Bears clinch playoff berth UMaine beats Albany twice

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ORONO – After a gut-wrenching loss to Albany in Saturday’s opener, the University of Maine baseball team responded with the resilience that is becoming its trademark.

The Black Bears posted back-to-back wins, clinching a spot in the America East tournament while knocking the Great Danes out of first place.

UMaine earned a 7-3 win Sunday after bouncing back from Saturday’s 2-1 opening-game loss with a 6-1 win in Game 2. Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 28-19 Bears are 11-7 in league play and host the league tourney May 27-29.

“It’s gonna be huge for us to have the home crowd here,” said UMaine’s Joe Hough, who was 6-for-9 in the series. “I’m really looking forward to it.

“We just came back, battled, and got a huge win [Saturday], and today we kind of willed it,” he added. We hung in and ended up getting it done.”

Albany (34-11, 12-6 AE) slipped to second behind Northeastern, but both teams also secured postseason berths.

On Sunday, UMaine fell behind 2-1 in the sixth, but answered in the home half. Hough stroked a one-out single, stole second and took third when the catcher’s throw got away. Ryan Quintal’s sacrifice fly tied it.

“The play of the game was Joe Hough stealing that base and going to third,” Kostacopoulos said. “Ryan hit a fly ball, [Hough] scored, and we tied it up.”

The Bears regained the lead in the seventh. Simon Williams led off with a pop-fly single to right and raced to third on a hit-and-run single by Jason Harvey. Pete Saunders plated a run with a sacrifice fly and Joel Barrett pulled an RBI single to left.

“It was tight for a while, but we just hung in there and we got it done at the end,” Williams said. “Taking two out of three from them means a lot.”

Albany appeared to tie the game 4-4 in the eighth, but Justin Meagher’s line-drive double to left-center went under the fence for a ground-rule double, forcing the second runner who scored to return to third. Norton struck out Craig Farley to end the inning.

“It was like that today, most everything we did worked out,” Kostacopoulos said. “We played well this whole weekend.”

UMaine added three runs in the eighth on Williams’ two-run double and Harvey’s RBI single.

Four pitchers combined to hold a potent Albany lineup in check. Freshman Steve Richard allowed one earned run in five innings, then Ryan Harris, Greg Norton and Scott Robinson limited the Great Danes to one run the rest of the way.

“That shows you how good our pitchers are pitching right now and how good they’re executing their pitches,” said UMaine catcher Aaron Izaryk.

In Saturday’s second game, Troy Martin pitched a six-hitter and was backed by outstanding defense. The Bears, 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position in Game 1, got the clutch hits in this one.

Martin (4-1) pitched out of bases-loaded jams in the second and fifth innings.

“Every conference game’s a big game, especially after a tough loss like that [first game],” Martin said. “You’ve got to get the job done.”

Martin walked the bases loaded in the fourth, but third baseman Greg Creek made a nifty backhanded stab on a sharp Joe Lamb grounder and threw him out.

“Greg Creek made a big play, maybe a game-saving play, because three runs could have scored,” Kostacopoulos said.

The Bears fought right back as Hough singled with one out and stole second. Williams walked and Harvey followed with a two-out RBI single.

“He threw a fastball in and I just turned on it, hit it down the line,” Harvey said. “Once we put a few hits together, it rolls from there.”

After Saunders walked, Izaryk hit a soft liner over the second baseman to plate two runs. UMaine added three runs in the sixth, with Barrett’s two-out, two-run single the key blow. The Danes scored a run in the seventh.

“The difference in the second game was we got two-out hits. There’s five of our six runs,” Kostacopoulos said.

In Saturday’s opener, Albany’s ability to get a bunt down was the difference.

Bears ace Mike MacDonald and Albany’s Steve Emmerthal engaged in a tense pitching duel for eight innings, but Albany snapped a 1-1 tie in the ninth.

Derek DeGrazio (3 singles) led with a single and moved up on Jason Martin’s second sacrifice bunt of the game. MacDonald struck out Pat Delaney, but Wyland delivered an RBI single to right.

UMaine threatened in the ninth against closer Shawn Ryan when Saunders singled through the middle and Mike Ferriggi walked. However, Harvey twice failed to get a bunt down before striking out. Pinch hitter Matt McGraw grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Emmerthal (7-2) scattered eight hits, striking out 11. MacDonald (4-3) gave up 11 singles while striking out 10.

Hough doubled and singled, Creek singled twice and Quintal lined an RBI triple for UMaine. Wyland had a run-scoring infield hit for Albany.

GREAT DANES 2, BLACK BEARS 1

(Saturday’s First Game)

Albany Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Daniels, cf-lf 4 0 0 0 Williams, cf 3 0

Lamb, ss 3 0 0 0 McGraw, ph 1 0 0

Schoonmaker,1b 4 0 1 0 Creek, 1b 4 0

Zimniewicz, 2b 4 1 1 0 Barrett, 1b 4 0

DeGrazio, dh 4 0 3 0 Hough, rf 4 1 0

Vallone, pr-cf 0 1 0 0 Quintal, lf 3 1

Martin, c 2 0 1 0 Izaryk, c 4 0 0

Meagher, rf 3 0 1 0 Saunders, dh 4 0 0

Delaney, ph 1 0 0 0 Ferriggi, 2b 3 0 0

Wyland, 3b 4 0 3 2 Harvey, ss 4 0 0

Farley, lf-rf 4 0 1 0

Totals 33 2 11 2 Totals 34 1 9 1

Albany 000 100 001 ? 2

Maine 010 000 000 ? 1

E?Lamb (11); LOB?Albany 8; Maine 9; 2B?Hough; 3B?Quintal; DP?Albany; Maine 2; S?Martin 2; Williams; SB?Daniels (9)

Albany IP H R ER BB SO

Emmerthal (W,7-2) 8 8 1 1 1 11

Ryan (S,13) 1 1 0 0 1 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

MacDonald (L,4-3) 8 2/3 11 2 2 1 10

Norton 1/3 0 0 0 0 1

HBP?Lamb by MacDonald; WP?MacDonald; PB?Izaryk; T?2:30

BLACK BEARS 6, GREAT DANES 1

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Albany Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Lamb, ss 3 0 0 1 Saunders, dh 1 0 0

Zimniewicz, 2b 4 0 1 0 McGraw, ph 1 0

Schoonmaker, 1b 3 0 1 0 Izaryk, c 3 2

DeGrazio, dh 3 0 0 0 Creek, 3b 3 1 0

Martin, c 3 0 0 0 Barrett, 1b 4 0 2

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

Daniels, cf 2 0 0 0 Hough, rf 3 1 0

Meagher, rf 2 1 1 0 Ferriggi, 2b 3 0 0

Farley, lf 2 0 1 0 Williams, cf 2 1 0

Harvey, ss 3 2 2 1

Totals 24 1 6 1 Totals 27 6 10 5

Albany 000 000 1 ? 1

Maine 000 303 x ? 6

LOB?Albany 7; Maine 8; 2B?Meagher; Hough, Ferriggi; DP?Maine 2; SF?Lamb; SB?Zimniewicz (9); Hough (8)

Albany IP H R ER BB SO

Vaiana (L,6-1) 3 2/3 7 3 3 3 0

McGovern 1 2/3 2 1 1 0 1

Fuda 2/3 1 2 1 1 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Martin (W,4-2) 7 6 1 1 4 3

HBP?Creek by Fuda; PB?Martin; Izaryk; T?2:07; ATT?344

BLACK BEARS 7, GREAT DANES 3

(Sunday’s Game)

Albany (34-11) Maine (28-19)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Lamb, ss 3 0 1 1 Saunders, dh 4 0 1

Wyland, 3b 5 0 0 0 Izaryk, c 3 1 0

Schoonmaker, 1b 5 1 1 0 Barrett, 1b 4 1

Zimniewicz, 2b 3 0 1 0 Creek, 3b 4 1

DeGrazio, dh 3 1 2 1 Hough, rf 2 2 0

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

Daniels, cf 4 0 0 0 Ferriggi, 2b 4 1 0

Meagher, rf 3 1 1 1 Williams, cf 3 2 2

Farley, lf 4 0 0 0 Harvey, ss 4 1 1

Totals 33 3 7 3 Totals 30 7 9 7

Albany 000 011 010 ? 3

Maine 100 001 23x ? 7

E?Lamb (11), Wyland (3); Richard (2), Harris (2); LOB?Albany 9, Maine 7; 2B?Lamb, Meagher; Williams; DP?Albany 2; SF?DeGrazio; Saunders, Quintal; SB?Hough 2 (10), Williams (24)

Albany IP H R ER BB SO

Kroft (L,6-3) 6 1/3 6 4 3 3 5

Dubiel 2/3 1 1 1 1 0

Ryan 1 2 2 1 0 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Richard 5 4 2 1 2 8

Harris (W,5-2) 2 2/3 2 1 1 2 1

Norton 2/3 1 0 0 0 1

Robinson 1 0 0 0 0 1

HBP?Lamb by Richard; Quintal by Kroft; WP?Richard, Harris; PB?Martin 2; Izaryk 3; T?2:58; ATT?229