The Maine baseball team rallied from a 7-1 deficit Saturday afternoon, to score seven runs in the last three innings to pick up an 8-7 America East win over Albany at Varsity Field in Albany, New York on Senior Day for the Great Danes. The win gave the Bears the three game weekend conference sweep.
After being held to just one hit through six innings, Cody Pasic started the rally with a two run double in the seventh, followed by a Jeremy Pena RBI flyout to cut it to 7-4. Jonathon Bennett hit an RBI single in the eighth, and Caleb Kerbs had an RBI groundout to pull Maine within one run. Hernen Sardinas tied it with an RBI double in the ninth, and then scored on a wild pitch to cap the win. Zach Winn picked up to his second save and allowed just one walk in the bottom the ninth.
Former Bangor High pitcher Peter Kemble (1-0) picked up his first win of season in relief allowing just one hit and striking out one in 2.0 innings. Another former Bangor Rams standout Trevor Delaite started and only went 4.0 innings allowing four runs on seven hits. Sardinas, Kevin Doody, and Bennett all had two hits. Ryan Hernandez had three hits for Albany, and seven different players had RBI. Brenden Cournoyer (0-2) took the loss in relief for the Great Danes. Jack McClure got a tough no decision as he allowed only one run, one hit, three walks, with seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings. A total of 12 pitchers were used between the two teams.
On Friday, Maine used a pair of RBI from Pena and Danny Casals to take game one of a doubleheader 6-5. Connor Johnson (2-2) won in relief of John Arel, allowing two runs and three hits in 2.0 innings. Brendan Smith (3-4) took the loss in relief for Albany, allowing three runs and three hits in just 1.2 innings. Connor Powers had a pair of RBI in the loss for the Great Danes.
In the second game Friday, Christopher Bec had three hits and three RBI as Maine exploded for six first inning runs en route to a 12-5 win to sweep the doubleheader. Patrick Lagravinese and Marc Wangenstein each had two hits and two RBI for host Albany. Maine built an 8-0 lead in the top of fourth, before Albany rallied for five runs in bottom half. The Bears added four more in the sixth, and pounded out 15 hits in the game. Cody Laweryson (2-3) got the win on the hill for Maine, allowing four runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings. Dominic Savino (7-4) took the loss, allowing five earned runs and 12 hits in 5.0 innings.
Maine is now 17-29 overall, 11-10 America East and 6-1 in their last seven games. Maine will play a non conference game at Boston College Tuesday at 5:30 pm, before closing out the regular season with a three game America East series at Mahaney Diamond against Hartford with a doubleheader beginning Friday at 12 pm. Albany is now 18-25, 8-13 and have lost six straight games.
