Quinn McDaniel broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homerun in the ninth inning on Friday afternoon, as the Maine Black Bears defeated the University of Maryland-Baltimore County 2-1 in the America East baseball opener at UMBC Alumni Field in Baltimore, Maryland.
Maine starter Colin Fitzgerald and UMBC right hander Luke Johnson went toe to toe in a pitchers duel. Fitzgerald got a no-decision but allowed just one hit and no runs over 7.0 innings. He didn’t allow a hit until there was two outs in the Retrievers sixth, when Tony Krueger singled. Fitzgerald walked two and also struck out seven. Johnson got lifted after allowing no runs on three hits with no walks and 12 strikeouts in 8.0 innings. Sam Daniels took over on the hill for UMBC in the ninth, and after retiring the first batter he hit Jake Rainess with a pitch. McDaniel followed with a towering, game winning two-run homerun to left field on a 1-0 pitch. After Caleb Leys worked a scoreless eighth, the Black Bears sent out Justin Baeyens for the last of the ninth. Baeyens got the first two batters, before Leewood Molessa hit a solo homer to left center on a 3-2 pitch to get his team on the board. The graduate reliever though got Matt Ryan to fly out to right to end the game.
Four Black Bears had one hit each in the victory, Leys (1-0) picked up the win in relief of Fitzgerald, and Baeyens picked up his second save. The three Maine pitchers only allowed one hit each as they improve their record to 5-10 overall. Daniels (0-1) took the loss for UMBC, who fall to 6-7 on the season. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday to cap off the series.
Recap by Chris Lessner
