ORONO – The University of Maine came into its first home baseball series of the season riding a wave of offensive momentum.

Even after the bats cooled off considerably, the Black Bears were still able to claim two conference victories Friday.

Four UMaine pitchers combined to allow only four runs as the Bears swept an America East doubleheader from Stony Brook at Mahaney Diamond.

UMaine won both games by identical 3-2 scores, improving to 19-10-1, 5-1 in league play.

“You’ve got good teams playing and they’ve got great pitching,” said UMaine coach Steve Trimper. “I think that those pitchers they ran at us were the best arms we’ve seen since we played at Ole Miss.”

In the nightcap, senior Joe Hough singled up the middle with two outs in the seventh inning to lift the Bears.

Kevin McAvoy of Brewer led with a single and advanced on Danny Menendez’s sacrifice bunt. After Bobby Brown was walked intentionally and Billy Cather flied out, Hough scorched a 2-0 pitch through the legs of Stony Brook reliever Nick Abel (1-2).

“I didn’t have a hit in the three games [yet], so it was nice,” Hough said. “Luckily, I just got one up the middle. It was nice to contribute to the win.”

Junior righthander Josh Zyskowski (2-0), originally scheduled to start today’s 1 p.m. game, got the call in relief of freshman Mike Powers with two on and one out in the bottom of the third inning. He induced an inning-ending double-play grounder, then limited Stony Brook (10-19, 2-4 AE) to three hits the rest of the way.

Zyskowski struck out six and walked only one.

“I had to get myself mentally prepared,” Zyskowski said. “The fastball wasn’t working very well, but I got them with the slider a couple times.”

The Bears took a 2-0 lead in the first against starter Mike Errigo, who was lifted after the inning because of an injury.

Matt McGraw drew a one-out walk and Joel Barrett of Brewer sliced a double to right. Ryan Quintal’s smash off the pitcher brought home the first run, then Curt Smith made it 2-0 with a bad-hop infield single.

Stony Brook made it 2-2 in the third as Cruz singled to right, moved up on two wild pitches, and scored on a passed ball. Chris Sipp walked, advanced on Jon Pasieka’s sacrifice bunt, took third on a single by Andres Perez, and scored on a two-out error by Barrett.

Trimper pulled a struggling Powers and opted to bring in his No. 4 starter in relief.

Zyskowski kept the Seawolves off balance by changing speeds well and spotting his pitches.

“Zyskowski did a great job,” Trimper said. “We’ve got like an 80 percent chance of rain coming in, so once Powers lost it a little bit, we said, let’s try to keep this game where it is and get this win.”

Stony Brook threatened in the sixth when Robert Leonard lashed a one-out double to left-center and Zyskowski walked pinch hitter Brian Witkowski. Zyskowski induced consecutive groundouts to escape the jam.

Reliever Kris Bakey limited UMaine to two hits and a run in 5 1/3 strong innings.

In the opener, Scott Robinson and Troy Martin combined on a six-hitter. Robinson struck out five and walked one in five innings, while Martin fanned two in his two innings.

UMaine scored three runs in the bottom of the first off starter Matt Restivo (0-5) and the senior pitching duo made them stand up.

Robinson (5-2) limited Stony Brook to two runs and six hits through five innings. He gave way to Martin, who worked two scoreless innings for his first save of the year.

Martin had pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in Thursday night’s 3-1 loss.

The Bears capitalized on Restivo’s early struggles. He walked Hough and McGraw to open the game, then Barrett made it 1-0 with a single to left.

One out later, Smith slammed a hit-and-run RBI single to right-center, and McAvoy followed with a sacrifice fly.

“It was a great day, a good crowd, and I was throwing pretty well,” Robinson offered.

“It’s always easy as a pitcher when you get three right off the bat and you can kind of settle in and find your niche, find your groove, and go from there,” he said.

The Seawolves got a run back in the third when No. 9 batter Chris Cruz cranked a high home run to left field.

They scored again in the fourth when Isidro Fortuna lined a leadoff double, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch. Peter Milani and Chris DiBiaso followed with two-out singles.

Tom Pennino then ripped a single to right, but Mark Ostrander threw out Milani at the plate to end the inning and preserve the one-run lead.

“He’s got a strong arm,” Trimper said. “It was a game-saving throw right there.”

Restivo held UMaine in check after the first, giving up only four hits over the next 4 2/3 innings before Gary Novakowski recorded the final out.

BLACK BEARS 3, SEAWOLVES 2

(First Game)

Stony Brook Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

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

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

Didsbury, ph 1 0 0 0 Barrett, 1b 3 1 1

Perez, cf 3 0 0 0 Quintal, lf 3 0 0

Fortuna, dh 3 1 2 0 Cather, lf 0 0 0

Leonard, rf 3 0 0 0 Smith, ss 3 0 1

Witkowski, rf 0 0 0 0 McAvoy, 3b 2 1

Milani, lf 2 0 1 0 Menendez, 2b 2 0 0

DiBiaso, ss 3 0 1 0 Ostrander, rf 2 0 0

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

Cruz, 3b 3 1 1 1

Totals 27 2 6 1 Totals 21 3 6 3

Stony Brook 001 100 0 – 2

Maine 300 000 x – 3

E-McAvoy (13); Menendez (3); LOB-SBU 6, Maine 5; 2B-Fortuna; Barrett; HR-Cruz (1); S-Milani; SF-McAvoy; SB-Fortuna (2); Smith (9)

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Restivo (L, 0-5) 5 2/3 6 3 3 4 5

Novakowski 1/3 0 0 0 0 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Robinson (W, 5-2) 5 6 2 2 1 5

Martin (S, 1) 2 0 0 0 0 2

WP-Robinson 2; T-2:04; ATT-380

BLACK BEARS 3, SEAWOLVES 2

(Second Game)

Stony Brook (10-19) Maine (19-10-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Sipp, 2b 3 1 1 0 Hough, cf 4 0 1

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

Perez, cf 4 0 2 0 Parker, c 0 0 0

Fortuna, dh 3 0 0 1 Barrett, 1b 3 1 0

Leonard, rf 3 0 1 0 Quintal, lf 3 0 1

Milani, lf 2 0 0 0 Smith, ss 3 0 1

Witkowski, ph/lf 0 0 0 0 McAvoy, 3b 3 0

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

Pennino, 1b 3 0 0 0 Brown, dh 2 0 0

Cruz, 3b 3 1 1 0 Cather, rf 2 0 0

Totals 27 2 7 1 Totals 24 3 5 3

Stony Brook 002 000 0 – 2

Maine 200 000 1 – 3

E-Sipp (4); Barrett (1); LOB-SBU 7, Maine 5; 2B-Leonard; Barrett 2; DP-Smith-Menendez-Barrett; S-Pasieka; Menendez

Stony Brook IP H R ER BB SO

Errigo 1 2 2 2 1 0

Bakey 5 1/3 2 1 1 2 4

Abel (L, 2-4) 1/3 1 0 0 0 0

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Powers 2 1/3 4 2 2 1 1

Zyskowski (W, 2-0) 4 2/3 3 0 0 1 6

WP-Errigo; Powers 3; PB-McGraw; T-2:19; ATT-380