ORONO – Greg Norton had Vermont batters eating out of his hand Sunday afternoon.

The University of Maine junior induced 17 ground-ball outs in eight innings as the Black Bears beat the Catamounts 4-3 to take the rubber game of their America East three-game series at Mahaney Diamond.

The teams split Saturday’s twinbill with UMaine winning the opener 11-5 and Vermont taking the nightcap 13-4.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ ballclub improved to 25-12 overall, 8-4 in the conference by winning the series and maintaining a share of second place with nine league games remaining.

“We were excited about the series,” said UMaine freshman Curt Smith, who homered and doubled in Sunday’s finale. “We wanted to sweep them, but we took two. It was a real important game.”

Norton, a right-hander from South Portland, turned in his best performance of the season. He spread out seven hits, striking out three and walking none. He threw 92 pitches, 67 for strikes (73 percent).

“I felt great the whole time,” said Norton, now 7-2. “I was just keeping the fastball down and locating it and I was throwing off-speed [pitches] for strikes, which made the fastball even tougher to hit.”

Norton’s blend of two different fastballs, a slider and a changeup had the Catamounts (19-13-1, 8-4 AE) guessing. He recorded six assists with adept fielding, inducing seven come-backers to the mound (he committed one error).

“Usually when they’re swinging and they’re not contacting the ball very well you’ve got good movement and you’re hitting good locations,” Kostacopoulos said. “He really just did a nice job throwing a heavy ball, a late-sinking ball.”

UMaine’s offense came alive against a Vermont staff ranked 17th in the nation with a 3.28 earned run average. The Bears piled up 12 hits Sunday, roughing up freshman left-hander Joe Serafin (5-1) and his 0.89 ERA.

Already up 1-0, UMaine chased Serafin with three runs in the fifth inning. Smith led off with a towering home run over the scoreboard in left-center.

“This weekend we just focused on locking in on a certain pitch and we really worked hard on staying back on the ball and seeing the ball deep and putting a good swing on the ball,” said UMaine co-captain Aaron Izaryk, who had five hits in the series.

Joel Barrett singled, then Joe Hough ripped a run-scoring, one-out double to left-center. One out later, Serafin gave way to Mike Smith, who hit Mark Ostrander with a pitch and gave up an RBI single to center by Mike Ferriggi to make it 4-0.

“Winning two out of three against two of their top guns gives us confidence to hit any other pitchers in the league right now,” Norton said.

UVM spoiled the shutout on Jason Carey’s two-out solo homer in the sixth, then added two unearned runs in the eighth. Frank Rossi singled with one out, advanced on a groundout and scored when Ferriggi booted a Carey grounder to second base.

Kyle Brault grounded an RBI single up the middle, but Norton got Miguel Magrass to hit into a fielder’s choice.

The Cats threatened in the ninth against closer Scott Robinson. After Matt Naimoli singled with two out, Raymond Montanez silenced the crowd when he ripped a ball down the left-field line that hit the fence on the fly – three feet foul.

Robinson struck out Naimoli to wrap up his seventh save.

Ferriggi singled twice (2 RBIs) and Barrett doubled and singled for the Bears.

In Saturday’s opener, UMaine tallied 11 hits and six earned runs against one of the league’s top pitchers. Lefty Derek Miller (4-2) struck out 11 in six-plus innings but couldn’t totally fool the Bears.

“We didn’t let him get into any kind of rhythm,” Kostacopoulos said. “Any time he did, somebody came up with a base hit.”

UMaine used the long ball to break open a close game during a seven-run seventh inning. Hough greeted reliever Brandon Miles by jacking a grand slam to left and Creek chased him with a three-run shot to right five batters later.

Bears starter Steve Richard (6-0) turned in a gritty effort despite struggling with his control. The righty gave up only six hits and two earned runs in seven innings, but walked six.

“I really wasn’t hitting my spots,” Richard said. “After the first three innings, I started settling down and started getting some pitches over and started doing all right.”

Izaryk paced UMaine’s 14-hit attack with a double and two singles. Creek added an RBI single to his homer while Smith lined a solo homer and a double. Barrett and Quintal each doubled and singled.

Kyle Massie doubled twice for UVM and Jim Chapman doubled and singled (RBI).

Saturday’s second game was a washout for UMaine. Playing in a steady rain, the Catamounts smacked around three pitchers for 14 hits and benefited from eight walks.

Vermont snapped a 3-3 tie in the fourth, chasing Bears starter Jason Weymouth (1-2) by scoring six times. Jason Carey (3-for-4, 4 RBIs) had an RBI double in the inning.

Lefty Chris Blazek (4-2) wasn’t sharp, but battled his way through five innings. Bryan Rembisz also worked two hitless innings.

Barrett belted a solo homer and a single to lead UMaine, while Smith posted an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. Rossi singled three times for the Cats and Jay Iannoni added two singles and three RBIs.

BLACK BEARS 11, CATAMOUNTS 5

(Saturday’s First Game)

Vermont Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Rossi, lf 4 0 1 1 Creek, dh 5 1 4

Chapman, 2b 4 1 2 1 Cantara, rf 3 0 0

Carey, dh 3 0 0 0 Ostrander, rf 2 1 0

Brault, rf 4 1 0 0 Barrett, 1b 5 2 0

Magrass, 3b 3 0 0 1 Quintal, lf 4 2 0

Iannoni, 1b 3 0 0 0 Hough, cf 5 1 5

Naimoli, c 4 1 1 0 Smith, 3b 4 1 2

Massie, cf 3 1 2 0 Izaryk, c 4 2 0

Montanez, ss 4 1 2 1 Ferriggi, 2b 3 0 0

Vallee, ss 1 0 0 0

Gambale, ss 3 1 0 0

Totals 32 5 8 4 Totals 39 11 14 11

Vermont 111 000 020 – 5

Maine 010 120 70x – 11

E-Chapman (2), Magrass (11); Vallee (7); LOB-UVM 9; Maine 6; 2B-Chapman, Massie 2, Barrett, Quintal, Smith, Izaryk; HR-Creek (6), Hough (4), Smith (1); S-Chapman; Quintal; SF-Rossi

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Miller (L,4-2) 6 11 7 6 0 11

Miles 2/3 3 4 1 1 0

Rembisz 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 2

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Richard (W,6-0) 7 6 3 2 6 7

Martin 2 2 2 2 1 0

WP-Miller; Richard; PB-Izaryk 2; T-2:42

CATAMOUNTS 13, BLACK BEARS 4

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Vermont Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Rossi, lf 4 3 3 0 Creek, dh 4 0 0

Chapman, 2b 4 2 1 1 Ostrander, rf 4 0 0

Magrass, 3b 2 2 1 1 Barrett, 1b 4 2 1

Brault, rf 4 2 1 1 Quintal, lf 2 1 0

Carey, dh 4 3 3 4 Hough, cf 3 1 1

Iannoni, 1b 5 0 2 3 Smith, 3b 2 0 2

Naimoli, c 4 0 1 0 Pesanello, ph 1 0 0

Massie, cf 4 0 1 1 Gambale, ss 0 0 0

Montanez, ss 4 1 1 0 Rivera, ss 1 0 0

Totals 35 13 14 11 Totals 26 4 6 4

Vermont 102 600 4 – 13

Maine 300 010 0 – 4

E-Chapman (3); McGraw (6), Gambale (7); LOB-UVM 9; Maine 8; 2B-Magrass, Carey; Hough; HR-Barrett (6); DP-Barrett (una.); S-Gambale; SF-Smith; SB-Rossi 2 (7), Chapman (3), Brault (7), Carey (12)

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Blazek (W,4-2) 5 6 4 4 5 7

Rembisz 2 0 0 0 0 3

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Weymouth (L,1-2) 3 1/3 7 6 5 2 0

Brown 2/3 3 3 0 1 0

Zyskowski 3 4 4 3 4 5

HBP-Magrass by Weymouth; WP-Blazek; Weymouth, Brown, Zyskowski; PB-McGraw 2; T-2:52; ATT-446

BLACK BEARS 4, CATAMOUNTS 3

(Sunday Afternoon)

Vermont (19-13-1) Maine (25-12)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Rossi, lf 4 1 1 0 Creek, dh 5 0 0

Chapman, 2b 4 0 1 0 Smith, 3b 5 1 1

Carey, dh 4 2 2 1 Barrett, 1b 4 1 0

Brault, rf 4 0 1 1 Quintal, lf 4 0 0

Magrass, 3b 4 0 2 0 Hough, cf 4 2 1

Iannoni, 1b 4 0 0 0 Izaryk, c 3 0 0

Massie, cf 3 0 0 0 Ostrander, rf 3 0 0

Naimoli, c 4 0 1 0 Ferriggi, 2b 4 0 2

Gallipani, pr 0 0 0 0 Vallee, ss 4 0

Montanez, ss 4 0 0 0

Totals 35 3 8 2 Totals 36 4 12 4

Vermont 000 001 020 – 3

Maine 000 130 00x – 4

E-Montanez 2 (6), Norton (3), Ferriggi (7); LOB-UVM 6; Maine 12; 2B-Smith, Barrett, Hough 2; HR-Carey (3); Smith (2); DP-Magrass-Chapman-Iannoni; Smith-Barrett; S-Smith

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Serafin (L,5-1) 4 2/3 8 4 4 2 2

Smith 0* 1 0 0 0 0

Marsh 3# 3 0 0 0 1

Rembisz 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (W,7-2) 8 7 3 1 0 3

Robinson (S,7) 1 1 0 0 0 1

*-pitched to two batters in the fifth

#-pitched to five batters in the eighth

HBP-Massie by Norton; Ostrander by Smith, Barrett by Marsh; WP-Smith; T-2:32; ATT-260