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After sweeping the University of Albany Saturday, the University of Maine baseball team (31-12) salvaged a split Sunday, taking three of four games on the road to maintain the America East Conference lead.
Albany’s (16-26) lone win came in the opening game Sunday. Great Danes’ pitcher Jeff Mazzola held the Black Bear bats relatively silent over six innings, allowing just five hits and two earned runs while striking out eight. It took a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, however, for Albany to walk away with a 3-2 win.
With the bases loaded and one out in the inning, UMaine reliever Adam Labelle walked in the winning run from third, blowing a solid outing from Black Bear starting pitcher Greg Norton. The loss dropped Labelle to 2-2 on the season.
UMaine scored a pair of runs in its half of the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead, but Albany tied the game with a pair of its own in the bottom of the sixth inning, chasing Norton from the game. Alain Picard had two hits for the Black Bears and Ryan Quintal drove in the only run. UMaine’s other run came on a wild pitch.
Shawn Ryan (2-2) relieved Mazzola and pitched a scoreless seventh to pick up the win.
In the nightcap Sunday, the Black Bears jumped out early with a single run in both the first and second innings and held off a late Albany rally. Ryan Harris pitched four scoreless innings to pick up the win on the mound, his third of the year. Labelle redeemed his loss with a scoreless seventh inning to pick up his fourth save of 2003.
Simon Williams and Mike Livulpi were the offensive stars for the Black Bears in Sunday’s game two. Williams went 3-3 with a pair of runs scored and Livulpi hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to give UMaine a 4-0 lead at the time. Albany chipped away with a run in the fifth and another in the seventh – both off reliever Greg Creek – but Labelle closed the door on the Great Danes, who ran out of time in their comeback bid.
Joe Drapeau also had a multiple-hit game for the Black Bears. Albany’s Brad Daniels hit a home run off Creek in the seventh and Fred Estes added a couple of hits for the Great Danes. Kyle Thomas (3-5) took the loss on the mound.
On Saturday, the Black Bears shut out Albany in the first game, 7-0. Junior Mike Collar tossed a four-hit, complete game victory for his seventh win of the season. Aside from striking out seven and not allowing an extra base hit, Collar also picked up his seventh career shutout, a UMaine record.
The Great Danes held the Black Bears scoreless through four innings, but freshman Steve Gambale broke the scoreless tie with a single to plate Simon Williams in the top of the fifth.
Williams drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a passed ball and then to third on a wild pitch to put himself in scoring position. Gambale, who went 3-3 with two RBI to pace the Black Bears, would score the second Black Bears run on a two-out single by Drapeau. Drapeau, Livulpi and Picard each picked up a pair of hits in the contest.
The Black Bears would collect more than a pair of hits in the sixth, scoring five runs on five hits to extend their lead to 7-0.
After a leadoff groundout, the Black Bears singled four straight times to add a pair of runs and chase Albany starter Adam Kroft from the game.
Aaron Izaryk added a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-0, and Brett Ouellette drove in two more runs with a two-out single to close the scoring.
UMaine wasted no time putting runs on the board in the nightcap, but it was Albany that jumped out to a 3-2 lead through three innings. The Black Bears would rally to win their seventh straight game in a 5-3 victory.
Mike MacDonald was on the hill for the Black Bears, improving his record to 5-4 with the win. MacDonald gave up three hits and two earned runs while striking out five and walking one batter.
Izaryk, who singled to get the first inning started for the Black Bears, would eventually score the first run of the game when Picard doubled. He advanced to third on the throw home and scored the second run of the inning on an Albany error.
Albany cut the UMaine lead in half in the second inning and pulled ahead in the third when Joe Lamb singled to left field, scoring Albany rightfielder Brad Daniels. Tony Vallone would score the go-ahead run on a UMaine error.
The Black Bears put together a rally in the sixth with Izaryk once again opening the inning with a single. Brett Ouelette’s RBI double would score Izaryk and tie the game at three, and UMaine took the lead for good when Quintal hit a sacrifice fly to score Drapeau, who had singled.
Ouellette scored to make the score 5-2 when Williams doubled down the left field line.
MacDonald went the distance for UMaine and shut down Albany for the remainder of the game, limiting the Great Danes to one hit over the last two innings.
Sports editor Eric Russell contributed to this article.
