After winning the opener of a three game series over the New Jersey Institute of Technology 5-4 in America East Conference play on Friday night, the Maine baseball team looked to continue their good play in the final two games on Saturday and Sunday with the Highlanders at Jim Hynes Stadium at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. The Black Bears after losing Saturday would bounce back with a shutout win on Sunday to take two out of three and clinch the regular season America East Title. Maine was coming off their first conference series loss of the season last weekend in Orono against UMBC.
On Saturday- Maine would rally from a 4-1 eighth inning deficit to tie it, but NJIT got an RBI sacrifice fly from Andrew Elcock in the bottom of the ninth to walk it off for a 5-4 win. The Highlanders jumped ahead 2-0 in the second on a bunt RBI single by Ty Sallie and an RBI sacrifice fly from Jared Donnelly. Jeremiah Jenkins got the Black Bears on the board with an RBI single in the fifth, but the hosts got a single run in the bottom half of the fifth and one in the seventh on a solo homerun from Luke Longo to go up 4-1. Maine rallied to tie it in the eighth inning. Nick White walked to lead it off. Myles Sargent then struck out before Dean O’Neill was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. After Matt McElwain lined out, Logan Burrill pinch hit for Colin Plante and drew a walk to load the bases. Jake Rainess cleared the bases and made it 4-4 with a three-run double deep off the wall in left centerfield. In the last of the ninth, Longo walked before Ray Ortiz doubled and the Black Bears walked Kevin Putsky intentionally to load up the bases. Elcock then lifted the sacrifice fly to medium depth centerfield to end it. Quinn McDaniel had two hits, walked twice, and scored a run in the loss. Freshman Gianni Gambardella (5-3) took the defeat in long relief of starter Caleb Leys. Gambardella allowed three runs on seven hits with four walks and six strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Elcock, Ortiz, and Sallie had two hits a piece for NJIT and Grant Vurpillat (3-2) picked up the win in relief on the hill. Their starter Aidan Kidd pitched very well in the no-decision giving up just one run on six hits with six strikeouts in 6.0 innings.
Saturday Box Score
UMAI 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0- 4 8 1
NJIT 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 1- 5 9 0
WP- Vurpillat (3-2) LP- Gambardella (5-3)
2B- Maine: Rainess, McDaniel, McElwain/NJIT: Ortiz (2)
HR- Maine: none/NJIT: Longo
SB- Maine: Rainess/NJIT: none
LOB- Maine: 11/NJIT: 8
E- Maine: Sargent/NJIT: none
Time- 2:34
On Sunday- In the rubber game of the series, Maine scored early with a pair of sacrifice fly outs by Ryan Turenne and Jake Marquez in the second inning and never trailed in cruising to a 6-0 win. Turenne and Marquez added RBI in the fourth on a single and a two-run single respectively. Jenkins led off the fifth with his 18th homerun of the season. South Portland native Noah Lewis pitched brilliantly in picking up the victory. Lewis (6-1) didn’t allow any runs on just two hits with one walk and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Tyler Nielsen pitched 2.0 innings and Ryan Scott 1.0 in relief. McElwain had three hits and White had two, with Marquez knocking in three runs. Joe Georgini (3-6) took the loss for NJIT allowing five runs on seven hits in 4.0 innings. The Highlanders were held to just three hits as their record drops to 20-29 and 9-12 in America East. The Black Bears improve to 26-19, 16-5. They play their final non-conference game of the year at Boston College at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and then closes out the 2023 regular season with a three game America East series against Bryant in Orono beginning on Thursday at 4. Maine will be the #1 seed in the conference tournament that will be hosted by Binghamton May 24-27 in Vestal, New York.
Sunday Box Score
UMAI 0 2 0 3 1 0 0 0 0- 6 11 2
NJIT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0- 0 3 0
WP- Lewis (6-1) LP- Georgini (3-6)
HR- Maine: Jenkins/NJIT: none
SB- Maine: Rainess, McDaniel/NJIT: Sallie
LOB- Maine: 6/NJIT: 10
E- Maine: Turenne, Burrill/NJIT: none
Time- 2:25
Recaps and cover photo by Chris Lessner
Photo- Maine pitcher Colin Fitzgerald fires a pitch in a game earlier this season at Mahaney Diamond in Orono
