ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine baseball team had a golden opportunity to make up some ground in the America East standings on Sunday afternoon.
Instead, the Black Bears will remain in last place — for now.
UMaine committed three errors in the 12th inning Sunday, opening the door for a three-run rally that lifted the University of Hartford to a 6-3 victory at Mahaney Diamond.
Coach Steve Trimper’s team (14-20, 4-7 AE) failed to come up with clutch hits and ran out of pitching after posting two 4-3 victories to sweep Saturday’s doubleheader.
“It’s always hard to hang your hat on a loss, but the bright side is we did win the series,” said UMaine junior Brett Chappell.
“We had plenty of opportunities to come up with big hits and we just couldn’t get it,” he added of the Black Bears’ 2-for-14 effort with runners in scoring position.
Jacob Gosselin-Deschesnes made his first start Sunday after anchoring the UMaine bullpen and went seven strong innings. The senior right-hander scattered four hits and one run with two strikeouts, a walk and two hit batsmen.
However, the Hawks (13-22, 6-7 AE) scored five times against relievers Logan Fullmer and Charlie Butler (3-4) to escape Orono with a win.
Ryan Lukach drove in three runs for Hartford with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a game-tying, two-out, two-run double in the eighth off Fullmer.
“We let the best guy beat us. We were trying not to pitch to Lukach and he’s the guy that beat us down at Hartford,” Trimper said. “We didn’t execute.”
Nick Campana collected three singles while Chris DelDebbio (triple) and Aaron Wilson each posted two hits.
Jeremy Charles pitched four innings of shutout relief for the Hawks and Austin Barnes got the win with two scoreless innings to close it out.
Chappell (RBI) and Scott Heath of Westbrook led UMaine with a double and a single each among only seven hits.
“We had a tremendous opportunity to sweep today,” Trimper said. “The positives are we won a series. We’re going to have to win three (more) series in a row against teams that we’re competing against for the tournament spots.”
On Saturday, Brian Doran stroked two clutch hits and knocked in four runs to propel the Black Bears to a key sweep.
Doran, a senior outfielder who has struggled much of the season, lashed a two-run double to plate the eventual winning run in the first game, then pushed across the game-winner with a two-run single in the nightcap.
“This is the first time this year where after the first win the clubhouse was really excited and relaxed,” said Doran, who missed Sunday’s game with a back ailment. “The second game, everyone’s going crazy in there. They’re all pumped up.”
In the opener, the Bears spotted the Hawks three runs in the first inning via two errors, but settled down behind senior Scott Heath of Westbrook. The left-hander afforded Hartford only six hits and pitched six scoreless innings before Butler (3-3) retired the last six batters to secure the win.
Sam Balzano of Portland singled three times among nine hits for UMaine and Doran added a single.
Campana stroked two doubles for Hartford.
Hawks starter Kyle Gauthier (2-5) was in command most of the way, but encountered trouble in the pivotal eighth inning.
Steven Adam he reached on a fielding error by second baseman Dalton Ruch, then took third on Balzano’s opposite-field, hit-and-run single to left. One out later, Gauthier was lifted after walking Heath to load the bases.
Chappell greeted Jacob Mellin with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 3-2, then Luke Morrill of South Thomaston reached on an infield single. Doran lined an opposite-field double to left-center that plated the tying and go-ahead runs.
“They got up early on us both games and we did a good job fighting back and not giving up and battling out there,” Balzano said.
Hartford had taken a 3-0 in the top of the first with the aid of two UMaine errors. Lukach grounded an RBI infield single and Justin Ganca lined a run-scoring single.
UMaine got a run back in the third on consecutive singles by Jon Salcedo, Adam and Balzano and Bussey’s run-scoring double-play grounder.
In the second game, freshman Justin Courtney of Bangor (2-4) pitched five innings of four-hit ball to pick up his first collegiate win as a starter.
The poised right-hander allowed one unearned run and struck out three without issuing a walk before Fullmer survived two shaky innings to get the save.
“I’m proud of our guys for bouncing right back and getting some clutch hits late in the game and really just setting the tone for this weekend and how we want to go the rest of the season,” Courtney said.
Doran was clutch again, hitting a two-run single during a three-run fourth that gave UMaine the lead for good, 3-1.
“Me and (assistant coach Nick) Derba have been working on simplifying my approach,” Doran explained.
“I was in the slump for quite a while and Derba’s done a lot of things to try to get me out of it. I think this one’s worked well, so I’m happy about it,” he added.
The Bears added a run in the fifth on Adam’s double.
Hartford, which tallied an unearned run in the first inning, scored twice in the sixth on doubles by Lukach, Ganca and DelDebbio. However, Fullmer struck out three of the last five men he faced to secure the save.