FRESNO, Calif. – The University of Maine’s young baseball team pulled off a triple play, Maine’s first since May 18, 1985, but it wasn’t enough to avert their 10th consecutive loss as Illinois State rallied for a 3-1 win over the Bears here Monday.

It was the opener of the Pepsi-Johnny Quick Classic being hosted by Fresno State University.

Illinois State is 2-3 overall. Maine fell to 1-12 on its spring trip. Maine will play Fresno State at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The triple play occurred in the first inning with Illinois State runners on first and second. Maine third baseman Matt Trahan snared a line drive by Andy Schofield and threw to Jeff Longo at first for the second out. Longo then threw to pitcher Mark Ballard who tossed it to second baseman Dan Catlin for the third out.

The Redbirds broke a 1-1 tie with two runs off reliever Matt Cassidy in the seventh inning on a Mark Aguilar single, a wild pitch, a walk and Dan Latka’s two-run double.

Maine took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Matt Huff singled, stole his seventh base of the season, went to third on a fly out and scored when winning pitcher Paul O’Malley threw a wild pitch on strike three to Shiro Ando.

The Redbirds tied it against Bear righty Mark Ballard in the sixth on a walk, a groundout and Mark Gainer’s RBI single.

Ballard hurled six innings of four-hit, one-run ball. He fanned three and walked six.

O’Malley went the distance for the win, scattering seven hits. He fanned six and walked two. He stranded 11 Bears.

Latka and Derek Gaj had two hits each for the winners.

Dan Catlin had two hits for Maine which had seven freshmen and a sophomore in its starting lineup.

Husson 6, Geneva College 2

At St. Petersburg, Fla., junior righthander Mike Kirby fired a three-hitter, striking out seven and walking only one, to notch his second win of the trip and lead the Braves to their fourth win in six games.

Geneva is 1-1.

Lance Bean and Sandy McCuaig each drove in two runs for Husson as Bean had a double and two singles and McCuaig doubled and singled. Mike McBride and Bill Swift also had two hits each, and Swift delivered a run with a sacrifice fly.

McCuaig doubled in a third-inning run to give Husson a lead it would never relinquish. Husson added three in the fourth on Bean’s RBI base hit, a run-producing infield error and McQuaig’s RBI single.

Jason Boring’s homer and Andy Holaren’s single produced the Geneva runs.

Husson plays Fitchburg State (Mass.) at noon Tuesday.

Geneva 000 010 010 – 2 3 1

Husson 001 310 01x – 6 15 0

Anthony, Enders (5) and Morrison; Kirby and Bean

Redbirds 3, Black Bears 1

Illinois State Maine

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Mote, 2b 3 1 1 0 Catlin, 2b 5 0 2 0

Latka, lf 4 1 2 2 Ando, ss 4 0 1 0

Schofield, cf 5 0 1 0 Caiazzo, rf 5 0 1 0

Gainer, dh 5 0 1 1 Puleo, c 4 0 0 0

Spaniak, 1b 2 0 1 0 Longo, 1b 4 0 0 0

Gaj, 3b 4 0 2 0 Thibodeau, dh 2 0 0 0

Fisk, c 2 0 0 0 Bianchi, lf 3 0 1 0

Brabec, rf 1 0 0 0 Trahan, 3b 3 0 0 0

Pyfer, rf 3 0 0 0 Huff, cf 4 1 1 0

Aguilar, ss 3 1 1 0

Totals 32 3 9 3 Totals 36 1 7 0

Illinois State 000 001 200 – 3

Maine 001 000 000 – 1

E – Aguilar, Gaj; Ballard 2B – Latka LOB – ISU 10, Maine 11 DP – ISU 1; TP – Maine 1 SB – Schofield, Huff S – Fisk

Pitching Summary

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Illinois State

O’Malley (W, 2-0) 9 7 1 1 2 6

Maine

Ballard 6 4 1 1 6 3

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

Quinn 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 1

HBP – Trahan (by O’Malley) WP – O’Malley, Cassidy PB – Fisk TIME – 2:36