Bears miss opportunity to clinch playoff spot UMaine still needs one league victory

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ORONO – The quest for an America East tournament berth will come down to this week’s final regular-season series for the University of Maine baseball team.

The Black Bears had a chance Monday to clinch a spot, but Northeastern erupted for five runs in the eighth inning to pull out a 7-4 victory at soggy Mahaney Diamond.

UMaine, 28-16 overall and 11-7 in conference play, needs one win against Binghamton later this week to reach the America East’s four-team, double-elimination tourney.

Northeastern (22-20, 12-5) shares first place with Binghamton (23-20-1, 12-5 AE). Both have clinched postseason spots. Maine is tied for third place with Vermont.

The Bears, who have lost three of their last four contests, know they could have made things easier on themselves by winning Monday.

“We’re certainly not in a mode where the sky is falling,” Maine coach Paul Kostacopoulos said, “but I’m a big believer that you’ve got to capitalize on your opportunities and we missed one today. That’s the disappointing thing.”

The Bears appeared to be in command, having built a 4-0 lead for righthander Greg Norton. The junior from South Portland (8-3) shut out the Huskies on three hits through seven innings while throwing only 65 pitches.

Northeastern didn’t allow its offensive woes to continue.

In the eighth, Dan Milano worked a leadoff walk and Brian Nutting pulled a soft double down the left-field line. Number 9 hitter Mike Lyon followed with a hard infield single off the glove of Bears third baseman Curt Smith to load the bases.

“The eighth inning, we were dead in the dugout and coach [Neil McPhee] was flipping out,” said NU’s Tim Bush. “If your bottom of the order can get on base, set up your leadoff guys, then you get to the middle of the order.”

Chris Emanuele put the Huskies on the board with an RBI single to right, then Norton walked Arman Sidhu to force in a run. Jeff Heriot chased Norton with a ground-ball, two-run single to center field.

“Walking guys never helps you, but those ground balls I was getting, a couple went through,” said a disappointed Norton, who struck out seven and walked two. “They hit the pitches that were over the plate. Give them credit.”

Reliever Scott Robinson surrendered the go-ahead run on Bush’s single to left, then induced a double-play ball and recorded a strikeout.

NU tallied two more runs in the ninth to provide some insurance for winner Dave Pellegrine (5-2). The righty, who fanned eight and walked two, blanked UMaine on one hit and afforded the hosts only three baserunners from the fourth inning through the eighth.

“This was a big loss for us,” said UMaine’s Ryan Quintal. “We let this game slip away. I tip my cap to the opposing pitcher, he threw well.”

Bush, who singled three times for NU, pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out two, to earn his third save.

Aaron Izaryk doubled, singled and knocked in three runs for UMaine. Greg Creek and Quintal each singled twice.

UMaine scored twice in the first and third innings with two-out rallies.

In the first, Quintal singled to right and took second on a balk. After Joel Barrett walked, Izaryk hit a long double to left-center that tipped off Bush’s glove, scoring two runs.

In the third, Quintal singled and again advanced on balk. Barrett pounded a run-scoring double off the right-field fence, then Izaryk singled to right to make it 4-0.

UMaine managed only a leadoff single in the fifth by Greg Creek after that.

“Their pitcher picked it up in the middle innings, but our hitters needed to get at least one more run,” Izaryk said. “I think we get one or two more runs, the game’s a lot different.”

HUSKIES 7, BLACK BEARS 4

Northeastern (22-20) Maine (28-16)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Emanuele, cf 5 1 1 1 Creek, dh 3 0 0

Sidhu, ss 4 1 2 2 Hough, cf 4 0 0

Heriot, rf 5 0 2 3 Quintal, lf 4 2 0

Bush, 3b-p 4 0 3 1 Barrett, 1b 2 2 1

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

Morizio, c 4 0 0 0 Smith, 3b 4 0 0

Milano, dh 3 1 0 0 McGraw, rf 3 0 0

Maher, lf 0 0 0 0 Ostrander, rf 0 0 0

Nutting, 2b-3b 4 2 2 0 Cantara, ph 1 0

Lyon, lf-2b 3 2 1 0 Ferriggi, 2b 4 0 0

Vallee, ss 3 0 0 0

Totals 36 7 11 7 Totals 32 4 7 4

Northeastern 000 000 052 – 7

Maine 202 000 000 – 4

E-Ferriggi (9); LOB-NU 5; Maine 4; 2B-Nutting; Izaryk, Barrett; DP-Paquette-Sidhu-Paquette; Ferriggi-Barrett, Ferriggi-Vallee-Barrett

Northeastern IP H R ER BB SO

Pellegrine (W,5-2) 8 7 4 4 2 8

Bush (S,3) 1 0 0 0 0 2

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (L,8-3) 7 7 5 5 2 7

Robinson 2 4 2 2 1 2

HBP-Barrett by Pellegrine; WP-Robinson; BK-Pellegrine 2; T-2:30; ATT-52