The Maine baseball team finished their season opening four game non-conference series with Merrimack College with a pair of nine inning games on Sunday afternoon in North Andover, Massachusetts.
In game one, Merrimack got RBI from three different players and were able to keep Maine off the scoreboard to pick up their first win of the season 5-0.
Bryant Skurbe had a first inning bases loaded walk, and a Black Bears throwing error made it 2-0 Warriors in the first inning. Michael Jamele added a sixth inning sacrifice fly, and Joey Porricelli hit a two run homer in the same inning to end the scoring. Riley Sorenson (1-0) earned the pitching win allowing no runs on four hits in 7.0 innings. Michael Bacica (0-1) took the loss for Maine allowing two runs (one earned) on one hit in 4.0 innings. Quinn McDaniel, Joe Bramanti, and Ryan Turrene supplied two hits each for the Bears offense.
In game two, Maine took a 6-1 lead before Merrimack rallied to take the lead 9-6. The Black Bears though would explode with an eight run ninth inning to split the doubleheader with a 14-9 win.
Scout Knotts and Bramanti had first inning RBI singles, while Jake Marquez scored on an error and Jeff Mejia had an RBI groundout to make it 4-0 Black Bears. After the Warriors got on the board with a run in the bottom half, Knotts had a sacrifice fly RBI and McDaniel scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-1 in the second. Alex Haba hit a two run homer for Merrimack in the third to cut it to 6-3, and then the hosts took the lead in the fifth when Porricelli reached on an error, Haba hit an RBI single, and then another error on a ball hit by Kurtis Stadnicki allowed two runs to score to make it 7-6 Warriors. Single runs in the seventh and eighth on a passed ball and an RBI groundout extended the advantage to 9-6. The bats then came alive big time for Maine in the ninth inning. Connor Goodman had an RBI single to make it 9-7, and then Jake Rainess hit what turned out to be the game winning three run homer to left field. The Bears added on as Mejia hit a two run single, and then an infield single by Goodman turned into an RBI with another run scoring on the same play would come across unearned on an error. Goodman and Bramanti had three hits a piece, while Colin Plante and Mejia had two a piece to pace the offense. Former Brewer standout Matt Pushard started on the mound and got a no decision allowing three runs on five hits in 4.0 innings. Former Hampden Bronco Alex McKenney (1-0) picked up the win in relief allowing one run on two hits in 3.0 innings. Haba had four hits and three RBI for MC. Justin Butera (0-1) was tagged in the loss allowing the game winning homer to Rainess and only pitching a third of an inning. Merrimack is 1-3 on the season, Maine is 3-1. The next scheduled game for the Black Bears is a single game at Boston College on Tuesday, and then a four game series next weekend at Wagner College.
