ORONO, Maine — After being swept Saturday, the University of Maine needed an emotional boost Sunday during its series finale against Albany.
Jeff Gibbs gave the Black Bears a big lift from the mound.
The junior right-hander shook off some recent struggles to pitch six shutout innings as the Black Bears halted a five-game losing streak with a 10-0 victory over the Great Danes at windy Mahaney Diamond.
“I don’t think I’m out of the water yet and there’s still a lot of season left to go, but I definitely needed this game,” Gibbs said. “It was good.”
On Saturday, Albany won 4-2 and 1-0 in 10 innings.
Coach Steve Trimper’s UMaine ballclub (22-19, 8-4 AE) heads into final exam week in third place behind Stony Brook (34-10, 12-2 AE) and Binghamton (18-18, 9-3 AE).
The Bears open a three-game series Saturday with a doubleheader at Albany.
“We’ve just got to build off this, go to Albany now and do what they did to us, which was win a series on their home field,” Trimper said.
On Sunday, Gibbs and D.J. Voisine combined on a four-hit shutout. Gibbs (3-4) struck out seven and walked three, before Voisine earned his first save, allowing two hits in
three innings.
With a New York Yankees scout looking on, Gibbs mixed in an effective slider and an occasional changeup with his lively fastball.
“I tried not to do too much,” Gibbs said. “I really tried to focus on harnessing my emotions and tried to pitch instead of throw.”
The Bears received four singles and an RBI from Troy Black, Ian Leisenheimer provided a double, two singles and two RBIs, and Fran Whitten singled twice.
UMaine ended a string of 12 scoreless inning in the first when Colin Gay lined a single to right and scored on Scott Heath’s one-out double off the right-field fence.
“We swung the bats well on a very brutal day to hit,” Trimper said. “The momentum just kept going after that.”
Albany’s Chase Austin (2-1) surrendered seven hits and seven runs in 3⅔ innings. The Bears scored three times in the third and four in the fourth.
The Great Danes committed three errors.
“We were definitely upset after the two losses [Saturday],” Leisenheimer said. “It was nice to end the weekend with a big win.”
Gibbs demonstrated his resolve during a shaky fourth inning. It included a leadoff walk, a wild pitch and Mike Tirri’s sharp, one-out single that caught Gibbs on the right leg and left him on the ground in pain.
He stayed in the game and walked Greg Muller to load the bases, but struck out the next two batters to escape the jam.
“We know Gibbs has it in him. It’s just a matter of time,” Leisenheimer said.
UMaine did not make an error on the weekend.
Leisenheimer hit an RBI double in the third and a run-scoring single in the fourth, while Brian Doran ripped a pinch-hit RBI single and Black blooped an RBI double, both in the seventh.
In Saturday’s second game, senior Sean Lucas shut out the Bears for eight innings and Craig Lepre’s RBI triple in the 10th gave Albany the win.
Righty Shaun Coughlin held the Great Danes scoreless on three hits through eight innings, then gave way to classmate Mike Connolly (3-4).
“They don’t support you [with runs], they do, you just keep going,” Coughlin said. “There’s nothing you can do. You’ve just got to focus on your job and get it done.”
Lucas, who in 2009 pitched at the University of Virginia and graduated from there last year, is attending graduate school at Albany. He fanned six with no walks, mixing a fastball, a slider and a changeup effectively.
“I adapted to it,” Lucas said of the cool, windy conditions. “I just tried to mix it up, keep the batters off-balance and throw strikes.”
Greg Lutton (2-3) pitched the ninth and 10th innings, giving up only one hit.
Albany rallied with two out in the 10th. Brian Bullard singled through the middle, then Lepre worked a 2-1 count before lacing a triple into the right-field corner.
The Bears posted four doubles, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
“Shaun and Steve [Perasklis] both did a good job and we’ve got to do a better job manufacturing runs,” said UMaine’s Tyler Patzalek.
Heath, Justin Leisenheimer and Ian Leisenheimer doubled for UMaine.
Nolan Gaige doubled and singled for Albany, which managed only 10 hits on the day.
In Saturday’s opener, Zach Kraham (3-5) struck out four and walked four, but kept the Black Bears off-stride.
Albany scored all the runs it would need in the fifth against UMaine starter Perakslis (4-4). Joey Tracy worked a leadoff walk and advanced on Jeff Welsh’s sacrifice bunt before Gordon Madej drew a two-out walk.
Gaige brought in the first run with a line single off the glove of leaping first baseman Justin Leisenheimer, then D.J. Hoagboon ripped a two-run triple.
“We didn’t give up many runs but, guess what, we walked three of those four runs,” Trimper said.
The Bears scored twice in the fifth. Sam Balzano of Portland and Black walked, then Fransoso lined an RBI double to left. He was erased when he tried to advance on Colin Gay’s run-scoring grounder to shortstop.
The Bears lacked clutch hits and ran into some outs on the bases.
Maybe they should think about D3?
D2
They pad their record against D3 opponents, but they’d probably do alright in D2.
They’ve done all right in D1. Season isn’t over yet, fellas.
If Nostrajimus and Mike S have any eligibility left, why not try out for 2013? If you’ve won, say, 100 D1 games as a coach, I’ll be happy to pass on any sensible suggestions.
If not, then why don’t you boys go outdoors and play? Mummy will call you for supper.
They are 18-19 against D1 teams and only 6 of the 19 D1 teams they have played actually have a winning record, but they are 3-0 against D3 teams! They’ve been beat by D1 bottom feeders Brown, Bryant(2), Fordham(2), Fairfield, UMass, and Albany(2) so to say they have done all right shows that you’re delusional.
There is some history that extends before last February. I was reading the same kind of posts last year, and then they won the tournament and played well in the Regional.
You folks would be crabbing if you were fans of LSU or Clemson. You’d know more than Leggett and the other coaches, and of course, you coulda done it better than some 19-year old on the field.
Let the season play itself out.
My question is why Nostrajimus do you follow this team if they are so critical of them? You seem to swamp around anything negative on this board regarding UMaine athletics and I just don’t seem to understand why if you hate them so much why does you fellow the teams?
Go ahead and slam me in your normal fashion when someone calls you out about being a negative Nellie. When you do, it will just reaffirm you are too scared to answer the question I asked in my last paragraph. If you hate what UMaine is doing why are you a fan? You’d be better suited to follow another college team you seem worthy.
i have been wondering that question for sometime as well ralph he has nothing better to do then sit behind a computer so that’s why he’s negative about UMaine athletics hey Nostra i showed up to the last couple innings of the game today i couldn’t find you anywhere i wanted to coordinate with you in terms heading to abbotts office to go over the schedule for next year.
I don’t accept mediocrity. I expect UMO teams to win, and unlike you Mainer’s, I find it completely unacceptable to rollover and make excuses.
Trimper will schedule St Joe’s or USM next season. That you can take to the bank. If he doesn’t, then it’s fairly obvious as to why not.
I’d call being completely negative while hiding behind a moniker pretty mediocre.
BTW… Nice to see Gibbs finally step up. Great job.
I’m glad Gibbs pitched well, and it was good of you to say that. You didn’t need to add the “Nice to see Gibbs finally step up”, though. That shows you to be a jerk.
I hope that pitching coach Jason Spaulding is no relation to you, because he is ruining Gibb’s once stellar career. He’s losing stock in the draft almost every time he steps on the mound–except for yesterday, that is.