Nic Pepe and Hunter St. Denis both homered twice on Friday afternoon, as Maine beat Binghamton 9-2 in the opening game of a three game America East baseball series at Bearcats Baseball Stadium in Vestal, New York.
Pepe took the second pitch of the game over the fence in the top of the first inning, before Steven Kraus tied it for the Bearcats only run 1-1 with a solo shot in the last of the second. The Black Bears went ahead for good in the fourth when St. Denis hit his first of the afternoon with a solo homerun, and Pepe provided some breathing room when he hit his second long ball of the contest with a three-run bomb to right field in the fifth to make it 5-1 Maine. St. Denis went deep again to left center with the bases empty and one out in the ninth.
Binghamton was held to six hits in the loss, and Jackson Mitchell (3-2) would suffer the defeat on the mound allowing six runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings. The Bearcats, who are currently first in the conference, drop to 23-17 and 12-4 in America East. Pepe drove in four with his two hits (solo homerun, three-run homerun) to lead the way for Maine. Shane Andrus had three hits including a two-run double, while St. Denis had two RBI with his two solo homers. Jason Krieger (2-5) was impressive over 8.0 innings on the hill to get the win giving up just one run on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts. The Black Bears are now 16-26 and 10-6 in the conference as they seeking their fifth straight league series win this weekend. The teams play the middle game of the three game set on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Photo from UMaine Athletics.
Photo from UMaine Athletics
