BANGOR – Husson College threw its two top pitchers Friday night, while the University of Maine utilized a pair of lesser-used righthanders.

The result was a tremendous pitchers’ duel at the Winkin Complex.

UMaine and Husson battled evenly for nearly 31/2 hours, but Aaron Izaryk pulled an RBI single to right field in the 14th inning to lift the Division I Black Bears to a 4-3 victory over the Division III Eagles.

“I’ll tell you what, those guys played a hell of a game over there,” Hough said of the Eagles. “As long as I’ve been here, they’ve played tough for about four or five innings and our bats usually get going, but their pitchers pitched an excellent game.”

Sophomore righthander Justin Bishop (2-0) pitched six innings of four-hit, shutout relief to earn the win for the 23-11 Bears. It was the longest outing of his collegiate career.

“You don’t know when you’re coming in; you just do your best,” Bishop said of his relief role. “I just had to keep concentration and the team helped me out, did a really good job of playing defense.”

Freshman John Tesseyman worked a career-long seven innings (four hits, two earned runs) in a quality start for UMaine. Scott Robinson pitched the final inning to earn his sixth save of the season.

“That was a great performance by both of them [Tesseyman and Bishop],” said UMaine coach Paul Kostacopoulos. “They haven’t had many opportunities and they went out there and really pitched.”

Husson (23-15) also received tremendous pitching performances from two of its top hurlers. Starter Mike Cowperthwaite handcuffed the Bears on six hits through five innings, then Bob Webber worked the next 8 1/3, shutting out UMaine for eight-plus.

Both got their breaking pitches over for strikes consistently and didn’t give the Bears many fastballs to hit.

“Their pitchers actually did a really nice job of keeping us off-balance,” said Hough, who paced UMaine with a double, three singles, and an RBI. “I can’t even remember a fastball I hit all day.”

UMaine finally solved Webber in the top of the 14th, his ninth inning of work.

Hough lined a leadoff double to right-center and Izaryk plated him with a clutch single. Mike Ferriggi chased Webber with a hard single past third base. Barrett Dionne came on and walked Ray Vallee, but retired the next two batters.

Husson made a final bid in the 14th when Robinson walked pinch hitter Danny White and Adam Sheehan faked a bunt then slashed a single to right. Henderson bunted the runners over with his third straight sacrifice, but Robinson struck out Aaron Brideau and former teammate Jason Harvey to wrap up the victory.

“We had a lot of chances to win that game and we just didn’t get the clutch hits,” said Husson coach John Winkin.

“That was a great college game,” he added. “Obviously, you’re pleased when you go against a Division I team and you play well.”

Ryan Quintal and Izaryk singled twice each for the Bears, while Brideau and Sheehan each singled twice for Husson. Justin Spencer had two RBIs.

The game was tied 3-3 from the sixth inning on, but the Eagles had chances to win it in the 10th and 12th innings as well as the 14th.

In the 10th, Sheehan drew a leadoff walk and moved up on Henderson’s sacrifice. Bishop walked Brideau, but induced Harvey and Spencer to pop out.

UMaine had precious few threats, managing only four baserunners from the seventh through the 13th.

In the 12th, Sheehan singled, was sacrificed over, and took third on a roller to the mound. However, Bishop induced a Brideau comebacker and fanned Harvey to escape the jam.

BLACK BEARS 4, EAGLES 3

(14 innings)

Maine (23-11) Husson (23-15)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smith, 3b 5 0 0 1 Brideau, lf 6 2 0

McGraw, c 1 0 0 0 Harvey, ss 5 0 0

Creek, dh 7 1 1 0 Spencer, cf 5 0 2

Barrett, 1b 6 0 0 0 Brawn, dh 5 0 1

Quintal, lf 5 1 2 0 Mathieu, 1b 4 0 0

Hough, cf 6 1 4 1 Cousineau, pr 0 0 0

Cantara, rf 6 0 1 1 Patterson, 1b 2 0 0

Ostrander, rf 0 0 0 0 McInnis, rf 6 0

Izaryk, c-3b 6 1 2 1 Kane, c 5 0 0 0

Ferriggi, 2b 6 0 2 0 White, ph 0 0 0

Gambale, ss 2 0 0 0 Sheehan, 3b 5 0 0

Vallee, ss 3 0 1 0 Henderson, 2b 3 1 0

Totals 53 4 13 4 Totals 46 3 9 3

Maine 000 111 000 000 01 – 4

Husson 002 010 000 000 00 – 3

E-Gambale 2 (7); Harvey; LOB-Maine 10; Husson 11; 2B-Ferriggi, Creek, Vallee, Hough; Henderson, Harvey; DP-Gambel-Ferriggi-Barrett, Vallee-Ferriggi-Barrett; S-Henderson 3; SF-Brawn; SB-Hough (20)

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Tesseyman 7 4 3 2 3 6

Bishop (W, 2-0) 6 4 0 0 2 1

Robinson (S, 6) 1 1 0 0 1 2

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Cowperthwaite 5 6 2 2 0 1

Webber (L, 4-4) 6 1/3 7 2 2 0 2

Dionne 2/3 0 0 0 1 0

HBP-Quintal by Webber; T-3:30; ATT-150 (est.)