Maine pitcher Cody Laweryson had another solid outing on the hill Saturday night, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it as the Massachusetts Minutemen took the rubber game of a three game series 6-5 over the Black Bears in non-conference baseball action at Mahaney Diamond in Orono.
Joe Bramanti scored on a wild pitch to give Maine a 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Bears extended the lead to a pair at 2-0 in the sixth when Caleb Kerbs knocked in a run with a single. Laweryson who was at 102 pitches left after six innings. UMass took advantage in the top of the seventh. Kane Medina cut the deficit to 2-1 when he doubled to knock in a run after a leadoff walk. With two outs, Eddy Hart tied it with an RBI single into center field. Nolan Kessinger gave the visitors the lead with his RBI triple to make it 3-2. In the bottom of the seventh after a one out walk was issued to Jeffrey Omohundro, Hernen Sardinas put Maine back in front 4-3 with a two run homer to right field.
Alec Norton reached on a Maine error in the top of the eighth allowing UMass to tie the score with an unearned run at 4-4. Anthony Videtto came up in another big spot in the ninth inning for UMass with the score still tied and two runners in scoring position, and delivered a tie breaking two out two run single that proved to be the game winner. For Videtto it was his sixth and seventh RBI in the series. Danny Casals led off the home half of the ninth for Maine by lifting a 2-2 pitch down the line and over the fence in right to get the Bears within a run. After Bramanti struckout, Brogan Searle-Belanger got a pinch hit single. Kerbs though flied out to center for the second out, and Fridays game one hero Ryan Turenne who hit a walkoff grand slam in a Maine win would strike out looking to end it.
Laweryson allowed no runs and two hits with three walks and four strikeouts in his no decision. The junior right hander from Moscow, Maine has only allowed 11 hits and two earned runs over his last three starts in 20 innings pitched with 22 strikeouts. Dillon Stimpson (1-2) was tagged with the loss in relief allowing three runs (none earned) on two hits over the last 2.1 innings. Spencer Bergeron (1-0) picked up the win in relief for the Minutemen also over 2.1 innings allowing one run on three hits. Omohundro and Casals both had two hits for Maine, while Hart and Videtto had two hits a piece for UMass. The teams were originally scheduled to four games over the weekend, but Sundays finale was cancelled due to impending rain. Maine drops to 8-24 overall, while UMass is 13-19. The Black Bears will take their third place 6-5 America East record to Albany next weekend for a big three game conference series. The Bears have 15 games left on the regular season schedule, with 12 of those games in America East play.
