BURLINGTON, Vt. – The University of Maine baseball team arrived dreading the prospect of playing the America East tournament at Centennial Field.

After Thursday, the Black Bears will be thrilled to even get that opportunity.

Vermont rallied twice in the late innings Thursday for a doubleheader sweep of Maine, clinching the league regular-season title and the right to host the tournament.

The Catamounts won the nine-inning opener 7-6 and took an 11-5 decision in the second game, which was played a day early because of a rainy weather forecast.

While Vermont (18-30, 16-6 AE) goes into today’s 1 p.m. doubleheader confident and relaxed, coach Steve Trimper’s UMaine team (30-20-1, 11-9 AE) could wind up missing the tournament altogether.

“[Coach Trimper] told us to keep our heads up, just letting us know he’s not giving up on any of us and we shouldn’t give up on ourselves,” said senior Joe Hough. “The best thing about baseball is we’ve got [Friday].”

UMaine is without senior co-captain Ryan Quintal, who has been suspended from the team for undisclosed violations of the UMaine student-athlete code of conduct.

Both games featured a playoff atmosphere and it was Vermont that responded. The Bears’ bullpen was shaky and UMaine failed to come up with enough clutch hits.

In the nightcap, UMaine led 5-4 going into the sixth. Reliever Jason Weymouth allowed a leadoff single by Jeff Nolet, who was sacrificed to second. Eventual loser Mike Powers (3-3) came on and sandwiched walks around an RBI single by Kyle Massie that made it 5-5.

Powers gave way to Troy Martin, who surrendered an RBI single to Jason Carey. Jim Chapman then hit what appeared to be a double-play ball, but second baseman Danny Menendez threw wide of Curt Smith at second and allowed two runs to score.

Kyle Brault, who had homered twice in the game, was walked intentionally. Bryan Rembisz lined a two-run double to right to give UVM a five-run cushion.

“All year we’ve been winning games on hitting and we really need our guys to pitch well in order to win baseball games,” Trimper said. “We just didn’t pitch well down the stretch.”

UMaine has lost nine of its last 13 games.

Vermont lefthander Joe Serafin (5-3) allowed four runs in the first two innings, then settled down to allow only one hit over the last five frames. He struck out 10 and walked two.

Joel Barrett led the Bears with two singles, while Kevin McAvoy posted an RBI single and Smith two RBIs without a hit.

Brault slammed two homers and a single (three RBIs), all off UMaine starter Josh Zyskowski. Nolet hit a solo homer and a single, while Carey singled twice.

In the opener, the Catamounts mounted a three-run, two-out rally in the eighth, then held on.

UMaine, which had scored single runs in the seventh and eighth to tie it 4-4, watched things unravel after two were out in the eighth. Reliever A.J. Balsinde (1-3) struck out the first two batters, but then couldn’t find the strike zone.

The freshman walked Massie and Will Huntington, then hit Carey with a pitch to load the bases. Balsinde walked in a run before Brault ripped a two-run single to left that provided the margin of victory.

“They’re young men and they’re very impressionable people, so when I talked to them [after the game], it was about getting mentally prepared for [Friday],” Trimper said. “We have to win a game or two down the stretch here.”

Bears hitters went 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-9 in the first three innings against UVM starter Brandon Miles (3-4), who limited the Bears to five hits and three runs in seven innings.

Trailing 7-4, UMaine scored twice in the ninth off closer Chris Marsh on Hough’s single, a wild pitch, an error, Barrett’s single, and two hit batsmen. However, Marsh struck out Sean Parker and pinch hitter Mark Ostrander to end the game.

UVM scored four times in the first off Scott Robinson, keyed by Matt Naimoli’s two-run single. The senior shook off a shaky start and worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings.

UMaine cut the deficit to 4-2 in the third on Smith’s RBI single made it 4-3 in the seventh on McGraw’s sacrifice fly. The Bears tied it in the eighth on a single by McAvoy.

CATAMOUNTS 7, BLACK BEARS 6

(First Game)

Maine Vermont

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hough, cf 4 3 3 0 Carey, lf 4 2 0

McGraw, rf 3 1 0 1 Chapman, ss 3 1 2

Barrett, 1b 3 0 1 0 Brault, rf 3 1 2

Smith, ss 4 1 2 2 Rembisz, 2b 4 0 0

McAvoy, dh 4 0 1 2 Nolet, 1b 3 1 0

Parker, c 5 0 1 0 Magrass, dh 4 0 0

Cather, lf 2 0 0 0 Naimoli, c 4 0 2

Brown, lf 2 0 0 0 Massie, 3b 3 1 1

Ostrander, ph 1 0 0 0 Huntington, cf 3 0

Menendez, 2b 4 0 1 0

Hackett, 3b 3 1 0 0

Totals 35 6 9 5 Totals 31 7 11 7

Maine 101 000 112 – 6

Vermont 400 000 03x – 7

E-McGraw; Chapman, Massie; LOB-Maine 10, Vermont 9; 2B-Hough 2 (9), Parker (7); Chapman (15); DP-Maine 1, Vermont 2; S-Chapman, Rembisz; SF-McGraw; SB-Hough (22), McGraw 2 (14), Smith (19); Carey (9)

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Robinson 6 1/3 10 3 3 5 5

Weymouth 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

Balsinde (L, 1-3) 1 0 3 3 3 3

Martin 1/3 1 0 0 0 0

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Miles 7 5 3 3 5 5

Bayer (W, 2-8) 1 2 1 1 0 2

Marsh (S, 4) 1 2 2 1 0 2

HBP-Smith, McAvoy (by Marsh); Carey (by Balsinde); WP-Robinson; Miles, Bayer, Marsh; T-2:54

CATAMOUNTS 11, BLACK BEARS 5

(Second Game)

Maine (30-20-1) Vermont (18-30)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hough, cf 3 1 1 0 Carey, lf 4 2 1

McGraw, rf 4 1 1 1 Chapman, ss 4 1 1

Barrett, 1b 3 1 2 0 Brault, rf 3 3 3

Smith, ss 3 1 0 2 Rembisz, 2b 4 0 2

McAvoy, dh 4 0 1 1 Nolet, 1b 3 1 1

Parker, c 2 0 0 0 Gallipani, cf 1 1 1

Menendez, 2b 3 0 0 0 Magrass, dh 1 0 0

Hackett, 3b 2 0 0 0 Fagan, ph 1 0 0

Cather, lf 3 1 1 0 Naimoli, c 1 1 0

Massie, 3b 3 1 2 1

Huntington, cf 2 0 1 0

Iannoni, 1b 0 1 0 0

Totals 27 5 6 4 Totals 27 11 11 10

Maine 220 010 0 – 5

Vermont 110 027 x – 11

E-Menendez; Chapman, Nolet; LOB-Maine 6, Vermont 4; 2B-Rembisz; HR-Brault 2 (11), Nolet (2); S-Magrass; SF-Smith; SB-Hough (23); McGraw (15)

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Zyskowski 4 2/3 7 4 4 1 3

Weymouth 2/3 1 1 1 0 0

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

Martin 2/3 2 3 1 1 0

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Serafin (W, 5-3) 7 6 5 5 2 10

HBP-Parker by Serafin 2, Hough by Serafin 2, Magrass by Zyskowski 2, ; WP-Serafin; T-2:04; ATT-223