Sports

Baseball: UMaine rebounds, takes three of four from Lehigh

Amy Brooks | The Maine Campus

Justin Latta delivers a pitch in the top of the seventh inning against Lehigh University on Saturday afternoon. UMaine fell 4-2 in the ﬁrst game of Saturday’s doubleheader, but took the remaining three games in the four-game weekend series. The Black Bears improve to 10-13 on the season.

By Adam Clark

Posted on March 29, 2010, at 1:35 a.m.

Coming off last weekend’s four-game sweep at nationally ranked Oregon State University, the University of Maine baseball team was looking to get back to its winning ways two weeks before America East play begins.

And they did just that.

After dropping Saturday’s opener, UMaine won three straight over Lehigh University to snap a seven-game losing streak at frigid Mahaney Diamond over the weekend.

It was the first home series of the year for the Black Bears (10-13), who head to the New Jersey Institute of Technology for a four-game series next weekend.

Lehigh, a member of the Patriot League, fell to 6-13.

Lehigh took the opener of the series 4-2, before UMaine reeled off three consecutive on Saturday and Sunday (5-1, 8-1, 10-9).

In Sunday’s second game, Tony Patane hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to drive in Kyle Stilphen as the Black Bears won 10-9.

In a back-and-forth affair that featured plenty of offense, both teams struck for three runs in the second inning. Taylor Lewis provided a blow with a solo home run to lead off the inning.

In the fifth inning with the game tied at 3-3, UMaine scored five runs on five extra base hits.

Lehigh fought back though scoring a run in the sixth inning, two in the seventh and two more in the eighth. In the top of the ninth inning, the Mountain Hawks took the lead on a Logan Winchester RBI single.

UMaine answered in the bottom half of the inning though, when Stilphen knocked in Lewis with a single and Patane ended the game with a single up the middle to bring in Stilphen.

Myckie Lugbauer (1-0) picked up the victory for the Black Bears. The senior right-hander pitched one inning and gave up one run.

Stilphen led the offense going 4-for-4, while Patane had three hits and four RBI.

Dan Ciccone (0-2) took the loss for Lehigh.

In Sunday’s first game, freshman right-hander Jeffrey Gibbs allowed only one hit, a solo home run in the fourth inning, and struck out five batters as the Black Bears cruised to an 8-1 win.

Gibbs (2-2) went the distance in the game, throwing seven strong innings. He walked only two batters.

UMaine struck first in the bottom of the second inning when Lewis reached on a bunt single to lead off the frame. He then stole second and third base and was scored on a Justin Leisenheimer RBI single to right field.

In the third inning, the Black Bears hit three doubles to add two more runs. Patane led off the inning with a double to left field and after a Mike Fransoso sacrifice bunt to move Patane to third, Joe Mercurio and Tyler Patzalek hit back-to-back RBI doubles.

Lehigh struck for one in the fourth inning when Gibbs made his only mistake of the game, surrendering a one-out home run to Andrew Russell.

The Black Bears countered in the bottom half with two more runs. Leisenheimer hit a leadoff triple, scored on a Matt Howard single and Howard came around when Mercurio hit a sacrifice fly.

UMaine tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning when Leisenheimer doubled to left field to score twin brother, Ian. Howard followed Leisenheimer with a sacrifice fly to right field to score Stilphen and make it 7-1.

Lugbauer hit a solo home run to right field in the sixth inning to end the scoring.

Justin Leisenheimer led the 12-hit attack with three hits.

Gregory Angelo (1-1) took the loss for Lehigh, allowing nine hits and five runs in three innings.

In Saturday’s first game, Andrew Berger (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, striking out nine Black Bears and holding down a sixth inning UMaine rally to win 4-2.

Lehigh struck first in the fourth inning when Billy Goldman led off the inning with a double and scored later on a wild pitch. The Mountain Hawks scored a run each in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings as well. An RBI single in the fifth by Brendan McGaheran, and a sixth inning home run to right field by Andrew Russell made the score 3-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Black Bears got two runs back. Patane led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on an errant pick-off attempt and scored on Fransoso’s double to left field. Fransoso scored later in the inning on an RBI single by Joey Martin. The rally was cut short when UMaine lined into a double play.

The Mountain Hawks tacked on an insurance run when Sean Killeen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Steve Perakslis (1-3) took the loss for the Black Bears despite only allowing three earned runs over six innings. He struck out three and walked three.

Fransoso led UMaine with two hits on in the game. Goldman had three hits to lead Lehigh.

In Saturday’s second game, Taylor Lewis went 3-for-4 at the plate and A.J. Bazdanes (2-3) went six-plus innings, giving up only one earned run as the Black Bears cruised to a 5-1 win.

In the second inning, UMaine scored the only runs they would need when Patzalek hit a one-out single and came around to score when Lewis’ single to right field was misplayed. Lewis also scored on the play to give the Black Bears a 2-0 advantage.

Lehigh got their only run of the game in the next half inning when Chad Warga hit a leadoff double and scored on a one-out single.

The Black Bears responded in the bottom of the third, scoring two more runs on RBI singles by Patzalek and Lewis.

UMaine scored their final run in the fifth when Martin hit a double driving in Joe Mercurio.

Bazdanes picked up his second win of the season scattering six hits and striking out four on the afternoon. Left-hander Barry Keiffer was solid in relief, spinning 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief.

Lewis, Patzalek and Martin each had multi-hit games to lead the Black Bears.

Corey Kent (0-4) took the loss for Lehigh, as he gave up four runs (three earned) in just three innings.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2010, 1:35 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.