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Although the rain storm that plagued much of New England on Saturday canceled one of their games, the University of Maine baseball team hauled in a pair of wins against Vermont and Hartford at Northeastern University.
With the sweep over their America East opponents, UMaine’s record improved to 11-8 on the year.
Sunday’s 5-2 win against the Catamounts, was anchored by a sensational performance from junior Greg Norton who pitched seven innings allowing two runs and three hits. The win improved his record to 4-1. Not only did Norton pick up his fourth victory on the year but Troy Martin worked the final two innings to earn his team-leading third save of the season.
UMaine jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Joe Hough led off the game with a bunt single. Aaron Izaryk followed up Hough, hitting into a fielder’s choice. Joel Barrett hit an RBI double scoring Izaryk.
After Vermont took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, the Black Bears snatched the lead for good in the later half of the inning when Mike Ferriggi led off with a double to center field.
After Steve Gambale garnered a walk, Hough advanced both base runners with a sacrifice bunt. In the next at-bat, an Izaryk single scored Ferriggi to tie the game at 2-2. Afterwards, Barrett was walked to load the bases, which saw Greg Creek hit an RBI single to left to score Gambale, giving UMaine the lead.
The following inning saw UMaine add an insurance run as a Gambale single saw Ryan Qunital cross home plate for a 4-2 lead. Maine’s second insurance run came in the top of the eighth inning. For the second time in the game, UMaine was able to load the bases as Hough capitalized with an RBI single to give the Black Bears the 5-2 lead.
The Black Bears’ opening game of the weekend may have been a sign of things to come, as they had an offensive explosion en route to a 5-1 victory over Hartford on Friday. UMaine opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning as Matt McGraw led off with a double. Curt Smith followed with a walk. Afterwards, Ferriggi hit an RBI single to give Maine a 1-0 lead.
The Black Bears increased their lead in the bottom of the third, when Creek hit his first career triple and later scored when Barrett hit a sacrifice fly.
The barrage of UMaine’s runs came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Quintal led off the inning with a team-high third home run of the season for a 3-0 lead. McGraw followed with his second double of the game and advanced to third on a wild pitch. McGraw scored when Izaryk hit a sacrifice fly. Ferriggi followed the run with a double when Gambale reached on an error. Ferriggi advance to third. Hough was walked to load the bases. UMaine’s last run came when Creek was walked to score Ferriggi for the 5-0 lead.
Going into the ninth, UMaine was looking for their third shutout of the season, but Hartford’s Ryan Cuscovich homered to break up the bid with two outs left in the inning.
Similar to Sunday, UMaine received another tremendous effort from their starting pitcher. Steve Richard went seven innings and allowed just five hits and no runs. He improved to 4-0 on the season while winning his fourth game in a row. He struck out eight batters for his third straight game that he has stuck out at least eight. UMaine’s relief effort was spearheaded by Nolan Boike and Martin, as they combined to pitch two innings where they each gave up a hit.
UMaine’s next game will be away at Central Connecticut State on Wednesday at 1 P.M.
Bangor Daily News