Bears entering tourney in 2nd Seniors give coach 500th win

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ORONO – Despite gray skies, unseasonably cool temperatures, and a chilling wind, there were plenty of warm smiles to go around Saturday afternoon at Mahaney Diamond.

The University of Maine baseball team celebrated “Senior Day” by capping its regular season with a 6-5 victory over Binghamton to sweep the three-game series and secure the No. 2 seed for the America East tournament.

The Black Bears also gave Paul Kostacopoulos his 500th career coaching victory.

After the game, the players shared their joy by signing autographs then taking the field while 25 or so excited young fans took batting practice.

“I’m really happy for our three seniors, because there’s nothing like leaving the field that you’ve spent so much time on the winner,” Kostacopoulos said. “And they’re still out there.”

UMaine takes a 31-16 record (14-7 AE) into Thursday’s 7 p.m. first-round game against host Vermont (26-17, 14-7 AE) at Centennial Field in Burlington in the double-elimination tourney.

Regular-season champ Northeastern (25-20, 14-5 AE) faces Binghamton (23-24, 12-8 AE) in Thursday’s 3:30 p.m. opener.

“Sweeping [Saturday] was a huge thing to do,” said Joel Barrett of Brewer. “We’ve got a good state of mind going into the playoffs now.”

For seniors Greg Creek of Manchester, Aaron Izaryk, and Mike Ferriggi, it seemed a fitting end to their days at Mahaney Diamond.

“You have to really love baseball to play it here,” Creek said. “It’s miserable weather more than half the time, but I’ll miss it. I love playing in any weather at all.”

Ferriggi set the tone Saturday with three singles and two RBIs, while Creek added a double, a single, and an RBI.

“It’s been a while since I had a day like that,” Ferriggi said. “We needed it as a team, and I needed it today for my self-confidence, for the tournament. I think we’re pretty well-prepared, and we’re all very excited to get to Vermont and start playing.”

Kostacopoulos, who spent his first seven seasons at Providence College, is in his ninth year at UMaine. His teams are 500-326 (.605) overall, including a 280-192 mark in Orono.

“I don’t know when those 500 wins became mine. You’re just a part of what you do,” Kostacopoulos said. “I think it’s really more a reflection of having an opportunity to coach at two great schools over a 16-year period.”

Despite clinching Friday, the Bears didn’t seem to experience an emotional letdown. When the Bearcats scored twice in the top of the eighth to make it 5-5, UMaine quickly responded.

Reliever Khalid Afify (3-2) walked Joe Hough with one out and Creek followed with a hit-and-run single to right, sending Hough to third. Barrett plated the eventual winning run with a line-drive sacrifice fly to shallow right field.

Going on only four days’ rest, starter Greg Norton worked three innings in a tourney tuneup. Ryan Brown pitched a solid 3 2/3 innings, giving up only three hits and one earned run.

“He hasn’t logged a lot of innings for us and for him to come out and do a job like that, that was incredible,” Izaryk said.

Scott Robinson (2-1) surrendered the tying runs, but pitched 1 1/3 innings to earn the win. Troy Martin worked a perfect ninth to notch his fourth save.

Matt Simek paced the Bearcats with a double and two singles.

Binghamton took a 1-0 lead in the second with the help of an error, but the Bears tied it in the bottom half. Curt Smith walked and later scored on Ferriggi’s single past third.

The Bearcats made it 2-1 in the fourth on Jamie Boyer’s home run, but the hosts countered. Smith beat out an infield single and Matt McGraw reached on an error. Ferriggi squared to fake a bunt, then slashed a single to left to load the bases.

Ray Vallee and Hough pushed runs across with fielder’s choice grounders to give UMaine a 3-2 edge.

Each team tallied in the fifth, with Ferriggi posting an RBI single. The Bears added a run in the sixth on a pretty bunt single by Hough and Creek’s run-scoring double to deep center.

The Bearcats went back in front in the eighth against Robinson, who walked the first two batters, on Jeff Monaco’s RBI single and an Aaron Davis sacrifice fly.

BLACK BEARS 6, BEARCATS 5

Binghamton (23-24-1) Maine (31-16)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Ford, lf 4 0 1 0 Wough, cf 3 2 1

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

Hitchcock, 1b 3 1 0 0 Barrett, 1b 3 1

Bergeron, 3b 3 1 0 0 Quintal, lf 5 0 0

Smucker, ss 4 1 1 0 Izaryk, c 4 0 0

Monaco, rf 4 0 2 1 Smith, 3b 2 3 0

Davis, cf 3 0 0 1 McGraw, rf 4 1 0

Boyer, dh 4 1 1 1 Oatrander, rf 0 0 0

Haughie, c 2 0 0 0 Ferriggi, 2b 4 0 2

Darling, c 2 0 0 0 Vallee, ss 4 0 1

Totals 34 5 8 3 Totals 33 6 9 6

Binghamton 010 110 020 – 5

Maine 010 211 01x – 6

E-Bergeron, Smucker, Izaryk 2; LOB-Binghamton 6, Maine 10; 2B-Simek, Creek, Barrett; HR-Boyer; SF-Davis, Barrett; SB-Monaco

Binghamton IP H R ER BB SO

Van Gorder 5 6 4 3 4 3

Weglinski 2 2 1 1 0 1

Afify (L, 3-2) 1 1 1 1 1 0

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton 3 4 1 0 1 3

Brown 3 2/3 3 2 1 0 2

Robinson (W, 2-1) 1 1/3 1 2 2 0 4

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

HBP-Smith by Van Gorder; WP-Van Gorder; T-2:59; ATT-484