 7; 2B?Acabbo; Barrett, Hough; HR?Acabbo (7); DP?Harvey-Ferriggi-Barrett; S?Harvey; SF?Moyer; SB?Cuscovitch (1); Williams (15), Hough (5)

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Swedburg (L,2-5) 3 2/3 10 6 2 2 4

Cekovsky 3 2/3 2 2 2 0 3

Krajeski 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Richard (W, 2-2) 5 5 3 3 3 2

Martin (S,1) 4 3 0 0 0 4

HBP?Hough by Cekovsky; WP?Swedburg; Richard; T?2:35; ATT?382