At Varsity Field in Albany, New York Saturday afternoon, the Maine Black Bears swept a doubleheader from the Albany Great Danes 14-2 and 7-6 in America East baseball action.
In game one, Maine had plenty of offense to back starting pitcher Nicholas Sinacola and rolled to the win. The Black Bears scored four runs in the fourth inning and seven more in fifth. Sean Lawlor had a fourth inning grand slam and Joe Bramani added a solo homer. Lawlor had three hits and the four RBI, while Jeff Mejia, Quinn McDaniel, and Ryan Turrene each had two hits. Sinacola (7-1) allowed just one run on six hits with 12 strikeouts in 6.0 innings. He has now struck out at least 10 batters in all eight of his starts this season. He owns a 1.25 earned run average, with only seven earned runs allowed in 50.1 innings, and 96 K’s.
In the second game, Maine took leads of 6-0 and 7-1 before holding off a furious Albany comeback for the one run win. Jayson Gonzalez had a fifth inning RBI single that ended up as the game winner. Connor Goodman had three hits and two RBI to lead the Black Bears, while Scout Knotts and Colby Emmerz added a pair of hits each. Josh Gurnack had a two run single and the Great Danes also scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth to pull within 7-6, before Matthew Pushard induced a ground ball to second to end it and stranded the tying run in scoring position. Noah Lewis (3-3) picked up the win on the hill allowing one run on five hits in 6.0 innings. Maine is now 15-12, 10-9 in America East while UAlbany falls to 13-18, 11-13 in AE.
The two teams play another doubleheader in Albany on Sunday afternoon beginning at 12 p.m.
