Donnie Cahoon hit an inside the park grand slam in the seventh inning on Friday, as the Hartford Hawks opened a four game America East baseball series with a 6-5 win over the Maine Black Bears at Fiondella Field in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Hartford (16-15, 16-15 America East) scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first for a 1-0 lead. The score stayed that way until Jake Marquez lifted a sacrifice fly of his own in the sixth for the visitors to even it up. In the home half of the seventh, Tremayne Cobb Jr. led off with a single. And then with one out Brett Anderson walked, and Robert Carmody had an infield single setting things up for Cahoon. Cahoon would send one deep off Maine starting pitcher Nicholas Sinacola over the center fielders head to clear the bases and score himself to make it 5-1 Hawks. The teams traded runs in the eighth, before the Black Bears made a run at it in the ninth getting a two out, three-run homerun to center by Joe Bramanti. Ryan Turrene then singled, but Quinn McDaniel flied out to left to end the game.
Some history was set though for UMaine in the defeat. Sinacola (8-2) who took the pitching loss, passed Larry Thomas for the most strikeouts in one season at the school. Thomas had 108 in 1991, and Sinacola now stands at 114. He is just six short of breaking the all-time single season America East record (119). He had seven strikeouts on Friday, ending his streak of nine straight starts with 10 or more K’s. Turrene had four hits and Bramanti had three for the Black Bears. Maine is now 16-18, 11-15 in America East and will play games two and three of the series with Hartford on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.
