The Maine Black Bears, who slipped into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season last Saturday, used another strong start from ace pitcher Nicholas Sinacola and hit three homeruns to propel them to a 4-2 win over the top seed and host Stony Brook Seawolves in the first game of the America East Baseball Tournament at Joe Nathan Field on Long Island, New York on Thursday.
Ryan Turrene got Maine (22-20) off to a good start with a first inning RBI single. Sinacola, the America East Pitcher of the Year, was dealing as he struck out seven Stony Brook batters over the first four innings. It was still 1-0 until Quinn McDaniel led off the fifth with a solo homer to center field to double the advantage. Joe Bramanti made it 3-0 Black Bears when he went deep over the fence in right center leading off the sixth. The Seawolves finally got to the Maine starter in the seventh with one out, when Cole Durkan lifted a solo homerun down the right field line. Sinacola left after seven innings with 112 pitches. The hosts tried to rally against Matt Pushard out of the Black Bears bullpen in the eighth. With one out, Chris Hamilton doubled and John Tuccillo then singled him to cut the deficit to 3-2. Brad Hipsley followed with another single, but Tuccillo had to wait to see if it would be caught by the right fielder and he was forced out at second base. Stanton Leunther had the fourth straight hit of the inning, but Pushard got the next hitter Evan Fox to pop out to end the threat. Colin Plante gave Maine some insurance in the ninth with a two out solo homer on a 3-2 pitch, that caught some wind and found its way over the left field fence. It was the first career homerun for the freshman Plante. Durkan singled to begin the last at bat for Stony Brook, but Pushard struck out Brett Paulsen and John Larocca and then got Evan Giordano to fly out to end the game.
Sinacola (9-3) got the win with a final stat line of one run on five hits with two walks in 11 strikeouts in the 7.0 inning effort. Pushard got his third save. McDaniel was the only Black Bear with multiple hits with two. The ace starter for the Seawolves picked up the loss as Nick Degennero (8-3) allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts in 7.0 innings. Larocca, Hamilton, and Durkan had two hits a piece. Stony Brook (29-18) now moves into an elimination game on Friday morning against either Albany or NJIT. Maine will play the winner of Albany/NJIT on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
