The University of Maine had their season come to an end on Wednesday afternoon, falling to Albany 6-4 in a single elimination game of the America East Baseball Tournament at Mahaney Diamond in Orono.
The Black Bears, who were hosting the tournament for the second time in the last four years, were forced into a single elimination contest after dropping five of their final six America East games to slide down to the #4 seed. The #5 seeded Great Danes had a big early swing by Levi McAllister, who doubled down the leftfield line for a two out RBI in the top of the first inning against conference pitcher of the year Caleb Leys. Maine fought back and took the lead though in the fourth. Aidan Bardi drew a two out walk, followed by a two-run homerun to left by Myles Sargent. They extended that advantage in the fifth to 3-1 on back to back one out doubles by Chris Bear and Brody Rasmussen. Albany responded by loading the bases with no outs in the top of the sixth inning against Leys on a pair of singles and a hit by pitch. A passed ball and a sacrifice fly by McAllister tied it 3-3, and a wild pitch gave the Great Danes a one run lead again. The Black Bears came through in the last half of the frame on a two out single by Sargent, who then scored on a double by Damon Gaither to the gap in right centerfield to make it 4-4. Leys stayed in despite a high pitch count working into the ninth inning with the score still tied. Logan Morris pinch hit in the top of the ninth, and worked a four pitch walk. The next hitter was up in the count 2-0 before head coach Nick Derba removed his ace and went to Gianni Gambardella out of the bullpen. Gambardella couldn’t come back in the count, and Michael Maggio would draw another walk. Cooper Loyal was next up and laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the two runners into scoring position. Victor Mazzara followed with the game winning two-run single to left. Maine had their season come to a crashing halt when they went down in order in the bottom of the ninth against Matthew Mariano who was great in relief for Albany.
Bear had three hits in the loss for Maine, while Sargent had two along with two RBI. Leys (5-2) threw 125 pitches in taking the loss working into the ninth inning. His final line was 8.0+ innings allowing five runs (four earned) with two walks and four strikeouts. Dylan Banner, who was runner-up for America East Pitcher of the Year, got a no-decision for Albany giving up four runs on nine hits with one walk and five strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Mariano (5-6) picked up the victory out of the bullpen and was stellar in working 3.0 perfect innings with five strikeouts. The Great Danes (21-30) move into the double elimination portion of the tournament on Thursday and will meet defending champion and top seed Bryant. The Black Bears end up at 20-31, losing nine of their final 10 games overall and six of seven versus conference opponents.
Below is the scoreboard from Wednesday and the remainder of the America East Baseball Tournament schedule at Mahaney Diamond, Orono-
WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 (single elimination)
Game 1- #5 Albany 6, #4 Maine 4- Maine eliminated
Game 2- #3 Binghamton 14, #6 UMBC 8- UMBC eliminated
THURSDAY, MAY 22 (double elimination)
Game 3- #1 Bryant vs #5 Albany- 11 a.m.
Game 4- #2 NJIT vs #3 Binghamton- 3 p.m.
Game 5- Game 3 loser vs Game 4 loser- 7 p.m.
FRIDAY, MAY 23
Game 6- Game 3 winner vs Game 4 winner- 1 p.m.
Game 7- Game 5 winner vs Game 6 loser- 5 p.m.
SATURDAY, MAY 24 CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
Game 8- Game 6 winner vs Game 7 winner- 1 p.m.
Game 9- if necessary, 45 minutes after the conclusion of Game 8
