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The University of Maine baseball team swept a double-header in Westbury, NY on Saturday, recording wins over Harvard and the New York Institute of Technology. The Black Bears downed the Crimson 8-4 and defeated NYIT 11-3, winning their third game in a row to improve their record to 9-7.
The Black Bears began the day on a rocky note, as the Harvard Crimson jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Sophomore right-hander Steve Richard settled down and went six innings, while allowing just two runs on four hits for the win. Richard is now 3-0 this season.
The Black Bear offense struggled early, but UMaine finally got on the board in the fifth inning, as senior catcher Aaron Izaryk drove in sophomore Joel Barrett.
The Black Bears exploded for five runs in the sixth inning to take control. Freshman Curt Smith led off with a single and scored on sophomore Ross Cantara’s double. Junior Joe Hough hit a triple to drive in senior Mike Ferriggi, who had singled. Izaryk followed up with an RBI single, and was driven in by junior Ryan Quintal’s double to give UMaine a 6-2 lead.
UMaine added a run in the eighth and Harvard scored twice in the bottom of the inning to cut their deficit to 7-4. The Black Bears added an insurance run in the ninth to account for the final score of 8-4.
The Black Bears took to the field two hours later to take on NYIT and started right where they left off, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Hough singled, stole second and was driven on Quintal’s single. Smith and Cantara had the other RBI’s in the inning.
UMaine continued the onslaught, scoring six runs in the third to take a 9-0 lead. Hough had a two-run single for his 4th RBI’s of the day, as Gambale, Izaryk, Cantara, and Smith drove in UMaine’s other runs in the inning.
Junior starting pitcher Greg Norton turned in a solid effort, throwing 5 innings and allowing just 3 runs in the fifth. Norton’s record improves to 3-1 on the season. Sophomore Josh Zyskowski shut out NYIT in the final four innings, allowing 3 hits and picking up a save for his efforts.
In other baseball news, Richard was named America East Pitcher of the Week last week. Richard earned the honor by pitching a complete game shutout against Monmouth University in a 2-0 UMaine win. Richard, who had career-high nine strike-outs, is the second Black Bear named to the America East honor roll this season, as Smith was Rookie of the Week on March 14.
The team will take on the Northeastern Huskies and Vermont Catamounts in Boston next weekend.
