Jeremiah Jenkins, Dylan McNary, and Quinn McDaniel all homered on Saturday evening as the Maine Black Bears finished off a three game America East baseball sweep over UMass-Lowell 6-3 at Mahaney Diamond in Orono.
Jenkins hit a first inning two-run homer to right center field to give Maine an early 2-0 lead. UMass-Lowell would battle back to tie it on a Alex Luccini RBI single in the third, and a Gerry Siracusa RBI single in the fifth. McDaniel gave the Black Bears the lead again 3-2 with a one out solo homerun to left in the last of the fifth inning. The Riverhawks once again evened the score when Ryan Proto doubled to left to score Fritz Genther in the top of the sixth. Maine finished off the scoring and went ahead for good with a three run last half of the sixth when Myles Sargent slapped an RBI double to left, and McNary nailed a two-run homer over the fence in right center to cap off the sweep. UMass-Lowell (4-20, 0-6 America East) got the first two men on base in their last at bat in the ninth inning, but Andrew Chevarie earned his first career save when he got pinch hitter Trevor Crosby to ground into a doubleplay and then Luccini grounded out to second base to end it.
McDaniel, McNary, Connor Goodman, and Colin Plante all had two hits to lead Maine to their fifth straight victory. South Portland native Noah Lewis (3-1) continued the solid start to his season allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 7.0 innings to earn the win on the mound. Siracusa had two hits in the loss for UMass-Lowell, and Michael Simes (0-2) took the loss in relief of starter Nick DiRito on the hill. The Black Bears are now 12-11 overall and 6-0 in the conference and will stay at home and welcome in Albany for a three game America East series that begins next Friday. The 6-0 mark in conference is the best start since 2012. That team won their first seven America East games.
Recap by Chris Lessner
