Freshman Troy Carpenter hit a tie breaking two-run homerun in the fifth inning on Thursday afternoon that ended up as the game winner, as #3 seed Maine moved into the winners bracket at the America East Baseball Tournament with a 5-4 win over #2 UMBC in Vestal, New York.
After three walks in the top of the first inning, Quinn Murphy nearly hit a grandslam off UMBC starting pitcher Eddie Sargent. Murphy settled for a three-run double off the top of the rightfield fence for a quick 3-0 lead. The Retrievers fought back to tie it with one run in the last of the first and two more in the second against Vaun Larisa. Anthony Mascuilli had a RBI double in that second inning, and Danny Orr hit a RBI groundout to knot things up. It stayed that way until the top of the fifth when the freshman duo for Maine went to work. Hunter St. Denis led off with a single, and then Murphy absolutely crushed a 1-0 pitch for a no doubt two-run homer to left to give the Black Bears the lead for good. Larisa pitched into the sixth inning and left the contest with one out after Dylan Melton tripled to right center, and Mascuilli singled him in to cut it to a 5-4 game. Brennan Rumpf (Falmouth) provided some solid relief inducing a doubleplay to get out of any further harm, and with one runner on in the seventh he was able to get yet another doubleplay turned by his defense. He also stranded the tying run at third base in the eighth and one at second base in the ninth to pick up the save and send Maine into a Friday showdown with the host Binghamton Bearcats.
Melton had three hits and scored three runs for UMBC. Mascuilli, Danny Wyatt, and Derek Paris added two hits each. Mascuilli drove in two. Sargent (5-3) suffered the pitching defeat allowing five runs on six hits with five walks and three strikeouts in 4.1 innings. The Retrievers are now 29-23, after blanking UMass-Lowell 9-0 in a elimination game later Thursday night. Murphy and Carpenter led Maine with two hits each. Murphy had three RBI with his first inning double, while Carpenter had two driven in with his game winning homer. Larisa was a workhorse following up a 127 pitch performance by Jason Krieger in Wednesday’s win over Lowell. Larisa (4-4) picked up the win giving up four runs on eight hits with four walks and five strikeouts in 5.1 innings. He threw 116 pitches. Rumpf did have some traffic on base giving up four hits, but didn’t allow a run and didn’t walk anyone in his 3.2 innings in registering his second save of the season. The Black Bears (23-30) are now a six game win streak. Maine and Binghamton first pitch on Friday is scheduled for 1 p.m. with a trip to the America East Conference Championship Round on the line. The loser will take on UMBC at 5 p.m. in the final elimination game.
Photos from UMaine Athletics
