ORONO, Maine — Scott Heath of Westbrook knocked in two runs with three singles and three pitchers combined for five innings of shutout relief on Wednesday evening, leading the University of Maine baseball team to a 9-2 victory over Thomas College of Waterville.
Luke Morrill of South Thomaston knocked in two runs with two singles and Sam Balzano of Portland singled twice for the Division I Black Bears (10-17). Brett Chappell also drove in two runs.
Nik Beeson paced the Division III Terriers (4-11), who compete in the North Atlantic Conference, with two singles and an RBI. Anree Benitez laced a triple and scored twice.
Jake Marks (1-3) picked up the win in relief of starter Jeff Gelinas of Saco. He pitched two innings of one-hit, one-run ball. Jacob Gosselin-Deschesnes and Logan Fullmer each worked two shutout innings and Connor Johnson pitched a perfect ninth for UMaine.
Starter Matt Rutherford (0-2) was saddled with the loss, giving up four hits and three earned runs with two strikeouts and one walk over five innings.
Thomas jumped out to a 1-0 in the first inning. Anree Benitez walked, stole second and scored on Kane’s one-out single.
The Terriers made it 2-0 in the third when Benitez tripled and rode home on Kane’s one-out sacrifice fly.
The Black Bears took the lead for good against Rutherford in the fourth inning. Balzano bunted his way on, Shane Bussey was hit by a pitch and Heath walked, loading the bases.
Morrill plated a run with an infield single, Brett Chappell hit a sacrifice fly with one out, then Brenden Geary laced an opposite-field RBI single to left to make it 3-2.
UMaine added a run in the fifth after two were out. Bussey reached second on a fielding error, then raced home on Heath’s single to right.
The Black Bears put the game out of reach by erupting for four runs in the seventh. Brian Doran drew a leadoff walk, moved up on Balzano’s sacrifice bunt, then stole third. Bussey walked and stole second.
Heath provided a run with an RBI single and an error allowed the second run to score. Morrill then got aboard on an infield single and stole second, then Chappell hit a run-scoring single to right field.
Christian Garabedian’s single plated the final run of the inning.
UMaine returns to action on Saturday with a doubleheader to open a three-game America East series at UMass Lowell. Thomas plays Husson University of Bangor in a NAC twinbill on Thursday.