ORONO – Pinch hitter Ross Cantara ripped a single to center field with two outs in the ninth inning Sunday, breaking up a no-hit bid by Eric Butkiewicz of the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

It was one of precious few highlights for the Black Bears, who suffered a 14-1 drubbing at the hands of the Retrievers in their America East series finale at Mahaney Diamond.

UMaine started the weekend strong, sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader, 3-2 and 10-6.

A total of 1,039 fans turned out for the sun-splashed series.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 19-10 Bears are 4-2 in league play and occupy third place.

Sunday’s blowout loss was a rare occurrence for UMaine. It was the most lopsided since a 16-4 loss to Albany in the 2002 America East Tournament.

“That’s just an old-fashioned butt-kicking,” Kostacopoulos said. “From the first pitch of the game they swung the bat; their kid pitched tremendously.”

Butkiewicz (3-4) dominated. Using a sharp slider, a good fastball and occasional curve, the senior righthander from Plainville, Conn., had the Bears stymied. He had the luxury of pitching with a comfortable lead after UMBC (8-19, 2-4 AE) scored four runs in the first inning and six in the second.

“When I saw the guys put up the runs in the first couple of innings, there was no doubt in my mind we were going to get a ‘W’ today,” Butkiewicz said. “It’s a little more relaxing to know you have a lead because I really wasn’t thinking about what the score was or how many hits they had.”

Butkiewicz, who struck out eight and walked one, took a perfect game into the seventh, but an error and a walk gave UMaine its first baserunners.

“Today he just had his best stuff,” said UMaine’s Greg Creek. “He was hitting every spot, had good movement away from lefties and a good hard slider away from righties, so he was a tough guy to hit today.”

Cantara ended the suspense.

“The only kid who kid who said something [about ending the no-hitter] was the kid I hit for, Joe Hough,” Cantara said. “It was an outside fastball. I took it to right field.”

Creek then lined a double and Ryan Quintal hit a sacrifice fly to spoil the shutout bid.

Alex Laddbush paced UMBC’s 19-hit onslaught with a grand slam, two singles and five RBIs. Mike Scheffel rapped a double and three singles.

The Retrievers rocked UMaine freshman lefthander Nolan Boike (0-1), stringing together 10 hits and 12 baserunners among the first 16 batters it sent to the plate.

“The margin is small here and in college baseball in general,” Kostacopoulos said. “They exploited some starting pitching of ours and did a great job, so hats off to them.”

In Saturday’s opener, closer Scott Robinson retired the final two batters with the potential tying run on third base in the ninth as UMaine held on. Robinson earned his third straight save.

“Nothing came easy today,” Kostacopoulos said Saturday.

Starter Steve Richard (5-0) wasn’t at his best, but worked hard for seven innings to hold UMBC in check. Richard allowed only one earned run.

“I think Steve would probably admit he didn’t have his best stuff, but he competed and he got the job done,” Kostacopoulos said. “I’m as happy about that as the day he dominates.”

UMaine broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh off loser Jon Pavlis (2-2). Joe Hough singled to left with one out, stole second and scored on a two-out, opposite-field single to left by Quintal.

The Bears’ bullpen made the run stand up.

UMaine took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on RBI singles by Curt Smith and Ray Vallee.

Quintal singled three times while Smith and Hough posted two singles each for the Bears.

The Retrievers scored in the fourth and fifth on RBI singles by Steve Russo and Kyle Wildasin. Wildasin doubled and hit two singles to pace UMBC.

In Saturday’s second game, freshman shortstop Vallee knocked in four runs as the Bears overcame four errors with an 11-hit attack.

Vallee had a run-producing groundout in UMaine’s two-run second inning, then lined an opposite-field, two-run double to right amidst a six-run rally in the third. Vallee capped his memorable day in the sixth, yanking a solo home run to left.

“The kid threw me a fastball and I just jumped on it,” Vallee said. “To get a sweep in the home opener was great. It’s been good to finally get a chance to play.”

Greg Norton (6-1) wasn’t sharp, but won. He surrendered nine hits and four earned runs in five innings and struck out nine.

Troy Martin, who had worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings in the opener, gave up only one hit in two innings to close Game 2.

“The second game it felt good to get out there for two innings,” Martin said. “I’m ready whenever they need me.”

Creek socked a solo homer and single and Matt McGraw singled twice for the Bears, who broke the game open in the third against Zach Clark (0-4).

Joel Barrett drilled a two-run homer, Vallee stroked the two-run double and Hough added an RBI single as UMaine took an 8-3 lead.

Joe Fowler led UMBC with an RBI double, a solo homer and a two-run single.

BLACK BEARS 3, RETRIEVERS 2

(Saturday’s First Game)

UMBC Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Scheffel, rf 4 0 1 0 Hough, cf 5 1 0

Moran, cf 3 1 1 0 Cantara, rf 4 0 0

Wildasin, 1b 5 0 3 1 Ostrander, rf 0 0 0

Laddbush, c 4 0 0 0 Creek, dh 3 0 0

Clark, dh 4 0 2 0 Quintal, lf 4 1 1

Russo, 2b-ss 3 1 0 0 Barrett, 1b 3 0 0

Fowler, lf 4 0 2 1 Smith, 3b 4 1 1

Lemon, 3b 4 0 1 0 Ferriggi, 2b 4 0 0

Socarras, ss 2 0 0 0 Izaryk, c 4 0 0

Rinaldi, ph 1 0 0 0 Vallee, ss 4 0 1

Carman, 2b 0 0 0 0

Totals 34 2 10 2 Totals 35 3 11 3

UMBC 000 110 000 – 2

Maine 020 000 10x – 3

E-Socarras (7); Cantara (3), Izaryk (3); LOB-UMBC 11, Maine 10; 2B-Wildasin, Fowler; 3B-Moran; DP-Pavlis-Socarras-Wildasin; Barrett (una.); S-Moran, Surro; SB-Hough (18), Smith (8), Ferriggi (1)

UMBC IP H R ER BB SO

Pavlis (L,2-2) 8 11 3 3 1 3

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Richard (W,5-0) 7 8 2 1 2 5

Martin 1 1/3 2 0 0 0 2

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

HBP-Scheffel, Laddbush by Richard; WP-Pavlis 2; Richard 2, Robinson; T-2:35; ATT-562

BLACK BEARS 10, RETRIEVERS 6

(Saturday’s Second Game)

UMBC Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Scheffel, rf 4 0 0 0 Hough, cf 3 0 1

Moran, cf 4 1 1 0 Cantara, rf 1 0 0

Wildasin, 1b 4 0 1 1 Creek, dh 3 1 1

Rinaldi, c 4 0 1 1 Quintal, lf 4 1 0

Laddbush, dh 4 1 2 0 Barrett, 1b 3 1 2

Russo, ss 3 2 0 0 Smith, 3b 3 2 0

Fowler, lf 4 1 3 4 Ferriggi, 2b 3 1 0

Lemon, 3b 2 0 1 0 McGraw, c 3 2 0

Carman, 2b 2 1 1 0 Izaryk, c 0 0 0

Ostrander, rf-cf 3 0 1

Vallee, ss 3 2 2 4

Totals 31 6 10 6 Totals 29 10 11 9

UMBC 012 120 0 – 6

Maine 026 101 x – 10

E-Wildasin (4), Lemon (8); Ferriggi 2 (6), McGraw (4), Ostrander (2); LOB-UMBC 7, Maine 2; 2B-Fowler; Smith, Vallee; HR-Fowler (4); Creek (4), Barrett (5), Vallee (1); DP-Russo-Carman-Wildasin; Vallee-Ferriggi-Barrett, Barrett (una.); SB-Hough (19), Creek (5), Smith (9)

UMBC IP H R ER BB SO

Clark (L,0-4) 6 11 10 6 0 3

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (W,6-1) 5 9 6 4 3 9

Martin 2 1 0 0 0 0

HBP-Creek by Clark; T-1:58; ATT-417

RETRIEVERS 14, BLACK BEARS 1

(Sunday’s Game)

UMBC (8-19) Maine (19-10)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Moran, cf 5 3 2 1 Hough, cf 3 0 0

Scheffel, rf 6 3 4 0 Cantara, ph 1 1 0

Wildasin, 1b 5 3 2 3 Creek, dh 4 0 0

Laddbush, c 6 2 3 5 Quintal, lf 3 0 1

Clark, dh 6 1 1 0 Barrett, 1b 3 0 0

Fowler, lf 4 1 2 2 Smith, 3b 3 0 0

Russo, ss 5 1 3 1 Ostrander, rf 3 0 0

Lemon, 3b 5 0 2 1 Ferriggi, 2b 2 0 0

Carman, 2b 5 0 0 0 Rivera, 2b 1 0 0

Izaryk, c 2 0 0 0

McGraw, c 1 0 0 0

Vallee, ss 2 0 0 Pesanello, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 47 14 19 13 Totals 29 1 2 1

UMBC 460 031 000 – 14

Maine 000 000 001 – 1

E-Carman (4); Hough (2), Smith (9), Vallee (5); LOB-UMBC 9, Maine 3; 2B-Scheffel, Russo; Creek; HR-Laddbush (3); DP-Ferriggi-Vallee-Barrett; SF-Quintal; SB-Moran (3), Fowler (1)

UMBC IP H R ER BB SO

Butkiewicz (W,3-4) 9 2 1 1 1 8

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Boike (L,0-1) 1 1/3 7 8 7 1 0

Bishop 2 2/3* 7 5 5 1 1

Robinson 2 2 1 1 0 2

Weymouth 2 1 0 0 1 1

Zyskowski 1 2 0 0 0 1

WP-Boike, Robinson 2; T-2:26; ATT-478

*-pitched to three batters in the fifth