ORONO- The Maine baseball team got out to a 6-0 lead on Saturday afternoon, before New Jersey Institute of Technology rallied to take a one run lead, but a two-run homerun by Joe Bramanti in the sixth inning allowed the Black Bears to take a 13-8 victory in the second game of the America East weekend series at Mahaney Diamond.
Maine got a two out, two-run single by Scout Knotts in the first inning, an RBI single from Jeff Mejia in the second, and then an RBI sacrifice fly from Jake Marquez and a two-run double by Connor Goodman in the third make it 6-0 after three innings. NJIT (13-12, 8-3 America East) would rally back though. The Highlanders got two in the fourth and two more in the fifth thanks to a two-run double by Luke Longo to slice the deficit to 6-4. A throwing error in the top of the sixth by Black Bears reliever Colton Carson brought home a run. Matt Pushard then came on to pitch and struck out the first hitter, before David Marcano came to the plate and crushed a no doubt two-run homerun to left to push the guests in front 7-6. The hosts would regain the lead for good in the bottom half when Quinn McDaniel singled with one out, and then Bramanti went the other way to right field for the two-run homer his 10th of the season. After Maine made it 9-7 in the seventh on a Mejia RBI double, NJIT came back with a solo homerun by Jared Donnelly in the eighth. The Black Bears put it away with a four runs in the last half of the eighth on a Marquez RBI single and a three-run double by Goodman.
Freshman Caleb Leys started on the mound for Maine in the win, but got a no-decision. The left hander allowed four runs on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Pushard (2-1) got the victory in relief. Knotts and Goodman had three hits each, with Goodman driving in five runs. Mejia, McDaniel, Knotts, Marquez, and Jordan Schulefand had two hits a piece. The Black Bears improve to 11-14, 8-3 in America East. Albert Choi and Nick Hussey had three hits each for NJIT. Aidan Kidd (0-2) was tagged in the loss in relief of starter Grant Vurpillat. The rubber game of the series is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Sunday.
NJIT 0 0 0 2 2 3 0 1 0- 8 13 0
UMAI 2 1 3 0 0 2 1 4 x- 13 16 1
WP- Pushard (2-1) LP- Kidd (0-2)
HR- D. Marcano (3), Bramanti (10), Donnelly (1)
2B- Goodman 2, Mejia, Knotts, Franzoni, Longo
SB- Choi
LOB- Maine 10, NJIT 8
