The University of Maine’s baseball team’s home-opening America East series against the New Jersey Institute of Technology this weekend has been flip-flopped due to projected inclement weather this weekend.
Instead, the Black Bears will travel to Little Falls, N.J. for a three-game set on Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (7:30 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) and NJIT will travel to Orono for a three-game series on April 25-27.
The Black Bears, who are scheduled to host Bangor’s Husson University for a 4 p.m. non-conference game on Wednesday after having a Tuesday game against Waterville’s Thomas College postponed by Monday’s snowstorm, are coming off a 1-2 weekend at Binghamton.
UMaine won Friday’s game 5-2 before being swept in a Saturday doubleheader 9-8 and 8-3 in four and a half innings.
The first game on Saturday was a seven-inning game and the second game was cut short by bad weather.
They were supposed to play one game on Saturday and the final game on Sunday but inclement weather forced them to play two on Saturday.
UMaine baseball coach Nick Derba said the highlight of the trip was they got home “15 hours earlier.”
He called it a “very frustrating weekend” and said the majority of his pitching staff “underperformed.”
But Derba also noted that starting pitchers Caleb Leys and Gianni Gambardella, who had rough outings, have been very good in the past. Derba is looking for them to bounce back.
Gambardella, who missed five weeks due to tendonitis last year, was a Freshman All-American and first team All-America East pick two years ago. Leys, who missed all of last season due to injury, was an America East All-Rookie team pick a few years ago.
One of the bright spots for the team was that former All-America East first team and All-Rookie team selection Colin Fitzgerald tossed seven strong innings to pick up the win on Friday after missing last season due to injury. He allowed two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
Tommy Martin and Sebastian Holt each pitched a scoreless inning of relief with Holt earning his third save of the season. He is now 3-2.
Dean O’Neill drove in two runs with a homer and a sacrifice fly, Myles Sargent had a two-run single and Aidan Bardi drove in the sixth run with a fielder’s choice.
In Saturday’s first game, five different Black Bears homered with O’Neill belting his fifth of the season, Brody Rasmussen hitting his fourth, Sargent walloping his third, and Drew Reynolds and Evan Manzel hitting their second homers.
Freshman Quinn Murphy’s two-out, two-run double in the top of the seventh tied it but Zach Rogacki won it for Binghamton with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the seventh.
Rasmussen had two singles to go with his homer, Reynolds also had a double and Menzel had a single.
Leys lasted just two innings as he gave up two hits and three unearned runs with four walks and three strikeouts. UMaine’s four pitchers walked 12.
In the second game, Rogacki drove in four runs with a triple and three singles and the Bearcats pounded out 14 hits in just four innings.
Gambardella allowed nine hits and seven runs in 3 ⅔ innings.
Derba feels his team’s offense keeps getting better, and now he needs more from a pitching staff that is capable of being a dependable one.
“But the time to do it is now,” said Derba.
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