SANFORD – The University of Maine baseball team’s offense isn’t abysmal, but it needs some work.

That’s what Tuesday afternoon’s game against Brown University at Goodall Park was all about: Giving the Black Bears a chance to work out their offensive kinks.

UMaine did that and then some as pitcher-designated hitter Greg Creek pitched four innings of three-hit ball, but more importantly went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and two home runs – both in the same inning – as he led Maine to a 13-5 victory over Brown.

If head coach Paul Kostacopoulos had a best-case scenario in mind, this was pretty much it. His Black Bears came up with a season-high 16 hits in the win including three home runs. The win was also Maine’s first ever against Brown and ended a 16-game losing streak to the Brown Bears.

“This is what we’ve been missing all season,” said Creek. “We’ve got guys who get two or three hits a game, but it seems like we only get one hit an inning and we’re not knocking in runs.”

They did Tuesday, in droves. Creek led the Bears with four RBIs. He doubled in the first with two outs, but was left stranded. After striking out in the third with the Black Bears nursing a 1-0 lead, Creek got in a zone his next two at-bats.

After scoring three runs in the fourth on three hits, the Bears put the game away with eight more in the fifth. The Chelsea native led off with 410-foot home run to left-center on a full-count fastball and the Bears followed with four straight singles. The score was 9-1 when Creek came back to the plate with two runners on and two outs. This time, he roped another fastball – only on a 3-0 pitch from a different pitcher – 315 feet down the line in right.

Creek picked up the win, his first, in only his second mound appearance this season.

“He’s a good pitcher and he’d be a lot better if we could use him more, but we don’t really need him because we’re so deep in pitching,” said Kostacopoulos. “We really need him a lot more offensively.”

Creek wasn’t the only offensive hero. Catcher Matt McGraw and right fielder Joe Hough each had three hits while left fielder Ryan Quintal and shortstop Jason Harvey of Bucksport each had two hits.

McGraw hit a two-run homer in the fourth, singled twice, and drove in four runs.

“We’re trying to take this hit by hit and pitch by pitch, and get the avalanche effect we had today,” McGraw said. “We’re trying to get things rolling offensively. Hits haven’t been so hard to get so much as timing has been hard to get.

“Ten hits over nine innings isn’t going to do as much damage as five in one inning.”

Maine improves to 17-15 while Brown falls to 10-18. Maine is back in action today at 6 p.m. in Orono against Husson.

“I try to look at my season in periods of two weeks at a time. I told the guys we have to get better offensively and we still have time to do that,” Kostacopoulos said. “That’s what these games are all about, to help us become a sufficiently better offensive team. This kind of game can help us get there in a big way.”

Designated hitter Danny Hughes led Brown with two singles and two RBIs.

BLACK BEARS 13, BEARS 5

Brown (10-18) Maine (17-15)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Christian, rf 3 0 0 0 Williams, cf 6 1

Burton, rf 2 1 1 1 Izaryk, 2b 4 1 2

Wiginton, lf 2 0 0 0 Creek, p-dh 4 2 4

Nyadjroh, lf 2 0 0 0 Barrett, 1b 5 1 0

Deeb, 2b 5 0 0 0 Quintal, lf 5 3 0

Hughes, dh 4 1 2 2 McGraw, c 3 2 3

Thomas, 1b 4 0 1 1 Hough, rf 4 1 1

Nichols, ss 3 0 0 1 Houser, rf 0 0 0

Contrino, 3b 2 1 1 0 Reichley, 3b 4 2 0

Tews, 3b 0 0 0 0 Harvey, ss 4 0 1

Lowe, cf 3 1 1 0

Dykehouse, c 1 0 1 0

Jernigan, c 1 1 0 0

Totals 32 5 7 5 Totals 39 13 16 12

Brown 000 100 400 ? 5

Maine 010 380 01x ? 13

E?Thomas (4), Contrino (12), Lowe (2), Dykehouse (6); Williams (3), Izaryk (6); LOB?Brown 8; Maine 9; 2B?Dykehouse; Creek, Harvey; 3B?Quintal; HR?Creek 2 (4), McGraw (1); DP?Deeb-Nichols-Thomas; Creek-McGraw-Reichley; S?Dykehouse; SF?Nichols; McGraw; SB?Hughes (4)

Brown IP H R ER BB SO

Hagerty (L,0-2) 4 10 7 5 1 4

Priede 1 4 5 0 0 1

Costa 3 2 1 1 3 1

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Creek (W,1-0) 4 3 1 1 1 2

Brown 2 2 4 4 1 2

Grattelo (S,2) 3 2 0 0 1 4

HBP?Costa, Jernigan by Brown, Creek by Hughes, McGraw by Costa; WP?Preide; PB?Dykehouse; CI?Dykehouse; T? 3:02; ATT? 417