The University of Maine baseball team came into the America East Tournament as the #5 seed. Saturday they won two more elimination games, including knocking off the top seed, and advanced to Sundays championship round.
Maine will face UMBC beginning at 1 p.m. at LeLecheur Park at Lowell, Massachusetts. The Black Bears must defeat the Retrievers twice in order to capture the title, and get an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Maine and UMBC split a pair of games in the regular season.
Saturdays first elimination game for Maine saw the Black Bears matched up with the America East top seed, the Binghamton Bearcats.
Maine took an early 3-0 first inning lead on a Tyler Schwanz RBI single, a Jonathan Bennett fielders choice, and an error on a ball hit by Brandon Vicens to score another run.
After Binghamton got on the board in the third inning to make it 3-1, Christopher Bec hit an RBI double in the top of the fourth to make it 4-1 Maine. Binghamton cut the Maine to lead to one run in the bottom of the fifth on a pair of RBI sacrifice flies.
Maine put it away in the ninth on a Hernen Sardinas RBI single, and a Cody Pasic three run RBI double to take the 8-3 win. Binghamton saw their season end with a 30-13 record.
Connor Johnson (4-4) picked up the win in relief of John Arel. Arel allowed three earned runs on five hits in four innings, with four walks and three strikeouts. Johnson allowed just one hit and no runs in 1.1 innings. Cody Laweryson picked up his first save allowing just one hit and no runs in the final 3.2 innings, with one walk and four punchouts.
In the nightcap and the second game of the day, Maine would face Albany. The Great Danes had won three of four games so far on the season against the Bears, including handing Maine their only loss in the tournament by a 3-0 score on Wednesday.
Albany broke on top early in the bottom of the first, as an error by Maine third baseman Pasic made it 1-0 Great Danes. Albany made it 2-0 in the first when a wild pitch by Maine starter Zach Winn allowed another run to score.
The bats would come alive for Maine in the top of the second. The Black Bears would score two of seven unanswered runs in the inning, on a RBI single by Sardinas, and a sacrifice fly RBI by Pasic to make it 2-2.
Maine took their first lead in the fourth when Sardinas struck again. This time the RBI double made it 3-2 Bears. A four run fifth inning would make it 7-2. Bennett an RBI single, a two run double by Vicens, and an RBI triple by Caleb Kerbs put Maine in the drivers seat.
Maine would go on to score five more runs, highlighted by a towering two run homer to left by Jeremy Pena in the seventh inning to take the 12-5 win. Albany ended their season at 26-26.
Eddie Emerson (3-0) got the win in relief of Winn. Winn only lasted 2/3 of an inning, allowing two runs, one earned, one hit, and four walks. Emerson went six strong, allowing three earned runs, six hits, with five walks, and five strikeouts. Matt Pushard went the final 1.1 innings, and didn’t allow a hit or a run.
Maine overall moves to 25-28 on the season. Sundays opponent in the title round, UMBC is 22-23. This will Maines first appearance in the title round of the America East Tournament since 2013.
