Boike, Robinson help Black Bears pick up first win

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Sophomore lefthander Nolan Boike pitched six strong innings and senior righthander Scott Robinson closed with nine straight outs to give the Maine baseball team its first win of the season, 7-1, over St. Bonaventure Monday.

Boike scattered six hits while not walking a batter and striking out one to earn the victory.

“He hit his spots a little more [than the last game],” Maine coach Steve Trimper said. “He relaxed a bit and threw strikes.”

Trimper added that Boike showed good control and all of his pitches – fastball, curve and changeup – were working well and produced groundball outs.

The Bears, now 1-4, had been putting some pressure on themselves because they were eager for their first victory, Trimper said.

“I told the kids to relax a bit more. The wins will come,” he said. “I think they all took a sigh of relief today and said ‘let’s go.'”

Robinson came on to strike out four of the nine batters he faced and recorded his 16th career save as a Black Bear. He is now tied for third on the school’s all-time saves list with Marc Powers (1984-87).

Robinson is Maine’s top reliever, but will get some starts in Florida, Trimper said, because the Bears have to go to a six-man rotation during their 16-game tri p in Florida.

He’ll start Thursday’s game against Penn.

The Bears received all the runs they would need with a four-run fourth inning on a two-run triple by sophomore Curt Smith and a two-run home run by sophomore Frank Pesanello. Smith’s triple scored Mark Ostrander, who had singled and Joel Barrett, who followed with a walk.

“We played extremely well offensively [Sunday] against Seton Hall,” Trimper said. “That’s two days in a row now that we’ve hit the ball really well. We’ve got some quality at-bats, have been moving guys over and driving guys in.”

Maine added two runs in the seventh on Barrett’s two-run single and another run in the eighth on Danny Menendez’s RBI single.

Maine plays St. Bonaventure again today at noon.

St. Bonaventure (0-2) 010 000 000 – 1 6 5

Maine (1-4) 000 400 21x – 7 8 1

Williams, Agostinelli (6) and Grap; Boike, Robinson (7) and Pesanello, Parker