Pitching key as Husson, UMF split Nason, Hemdal effective

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BANGOR – Runs were scarce at the Winkin Baseball Complex Wednesday afternoon as two run-deprived offenses were effectively shut down by quality pitching.

Husson College and the University of Maine-Farmington combined for five runs in a split of their North Atlantic Conference doubleheader.

Junior righthander Dan Hemdal and sophomore reliever Brian Morrison combined on a three-hitter in UMF’s 2-0 win in the nightcap after senior righty Keith Nason hurled a four-hitter in Husson’s 2-1 opening-game victory.

“We really needed to get a win,” said UMF junior catcher Tyler Hanson, whose run-scoring double delivered the game-winning run in the first inning of the second game.

“That hit was huge. It makes it easier to come out and pitch and play defense,” said Hemdal, who allowed two hits in six-plus innings with six walks and six strikeouts. He threw 112 pitches, 61 for strikes.

“My curve worked pretty well and I used my fastball when I needed to,” said Hemdal. “I was wild in the middle of the game but, luckily, the defense backed me up.”

Hemdal was cruising with one out in the fourth and a 2-0 lead when he walked two straight on eight pitches. One out later, Chris Maguire broke up his no-hit bid with an infield single to load the bases.

He went to 3-0 on Andrew Patterson before throwing a strike and then jamming him with an inside fastball resulting in a groundout to third.

“That was a heck of a pitch,” acknowledged Patterson.

Patterson singled to open the seventh but Morrison came on to induce a double-play grounder and he eventually pitched out of a two-on, two-out jam.

“[Hemdal] threw a lot of curves and kept us off-balance. We hit a lot of weak ground balls,” said Husson leadoff hitter Ethan Guerette.

Husson freshman lefty Ryan Arsenault was the hard-luck loser, scattering six hits over seven innings with two walks, two hit batsmen and three strikeouts.

Husson (9-18 overall, 2-4 NAC) has been shut out in three of Arsenault’s starts in which he has surrendered a total of just four runs.

UMF (3-9, 3-5) took a 1-0 lead in the first when Penobscot’s Phineas Peake lined a single to left, was sacrificed to second by Ryan Schmelzer and eventually scored on Hanson’s ringing double to left.

“It was an inside pitch and I turned on it and got a good piece of the bat on it,” said Hanson.

In the third, Arsenault hit Russ Schmelzer and Corey Provencher with curves, Hanson singled and Josh Garneau lined a sacrifice fly to right.

In the opener, Nason outdueled lefty Craig Pendleton with Tom Crews and Dennis Graham providing the offense.

Nason struck out five and walked two. He threw 61 strikes among 99 pitches.

“My fastball was pretty consistent and I was able to locate it. I couldn’t spot my curve so I went with some changeups,” said Glenburn’s Nason.

“He threw his fastball at the right times in the count and he had a pretty good curve,” said Hanson. “He kept us off-balance.”

Crews ripped a triple to left-center and scored on Graham’s two-out single down the left-field line in the first and then doubled to deep left in the third and scored on Graham’s two-out double to left-center.

“The single came off an inside curve. I was able to keep my hands back,” said Graham. “The double came off a [splitter] that was up in the zone.”

Pendleton said on both of Graham’s hits, “the ball didn’t drop as much as I wanted it to.”

Dan Stefanilo’s two-out single produced UMF’s run in the fourth.

Pendleton allowed six hits and two runs in six innings.

He struck out five and walked one.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

990-8231

EAGLES 2, BEAVERS 1

(First Game)

UM-Farmington Husson

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Peake, cf 3 0 1 0 Guerette, ss 3 0 0

Schmelzer, lf 3 0 1 0 Crews, cf 3 0

Provencher, ss 3 1 1 0 Arthers, lf 3 0

Hanson, c 2 0 0 0 Graham, dh 3 0 2

Garneau, 3b 3 0 0 0 Miller, rf 2 0 0

Shea, 2b 2 0 0 0 Maguire, 3b 3 0 0

Stefanilo, 1b 3 0 1 1 Patterson, 1b 2 0

Cummons, dh 3 0 0 0 Cushing, 2b 2 0 0

Dean, rf 3 0 0 0 McGinley, c 2 0 0

Totals 25 1 4 1 Totals 23 2 6 2

UM-F 000 100 0 – 1

Husson 101 000 x – 4

E-Maguire; LOB-UMF 6, Husson 5; 2B-Crews, Graham; 3B-Guerette, Crews; SB-Peake, Schmelzer, Provencher

UM-Farmington IP H R ER BB SO

Pendleton (L,1-1) 6 6 2 2 1 5

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Nason (W,2-4) 7 4 1 1 2 5

HBP- Hanson (by Nason); Patterson (by Pendleton) T- 1:25

BEAVERS 2, EAGLES 0

(Second Game)

UM-Farmington (3-9) Husson (9-18)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Peake, cf 3 1 1 0 Guerette, ss 3 0 0

Schmelzer, lf 2 1 0 0 Crews, cf 4 0

Provencher, ss 3 0 2 0 Arthers, lf 2 0

Hanson, c 3 0 2 1 Graham, dh 1 0 0

Garneau, 3b 1 0 0 1 Shannon, dh 0 0 0

Shea, 2b 3 0 0 0 Miller, rf 2 0 0

Stefanilo, 1b 3 0 0 0 Maguire, 3b 3 0

Morrison, dh-p 3 0 1 0 Patterson, 1b 3 0

Dean, rf 3 0 0 0 Frail, pr 0 0 0

Cushing, 2b 3 0 0 McGinley, c 1 0 0 0

York, ph 1 0 1 0

Totals 24 2 6 2 Totals 23 0 3 0

UMF 101 000 0 – 2

Husson 000 000 0 – 0

E-Provencher; 2B-Provencher, Hanson; LOB-UMF 7, Husson 8;DP-UMF 1; S-Schmelzer; SF-Garneau; SB- Peake, Schmelzer, Garneau

UM-Farmington IP H R ER BB SO

Hemdal (W,2-1) 6 2 0 0 6 6

Morrison (S,1) 1 1 0 0 0 0

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Arsenault (L,0-4) 7 6 2 2 2 3

HBP-Schmelzer, Provencher (by Arsenault); T-1:55; ATT-100 (est.)