The University of Maine softball team finished up their annual spring trip on Saturday, while Maine baseball played a doubleheader in Baltimore against UMBC to finish off a three game series that opened up conference play.
At Cottrell Field in Moraga, California the Maine softball team dropped both of their final games of the spring trip by falling 1-0 to Dartmouth College in eight innings and 2-0 to Saint Mary’s College (CA). Despite outhitting Dartmouth 5-3 in a pitchers duel in game one, the Big Green walked off with the win when Leila Hennessey hit a sacrifice fly to score Allie Ohde in the last of the eighth. Alexandra Gruitch (0-6) was the tough luck loser in the circle for the Black Bears going 7.1 innings allowing one run (none earned) on three hits with four walks and one strikeout. In game two, Saint Mary’s scored two runs in the fifth inning for the only scoring. The Gaels got the runs when Claudia Kirchner led off with a single and later scored on a wild pitch, and Taylor Lane knocked in another with an RBI double. Maine was held to two hits, and Caitlyn Fallon (4-8) took the pitching defeat allowing two runs on three hits with three walks and a strikeout in 4.2 innings. The Bears head back to the East Coast with a 7-18 record and will open up America East play next Saturday and Sunday with a pair of doubleheaders at Binghamton.
At Alumni Field in Baltimore, UMaine and UMBC decided to finish off their three game America East baseball series with a doubleheader and by the end of the afternoon the Black Bears left Maryland riding a four game win streak and a perfect start in conference play. In game one (7 innings)- Jake Rainess hit a game winning three-run homer in the fourth inning and Maine broke it open up late by scoring seven runs over the final two innings for a 15-7 victory. Rainess, Jeremiah Jenkins, Myles Sargent, and Dylan McNary had two hits each. Rainess and Jenkins also had four RBI each, while McNary and Connor Goodman had three a piece. Rainess had two homeruns that also included a solo shot, and Jenkins and McNary also homered. Gianni Gambardella (3-1) got the win on the mound allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 4.1 innings. In game two (nine innings)- Maine held off a late UMBC rally to take the weekend sweep with an 8-7 win. The guests built an 8-1 lead in the fourth inning, but the Retrievers would pull within a run when Matt Ryan hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth and then they scored four more times in the eighth. They got two runners on base in their last at bat in the ninth with two outs, but Black Bears closer Justin Baeyens got pinch hitter Luke Johnson to fly out to end it. Sargent had two hits and Ryan Turenne had two RBI in the victory, while Noah Lewis (1-1) picked up the pitching win allowing three runs on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings. Baeyens got his third save. Maine is now 7-10, 3-0 in America East and will play a three game non-conference series at Saint Joseph’s University (PA) starting next Friday, before opening up their home schedule the following weekend in conference play against UMass-Lowell at Mahaney Diamond.
Recaps by Chris Lessner
