Maine pitchers sparkle Black Bears stop rally by Quakers

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LANTANA, Fla. – Scott Robinson is closing in on University of Maine baseball’s all-time saves record.

Thursday night, coach Steve Trimper asked his senior righthander to make a rare start.

Robinson pitched seven strong innings and the Black Bears backed him and reliever Jason Weymouth with an 11-hit attack to earn a 10-5 victory over Pennsylvania in the Papa John’s Palm Beach Challenge.

UMaine (3-5) meets Penn (0-6) again tonight in a 6 o’clock game at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

Robinson (1-1), who is tied for third place on the school’s career saves list with 19, turned in what he thinks was the longest performance of his college career.

“You go out there to close, everything’s on the line and you’ve got to be perfect right off the bat, there’s no room for error,” he explained. “[As a starter] you can kind of relax a little bit and make sure you get into a groove.”

Robinson, who struck out seven and did not walk a batter, has been preparing during the offseason to be available as a starter or as a reliever.

“We needed Robby to fill that starter role,” Trimper said. “Whether he stays in it or not … he’s such a valuable closer for us, also. He did a great job.”

Ryan Quintal’s three-run triple highlighted a five-run eighth inning that gave Charleston’s Weymouth and the Bears some breathing room.

Brewer products Kevin McAvoy and Joel Barrett posted three hits each to spearhead the offense. McAvoy, a freshman, doubled with two singles and three RBIs, while junior Barrett stroked a tripled and two singles (1 RBI).

Joe Hough tripled and singled (2 RBIs) and Quintal doubled and singled.

Kyle Armeny paced Penn (10 hits) with a double, two singles, and an RBI.

The outcome was decided in the seventh inning when Robinson, who had breezed to that point, began to struggle a bit.

The Quakers threatened with table-setting singles by Josh Corn and Armeny and RBI singles by Tim May and Jim Farrell that cut the deficit to 5-3. Robinson got the second out when Ken-Ichi Hino was called out for interfering with catcher Sean Parker on a throw to second base.

However, a wild pitch and a balk pushed another run across and set the stage for Robinson’s final duel with leadoff hitter Joey Boaen, whom he had fanned in the sixth during a nine-pitch at-bat.

This time, Boaen spoiled a handful of pitches before Robinson finished him off with a nifty curveball that preserved the one-run lead.

“It seemed like he just couldn’t handle the curveball, so we just kind of went changeup, slider, changeup, slider, and all of a sudden we dropped the hook in there and it froze him,” Robinson said.

Weymouth, a lefthander, came in and held the lead in the eighth, which helped the Bears hang onto the psychological edge.

“The biggest thing that Jason did tonight, he gave the momentum back to us,” Trimper said. “He goes out and shuts the door in the eighth and, all of a sudden, you see our hitters go ‘OK’ and ‘whack!'”

UMaine chased Penn starter Brian Cirri (0-2) with a game-clinching, five-run outburst. Danny Menendez and Hough had run-scoring singles, but Quintal’s two-out, three-run double down the left field line was the clincher.

“It was nice to see Quintal bust out. He came up with a big hit,” Trimper said.

The Bears jumped on Cirri for four runs in the first. Matt McGraw drew a one-out walk, Barrett grounded a single to left, and Quintal loaded the bases with a single to center.

The first run came home on a wild pitch, then Cirri walked Curt Smith to load the bases. One out later, McAvoy fell behind 0-2 before lacing a double down the line in right that cleared the bases and made it 4-0.

“He left a fastball right outside and I just went with it, did what I could with it,” said McAvoy, who leads the Bears with a .474 batting average (9-for-19).

Penn scored a run in the second on singles by Tony Moses and Armeny and a fielder’s choice grounder by May.

The Bears made it 5-1 in the fifth when Hough hit a high, fly-ball triple to right with one out and eventually scored on Barrett’s single to center.

BLACK BEARS 10, QUAKERS 5

(Thursday Night)

Penn (0-6) Maine (3-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Boaen, cf 5 0 2 0 Hough, cf 5 2 1

Nwaka, ss 4 0 1 0 McGraw, dh 2 2 0

Abate, 1b 4 0 0 0 Barrett, 1b 5 1 1

Corn, c 4 1 1 0 Quintal, lf 4 1 3

Moses, rf 3 2 1 0 Smith, ss 4 1 0

Armeny, lf 4 1 3 1 Brown, rf 4 0 0

May, dh 4 1 1 2 McAvoy, 3b 4 1 3

Farrell, 3b 4 0 1 1 Parker, c 4 1 0

Hino, 2b 3 0 0 0 Menendez, 2b 4 1 1

Totals 35 5 10 4 Totals 36 10 11 9

Penn 010 000 301 – 5

Maine 400 010 05x – 10

E-Nwaka, Abate; LOB-Penn 5, Maine 7; 2B-Boaen, Armeny; Quintal, McAvoy; 3B-Hough, Barrett

Penn IP H R ER BB SO

Cirri (L, 0-2) 7 1/3 10 9 6 4 4

Wallace 2/3 1 1 0 0 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Robinson (W, 1-1) 7 9 4 4 0 7

Weymouth (S, 1) 2 1 1 1 2 3

HBP-McGraw, by Wallace; WP-Cirri, Wallace; Robinson; BK-Robinson; T-2:36; ATT-82