ORONO – The players must have felt as though they were caught in an episode of “The Twilight Zone” Thursday night at Mahaney Diamond.

Stony Brook and the University of Maine outlasted a postponed starting time, pouring rain, a lengthy rain delay, and dense fog before the Seawolves emerged with a bizarre 3-1 America East baseball victory.

“That was a weird night,” summed up UMaine coach Steve Trimper, who made his home coaching debut. “Things just didn’t go our way.”

UMaine slipped to 17-10-1, 3-1 in league play, while Stony Brook improved to 10-17 and 2-2, respectively, heading into today’s 4 p.m. doubleheader (two seven-inning games).

Thursday’s contest, originally scheduled for a 4 p.m. start, was pushed back to 6:30 when rain delayed field preparations. Everything started out OK until steady rain forced the umpires to halt the game in the top of the fourth inning with the Seawolves leading 3-1.

When the game resumed an hour and 38 minutes later, fog gradually began to envelop the facility. At first it seemed only to obscure the outfielders’ view of fly balls. By the end of the seventh inning, it was impossible to even see the outfielders from behind home plate.

“We had a hard time seeing the shortstop from the dugout,” Trimper admitted.

“Both coaches were kind of looking at each other like, what are we doing here?” he said.

At the end of the eighth inning, with visibility severely limited, home plate umpire Dan Deschaies ordered a halt to the proceedings to see whether the fog would lift. It didn’t.

The game was called at 10:56 p.m. – four hours, 26 minutes after it began.

“Finally, Dan said, ‘I think it’s unsafe.’ He made the right call,” Trimper said.

Stony Brook righthander Tom Koehler (2-2) limited UMaine to four hits through seven innings and overcame the effects of the rain delay to earn the victory. Koehler shut down the potent Black Bears lineup, striking out two and walking three, before Gary Novakowski worked a scoreless eighth to earn a save.

“Their guy did a great job,” Trimper said. “This is the one game out of the 28 we’ve played that we didn’t lay off breaking balls outside the zone.”

Trailing 1-0, the Seawolves scored three times in the fourth after two were out as the rain began to come down hard.

Jon Pasieka lined a double down the right field line, moved up on a flyout, and scored when UMaine starter Nolan Boike (4-1) uncorked an 0-2 fastball for a wild pitch.

“He lost the grip and threw a ball about seven feet over the catcher’s head, which killed us,” Trimper said. “He’s one pitch away [from being out of trouble] right there.”

Peter Milani delivered a run-scoring single to left, Chris DiBiaso singled to center, and Tom Pennino followed with a hard RBI single to right that gave the Seawolves a 3-1 lead.

Before the visitors could do further damage, the umpires suspended the game.

Shortly thereafter, UMaine players pulled the tarp onto the field. Fifty-five minutes later, the Bears emerged from the clubhouse and removed it.

The game finally resumed at 9:08 p.m. when Troy Norton came on in relief of Boike. With runners at first and second, he struck out Chris Cruz to end the inning.

DiBiaso’s two singles led the way for Stony Brook, which collected seven hits.

The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the first when Matt McGraw lined a single to center with one out, then stole second and took third when catcher Pasieka’s throw sailed into center field.

Joel Barrett delivered the run with a sacrifice fly to right.

Norton pitched out of trouble in the fifth, fanning two batters with a runner on third.

UMaine managed two baserunners in the fifth and got the leadoff man aboard in the sixth but was unable to convert.

The Bears threatened again in the seventh with one out when Kevin McAvoy reached on a hot smash single off the first baseman. He moved to second on a wild pitch but was left stranded.

With the fog consuming Mahaney Diamond in the eighth, Stony Brook threatened to score some insurance runs. Andres Perez ripped a leadoff single to center and took second on a groundout. Martin then hit Milani, but responded by striking out DiBiaso.

SEAWOLVES 3, BLACK BEARS 1

Stony Brook (10-17) Maine (17-10-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Sipp, 2b 3 0 1 0 Hough, cf 3 0 0

Pasieka, c 2 1 1 0 McGraw, dh 3 1 0

Perez, cf 4 0 1 0 Barrett, 1b 2 0 1

Fortuna, dh 3 1 0 0 Quintal, lf 3 0 0

Leonard, rf 3 0 0 0 Smith, ss 3 0 0

Milani, lf 3 1 1 1 McAvoy, 3b 3 0 0

DiBiaso, ss 4 0 2 0 Menendez, 2b 3 0 0

Pennino, 1b 3 0 1 1 Parker, c 2 0 0

Cruz, 3b 3 0 0 0 Cather, rf 3 0 0

Totals 28 3 7 2 Totals 25 1 3 1

Stony Brook 000 300 00 – 3

Maine 100 000 00 – 1

E-Pasieka; Martin; LOB-Stony Brook 7; Maine 5; 2B-Pasieka; DP-Stony Brook 1; Maine 2; S-Pasieka; SF-Barrett; SB-Hough; McGraw

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Koehler (W,2-2) 7 3 1 0 3 2

Novakowski (S,2) 1 0 0 0 0 2

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Boike (L,3-1) 3 2/3 4 3 3 3 1

Martin 4 1/3 3 0 0 1 4

HBP-Milani (by Martin), McGraw (by Novakowski); WP-Koehler; Boike; T-4:25; ATT-167