One win gives Maine NCAA berth

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BURLINGTON, Vt. – Centennial Field has been a frustrating venue for Greg Norton.

Two years ago, the righthander from South Portland anxiously awaited an America East tournament start, but never pitched as the University of Maine was eliminated in two games.

Last season, he was shelled in a regular season appearance here.

Norton finally broke the historic ballpark’s hex Friday afternoon, firing a six-hit shutout as UMaine beat Northeastern 12-0 in the second round of the America East tournament.

“I wouldn’t have thought this would have happened before the game, but the way it went, it’s something that you dream about doing,” Norton said. “It’s been a bad-luck field for me, so it’s good to get everything out of the way.”

Norton helped catapult coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ No. 2 Bears (33-16) into today’s championship round against No. 3 Vermont (28-18) at noon.

UMaine, which won its first two AE tourney games for the first time ever, needs one win against Vermont to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Vermont eliminated No. 1 Northeastern (26-23) 6-5 in 10 innings in Friday’s nightcap.

If the Bears lose today’s opener, it would force a 3:30 p.m. title game.

“We’re not worried about who we’re playing, we’re just going to focus on the game (Saturday), get a good night’s sleep and come back ready to play,” said Ryan Quintal, whose grand slam highlighted a seven-run eighth inning that broke the game open.

Norton (9-3), a junior from South Portland, was in control throughout. He allowed only six singles, striking out four and walking three, while throwing 113 pitches, 76 for strikes.

His second career complete game, only the second in UMaine conference tournament history, couldn’t have come at a better time for the Bears.

“He just did an incredible job,” Kostacopoulos said. “You talk about big-game pitchers, big-game performances: Today was a big-time performance.”

On May 16 in Orono, Norton blanked Northeastern for seven-plus innings and led 4-0 before allowing five runs in the eighth in a 7-4 loss. This time, he finished what he started.

“I knew my stuff was successful against them last time, so I felt confident,” Norton said. “I just kept reminding myself not to have that lapse, because it was pretty close until the end there.”

The Bears turned two double plays behind Norton, who didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until he issued two walks in the ninth.

UMaine’s pitching is set up well for today. Troy Martin, who worked 3 2/3 innings and threw 55 pitches Thursday night, likely will get the start. Jason Weymouth, Scott Robinson and Ryan Brown are among those waiting in the wings.

UMaine piled up 16 against the Huskies. Greg Creek of Manchester rapped a double and three singles for the Bears, who went 8-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

Cleanup hitter Quintal added two singles and finished with five RBIs. Leadoff man Joe Hough stroked three singles with two RBIs and Mike Ferriggi collected three singles.

“We’ve just got to go out (Saturday) and do the same thing,” Hough said. “We need to score often, score early, and give our pitching staff a chance.”

The game was very much in doubt with UMaine leading 3-0 going into the eighth inning, but the Bears finally got hot.

Curt Smith ignited the rally with a single and moved up on a wild pitch by loser Dave Pellegrine (5-3). Matt McGraw walked, then Ferriggi chopped an infield single toward shortstop.

Ray Vallee of Augusta followed with a run-scoring infield single, chasing Pellegrine, before Hough punched an RBI single to right and Joel Barrett walked to force in a run.

Quintal energized the Bears when he roped a low home run over the fence in right-center to make it 10-0.

“We’re feeling real good,” Quintal said. “We’ve got a lot of guys swinging the bat well and everybody’s working the count. Everybody’s hitting the ball hard.”

UMaine scored the only runs it would ultimately need back in the fifth inning after going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranding five runners over four innings.

Vallee walked, moved up on a groundout, then scored on Creek’s single to right. One out later, Quintal grounded an RBI single to center to make it 2-0.

Jeff Heriot singled twice for Northeastern.

BLACK BEARS 12, HUSKIES 0

Maine (33-16) Northeastern (26-22)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hough, cf 6 2 3 2 Emanuele, cf 4 0 0

Creek, dh 6 1 4 2 Sidhu, ss 4 0 0

Barrett, 1b 4 1 0 1 Heriot, rf 3 0 0

Quintal, lf 5 1 3 5 Bush, 3b 4 0 0

Cantara, ph 1 0 0 0 Paquette, 1b 3 0 0

Izaryk, c 3 0 1 0 Morizio, c 4 0 0

Smith, 3b 4 1 1 0 Milano, dh 3 0 0

McGraw, rf 3 2 0 0 Nutting, 2b 3 0 0

Ostrander, rf 0 0 0 0 Lyon, lf 3 0

Ferriggi, 1b 5 2 3 0

Vallee, ss 4 2 1 1

Totals 41 12 16 11 Totals 31 0 6 0

Maine 000 021 072 – 12

Northeastern 000 000 000 – 0

E-Heriot, Bush; LOB-Maine 2; Northeastern 7; 2B-Creek; HR-Quintal (6); DP-Sidhu-Paquette 2, Nutting-Paquette; Ferriggi-Vallee-Barrett, Barrett unassisted

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (W, 9-3) 9 6 0 0 3 4

Northeastern IP H R ER BB SO

Pellegrine (L, 5-3) 7 12 7 7 5 5

Madison 1/3 2 3 3 2 0

Piryk 1 2/3 2 2 1 0 1

HBP-McGraw by Pellegrine; WP-Pellegrine, Piryk; T-2:39