ORONO- Jeremiah Jenkins hit a pair of homeruns, and Jeph Hadson-Taylor lifted a walkoff sacrifice fly to score Jake Marquez in the ninth inning Friday afternoon, as the Maine baseball team ending an eight game losing streak with a 4-3 America East victory over Binghamton at Mahaney Diamond in the opener of a three game conference series.
Jenkins gave Maine the early 1-0 lead, taking the first pitch he saw with one out in the bottom of the first inning over the fence in rightfield. Binghamton came right back with a run in the second with a bases loaded walk, one of three free passes in the frame given out by Black Bears starter Jason Kreiger. Marquez began the bottom half of the inning by being hit by a pitch, and then stole second. The next two hitters were retired, before Hadson-Taylor got one of his two RBI on the day by lining a single to center to regain a 2-1 advantage. Maine, who came into the game with a team ERA of 9.20 and giving up seven runs per game so far in conference play, got a pretty solid start and some good length from Kreiger. After some control issues in the second inning, the right hander retired 11 of the next 12 Bearcats batters only giving up a walk. With two outs in the sixth, he would give up a single to Devan Bade and a bunt single to Zach Rogacki. With Connor Griffin at the plate, Dean O’Neill dropped a foul popup to keep the at-bat alive. Griffin would strike out, but a passed ball on Black Bears catcher Will Burns would allow him to reach to load the bases. Mike Stellrecht made them pay when he lined a two-run single to centerfield to push Binghamton into the lead for the only time 3-2. Jenkins did it again to tie it right back up leading off the home half of the sixth, with a no-doubt solo shot that banged off the scoreboard in right his 18th of the season. Marquez set up the game winner in the bottom of the ninth inning leading off with a double to left centerfield. O’Neill grounded out to first base to move Marquez to third, and after Plante was intentionally walked, Hadson-Taylor lifted the RBI sacrifice fly to right to end it as Marquez crossed the plate just ahead of the tag.
Kreiger got a no-decision in the Maine win giving up three runs (only one earned) on four hits in 6.0 innings, while walking four and striking out five. Geoff Mosseau (2-1) was good in relief in being credited with the victory allowing no runs or hits with one walk and four strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Jenkins had three hits that included his two solo homers, while Hadson-Taylor drove in two. Rogacki had two hits for Binghamton, while John Lumpinski (1-5) took the loss in relief of starter Dan McAliney who went the first 5.0 innings giving up two runs. The Bearcats fall to 16-21 and 6-10 in America East. The Black Bears improve to 9-28 overall and 5-7 in the conference. The series continues Saturday and Sunday, with first pitch on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.
Recap/photos/video by Chris Lessner
Maine righthander Jason Kreiger fires a first inning pitch during an America East game against Binghamton on Friday, April 26 in Orono
Maine shortstop Jeph Hadson-Taylor lifts the game winning sacrifice fly to score Jake Marquez in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Black Bears a 4-3 win over Binghamton at Mahaney Diamond to snap their eight game losing streak
