ORONO- The Maine Black Bears pounded out 20 hits, with seven going for extra bases on Friday afternoon led by six RBI from Jeremiah Jenkins in rolling to their sixth straight victory 20-4 over Albany in America East baseball action at Mahaney Diamond. Maine matches a program record set by the 2012 team with seven straight wins to begin the conference season.
Maine (13-11, 7-0 America East) put the game away fairly early. The Black Bears got four runs in the second inning on only one hit. With Matt McElwain batting, Dean O’Neill showed some hustle scoring all the way from second base on a wild pitch. The other runs came on a bases loaded walk to Quinn McDaniel, Jenkins was hit by a pitch with the sacks still full, and Jake Rainess also scored on a wild pitch. They really broke it wide open in the third. McElwain scored on a wild pitch, Jenkins had a two-run single to center, and Jake Marquez along with Myles Sargent both added two-run doubles as part of an eight run frame and a 12-0 lead. Jenkins added another RBI single and O’Neill a two-run double in the fourth inning as the rout was on. McDaniel launched his eighth homerun of the season into a stiff wind to left field in the fifth.
Jenkins and McElwain both had four hits in the win, with Jenkins leading all batters with his six RBI. Connor Goodman and Dylan McNary added three hits each, and McDaniel and Sargent had two a piece. Colin Fitzgerald (2-1) got the win on the mound allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Dan Tauken had three hits and two RBI in the loss for Albany. Cregg Scherrer (0-2) had a rough outing on the hill and took the defeat, as he was charged with nine runs on four hits with nine walks and six strikeouts in 2.0 innings. The Great Danes have lost 10 straight games, dropping to 3-18-1 overall and 0-7 in conference play. Game two of the series is Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., as Maine tries to set a new program record.
Recap and photos by Chris Lessner
Box Score
ALB 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0- 4 9 1
UME 0 4 8 3 2 2 1 0 x- 20 20 1
WP- Fitzgerald (2-1) LP Scherrer (0-2)
2B- Maine: Sargent (2), Marquez, O’Neill, McNary/Albany: Hurd
3B- Maine: McDaniel/Albany: Tauken, Dunkel
HR- Maine: McDaniel/Albany: none
SB- Maine: Rainess, McDaniel, Sargent/Albany: Bottari, Salandy
E- Maine: Jenkins/Albany: Mazzara
Time- 3:08
