Joe Bramanti scored an unearned run on an error in the fifth inning on Friday evening, helping to push the Maine Black Bears past the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks 5-4 in America East baseball action at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Massachusetts. Maine extends their win streak to 14 games, the second longest active in Division I.
Maine jumped ahead 3-0 in the second inning on a Connor Goodman RBI sacrifice fly, a Jake Marquez RBI single, and a bases loaded walk by Jeff Mejia. UMass-Lowell struck right back in the bottom half to tie it when Fritz Genther hit a two-run homerun ro left field, and Robert Gallagher hit an RBI single to right. The Black Bears took the lead for good in that decisive fifth inning when Quinn McDaniel had an RBI sacrifice fly, and then Jeremiah Jenkins reached on an error that scored Bramanti to make it 5-3. The Riverhawks responded with a run on a Brandon Fish RBI double in the last of the fifth that would end the scoring. The hosts had a good chance in the sixth against Maine reliever Colin Fitzgerald with two runners in scoring position with one out, but Fitzgerald induced a pop up and a groundout to escape the jam. Matt Pushard picked up his eighth save in the ninth inning with two strikeouts and a groundout, as the Bears improve to 24-14 and 19-3 in America East.
Jordan Schulefand had two of the six Maine hits to lead the way. Trevor Labonte (4-3) got the win on the mound allowing four runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Gallagher and Fish had a pair of hits each for UMass-Lowell, and LJ Keevan (4-4) was tagged with the pitching loss. The Riverhawks are now 19-25, 9-13 in conference play. Game two of the series is Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
