The Maine Black Bears competed in the America East Conference baseball tournament this week at Vestal, New York. Unfortunately for Maine the playoffs ended the same day they started, as they were eliminated with two losses on day one. The Stony Brook Seawolves won their sixth conference title by topping Bingamton on Saturday afternoon.
On Wednesday at the Bearcat Baseball Complex, Maine was shutout in the opening game of the double elimination tourney 5-0 by the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks. Maine was held to just four hits as Nick Rand went eight strong innings for UML. The Riverhawks scored a pair of runs in the first and second innings and never looked back. Oscar Marchena hit a two run homer in the first, and Mark Tumosa a two run triple in the second to provide most of the offense.
Hernen Sardinas, Danny Casals, Caleb Kerbs, and Jeffrey Omohundro had the hits for Maine. Cody Laweryson (5-5) allowed four runs, five hits, with three walks, along with 12 strikeouts in 7.0 innings in the loss. Rand (5-5) allowed no runs, four hits, with three walks, along with six strikeouts for the Riverhawks.
In the elimination game on Wednesday evening for the Black Bears, Maine battled back from an early 3-0 deficit to take leads of 4-3 and 5-4, but the Hartford Hawks scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to take a 6-5 win and end the Bears season. RBI singles from Ashton Bardzell, Drew DeMartino, and Zachary Ardito in the top of the first made it 3-0 Hartford. In his final game in a Maine uniform, Danny Casals hit a two run homer in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit to just a run, before Hernen Sardinas chased in a pair with a two run double in the second to make it 4-3 Black Bears. Demartino tied the game with a solo homer in the sixth, before Brogan Searle-Belanger gave Maine back the lead with an RBI single in the bottom half of the sixth at 5-4. DeMartino though finished off a four RBI day at the plate with a two run single in the top of the seventh that ended the scoring and sent Maine home for the season.
Maine had two runners on with one out in the seventh, and then another runner on with two out in eighth but couldn’t scratch anything across ending their season at 15-34. Searle-Belanger had three hits to lead the way, and the senior Casals had two hits. Nick Silva also a senior started on the mound and went 6.0 innings in his final game allowing four runs, seven hits, with two walks, along with five strikeouts. Matt Geoffrion (0-3) was tagged with the loss in relief of Silva allowing a pair of runs on a hit in just 2/3 of an inning. Drew Farkas (2-0) won in relief of Billy Devito for Hartford allowing one run (none earned), two hits, with one walk, along with five strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Demartino had the big day at the plate with four hits and four RBI to lead the Hawks, while Bardzell had a pair of hits. Maine graduates Casals, Silva, Colin Ridley, Kerbs, and Justin Courtney.
Stony Brook (31-21) finished off the tournament on Saturday with a 7-5 win over the host school Binghamton. The Seawolves win their first America East title since 2015 and went a perfect 3-0 in the tournament. In 2012, Stony Brook became the first team from the America East Conference to make it to the College World Series. This years Seawolves will find out who, when, and where they play on Monday at noon when the NCAA reveals their 2019 NCAA Division I baseball tournament field during the selection show.
