Expecting to play their first home games of the season against the University of Hartford, the University of Maine baseball team was paid a visit by mother nature Tuesday night, dumping over a foot of snow in the Bangor area. The series was moved to Hartford, where UMaine took two out of three from the Hawks on Saturday and Sunday.
UMaine takes care of Hartford, 9-3
The Black Bears won Saturday by a score of 9-3, with junior pitcher Tommy Lawrence taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Lawrence finished with eight strikeouts, one walk, one run allowed and one hit, allowing over eight innings, to pick up his third win of the year.
Senior shortstop Michael Fransoso and sophomore right fielder Brian Doran led the Black Bears offensively, with Fransoso going two for four, with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Doran went three for five, with one RBI and one run scored.
UMaine didn’t wait long to get on the board, scoring three runs in the first inning and scoring five over the first three.
Junior center fielder Colin Gay got on base with a single before Fransoso hit his second home run of the year to put the Black Bears up 2-0. Junior first baseman Alex Calbick walked and, following a Doran single, junior designated hitter Fran Whitten hit a double to drive in Calbick.
In the second inning, Fransoso drove in Gay with a double, after Gay reached on a fielder’s choice, extending the lead to 4-0. Calbick made it 5-0 in the third inning, with his first home run of the year.
Doran and Whitten teamed up to make it 6-0 in the fifth inning. Doran reached base on a double, while Whitten drove him in with a single.
Hartford junior catcher James Alfonso broke up Lawrence’s no-hitter in the seventh inning, with a single after Lawrence hit Hartford right fielder Ryan Lukach with a pitch. Freshman center fielder Chris DelDebbio reached on an error, and Lukach scored the first run of the day for Hartford to make the score 6-1.
UMaine catcher Mike Connolly hit his first home run of the year in the eighth inning, and Fransoso and Doran scored one run each in the ninth to give the Black Bears a 9-1 lead. Freshman pitcher Logan Fullmer closed out the game for the Black Bears, allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth before recording the final out in a 9-3 victory.
With the win, Lawrence improves to 3-2 on the year, while Hartford freshman pitcher Kyle Gauthier fell to 0-3 after lasting only five innings, giving up six runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out one.
Hartford takes Game 1 of double header, Black Bears win weekend series
Hartford tied the series at one game apiece in the first of two of a doubleheader Sunday afternoon. With doubleheader conference games being only seven innings, this one went into extra innings: Hartford was victorious by a score of 7-6 after nine innings.
Hartford freshman pinch hitter Billy Walker hit a single to drive in freshman left fielder Adam Touhey for the game winning run.
Hartford had the hot bats to start this game, scoring six runs in the first two innings. UMaine freshman starting pitcher Jake Marks only lasted 1 1/3 innings, giving up six runs on four hits, striking out three.
Hartford shortstop Trey Stover scored the only run of the first inning after reaching on a single. Lukach struck out but reached on a passed ball in which Stover scored on.
The Hawks added five runs in the second inning, with DelDebbio getting the rally started. After being hit by a pitch and reaching second on a passed ball, DelDebbio moved to third base when freshman catcher Joe Roberti hit a single up the middle. Freshman third baseman Nick Dummar hit in DelDebbio, and Stover hit in Roberti on the next at bat. Junior second baseman Brian Estevez hit in Stover, followed by sophomore second baseman Brady Sheetz being hit by a pitch. Alfonso hit in Estevez and Sheetz on a two-out single to make the lead 6-0 after two innings.
UMaine came back with five runs of their own in the top of the third inning, after Gay and Fransoso were hit by pitches, Calbick singled to load the bases. Hartford junior pitcher Brian Hunter proceeded to walk the next three batters before giving up a two RBI single to Connolly to give the cut the Hawks lead to 6-5.
Hunter only lasted 2 2/3 innings before being pulled in favor of freshman pitcher Brian Murphy.
Doran singled in the seventh, with Gay on base, to tie the game in the seventh inning and force extras.
In the bottom of the ninth, Walker drove in Touhey for the game-winning score, making the series split at one game apiece.
UMaine dominated Game 2 of the doubleheader in a 7-2 win. Connolly lead the way for UMaine, picking up his third win of the year on the mound. Junior pitchers DJ Voisine and Shaun Coughlin teamed up with Connolly to help keep the Hawks from scoring until the bottom of the seventh.
Gay lead the Black Bears offensively, scoring four runs and going two for two while drawing two walks.
The Black Bears scored two runs in the first inning off of fielding errors and a wild pitch, with Gay scoring on a wild pitch while Doran drove in Fransoso on a sacrifice ground out to second base.
Gay got on base again in the third inning by hitting a single to centerfield. After stealing second base, Gay scored on yet another pitching miscue by the Hawks and scored from second base on a passed ball to give the Black Bears a 3-0 lead.
UMaine scored three more runs in the fifth inning, with Fransoso and Calbick picking up RBIs. Fransosos’s single up the middle drove in sophomore leftfielder Sam Balzano while Calbick drove in Fransoso and Gay on a single to center field.
Doran drove in Gay in the seventh inning to finish up the Black Bears scoring for the game, making the score 7-0.
In the bottom of the seventh, Roberti hit a double down the right field line to score Lukach, and Touhey hit in DelDebbio on a groundout to make the final score 7-2.
UMaine’s record improves to 13-13 on the year and goes to 3-2 in conference, which is good enough for first place. Hartford drops to 3-14 and 3-2 in conference. The Black Bears will travel to the 5-10 University of Albany for a three game series next weekend, with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 30, at noon and 2:30 p.m. The series finished up Sunday, March 31, at 1 p.m.