Baseball season begins across the country and the University of Maine Black Bears took a trip to Reston, Louisiana to face off against the LA Tech Bulldogs for the first time in five years this past Feb. 14, 15 and 16. Ironically, LA Tech’s ballpark is known as “The Loveshack” but there was no love found there for the Black Bears. The final score read 3-14 with Tech winning the contest.
Second-year infielder Colton Coates got Tech on the board first with an RBI double, and both teams played good defense and fielded the ball well to start the matchup off. It wouldn’t be until the top of the third inning that Maine would get on the board. Third-year Drew Reynolds drove a hit to center field for a two run RBI single with first-year outfielder Evan Bashnaegal and graduate infielder Damon Gaither scoring. The Bulldogs responded right back however, graduate infielder Micheal Ballard ripped a homer to left field for a two run homer getting the go ahead RBI for LA Tech.
Both opening pitchers, Colin Fitzgerald for Maine and Grant Hubka for Tech respectively, struggled with finding the strike zone. The contest saw a litany of wild pitches from both players, Hubka drawing four walks alone in the top of the fourth inning.
After a wild pitch by Fitzgerald set up a runner on third base and fourth-year infielder Will Safford’s RBI single plus an error during a relay play by Maine began to widen the gap for the Bulldogs giving them two runs.
Errors throughout the weekend by the Black Bears defense led to LA Tech scoring, but Head Coach Nick Derba wasn’t fazed and neither were the Black Bears.
“Game play is the ultimate factor. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how we competed… We will catch up, we just need to keep playing and taking care of details,” said Derba.
After a 45-minute rain delay, the action picked back up in Reston. Coates once again got on the board with a line drive to the left side of the field grabbing a 2 RBI single for LA Tech.
In the seventh inning, graduate utility player Payton Whitehead got an infield RBI single to try and gain some momentum back for the Black Bears. But unfortunately LA Tech kept finding the bases loaded, and notching base hits to run up the score 3-14 in the two remaining innings.
The following day on Feb. 15, the second of four games kicked off. The Black Bears got on the board first after first-year outfielder Quinn Murphy hit a RBI single and Whitehead advanced to home plate to score. The Bulldogs took advantage of a wild pitch thrown by second-year pitcher Jason Libby and scored a run from third to tie the contest in the third inning.
After a couple great back and forth defensive showings from both teams, it took until the 6th inning for another run to be scored but unfortunately LA Tech grabbed the go ahead run off of a grounded out. But the Black Bears were still in it and Gaither made sure of that as he evened the score all with an RBI single.
It was back and forth action in the seventh inning because the Bulldogs responded right back with two RBIs of their own to make the score 2-4. It would end up being the final score as Maine could not come back.
While the results might not be what the team wanted, there are a couple guys on the team who are starting the season off strong. Reynolds grabbed two RBIs for himself this weekend on Friday’s game and batted well throughout the contest going 2 for 5. Gaither got a run on Friday, an RBI on Saturday and swung very well against the Bulldog’s pitchers. And while he might have struggled in the beginning of Friday’s matchup, it was Fitzgerald’s return to the mound after 623 days off of it due to injury. He threw pitches with great speed and it’s clear he’ll get back to where he was in 2023 in no time.
Regarding Fitzgerald’s return, Derba had this to say: “It’s great to get Colin back on the mound. He was a key piece in our 2023 championship run. All things considered, he competed. We have some room for improvement regarding command but that is to be expected.”
The Black Bears will travel to South Carolina to face The Citadel on Feb. 21.
